Signature Songs 08: The 1980s Trivia Quiz

Answer: Run-DMC

Run-DMC was recording the 1986 album "Raising Hell" with producer Rick Rubin (who also produced The Beastie Boys' album "License to Ill" that same year), when Rubin introduced them to the Aerosmith album "Toys in the Attic". Although Run-DMC did not want to do the cover, it was Jam Master Jay who suggested covering the track. Rubin, who was also working with Aerosmith on an upcoming studio album in 1987 (though ultimately the sessions with Rubin never got beyond some rough studio jams), contacted Aerosmith, and Aerosmith's Steven Tyler and Joe Perry guested on the Run-DMC recording.

The song revitalized Aerosmith's career, as they had largely been out of the limelight the last several years battling addictions and their 1985 album "Done With Mirrors" sold poorly. The track also helped break Run-DMC into the mainstream.

The song is also credited for breaking rap into the mainstream, and was ranked Number Four on "VH1's 100 Greatest Songs of Hip Hop". Both groups won Soul Train Music Award for Best Rap - Single for 1987.

"Rolling Stone" ranked the original recording as Number 336 on their 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. They ranked the Run-DMC higher, at 287.

Answer: Duran Duran

"Hungry Like the Wolf" was Duran Duran's fifth single in the United Kingdom, from their second album "Rio". The song did not do well in the US markets until MTV put the video in heavy rotation. Russell Mulcahy, the directory the band hired, shot the video in Sri Lanka. The director also shot their "Planet Earth" video. The video was lush, and was heavily reminiscent of Spielberg's "Raiders of the Lost Ark".

The band recorded the track twice: once as a demo and once as the final master. The master recording uses the demo's original electronic backing track. Duran Duran was inspired by "Little Red Riding Hood" lyrically, as well as from the Gordon Lightfoot song "If You Could Read My Mind".

Answer: Madonna

Billy Strienberg and Tom Kelly wrote "Like a Virgin". In an "LA Times" interview, Steinberg revealed that when he wrote "Like a Virgin", it was actually not written for a female singer in mind, let alone Madonna. According to that interview:

"I wasn't just trying to get that racy word virgin in a lyric. I was saying ... that I may not really be a virgin -- I've been battered romantically and emotionally like many people -- but I'm starting a new relationship and it just feels so good, it's healing all the wounds and making me feel like I've never done this before, because it's so much deeper and more profound than anything I've ever felt."

Tom Kelly recorded the demo and played the recording for Michael Ostin, who was in Warner Brother's A&R department. He passed the song on to Madonna. In that same "LA Times" article, Ostin said "When I played it for Madonna she went crazy, and knew instantly it was a song for her and that she could make a great record out of it."

In a 2009 "Rolling Stone" interview with Austin Scaggs, Madonna recalls her initial impressions of the demo tracks, where she discussed "Like a Virgin" and "Material Girl".

"I liked them both because they were ironic and provocative at the same time but also unlike me. I am not a materialistic person, and I certainly wasn't a virgin, and, by the way, how can you be like a virgin? I liked the play on words, I thought they were clever. They're so geeky, they're cool. I never realised they would become my signature songs, especially the second one ['Material Girl']."

In 1984, Madonna and Nile Rodgers, her producer, went to record the song. Initially Rodgers was against the idea of Madonna recording the track as he did not think it had a strong enough hook. Although she stated she liked the song in 2009, according to Craig Rosen's 1996 book ("The Billboard Book of Number One Albums"), she was not much on the song and was having second thoughts after hearing the demo. She said "It's weird because I couldn't get it out of my head after I played it, even though I didn't really like it. It sounded really bubble-gummy to me, but it grew on me. I really started to like it... But, my first reaction to it was, 'This is really queer.'"

Rodgers told Madonna "I handed my apology to Madonna and said, 'you know... if it's so catchy that it stayed in my head for four days, it must be something. So let's do it.'" Because neither one of them could get the song out of their heads, Rodgers and Madonna recorded the track.

Streinberg had this to say regarding the recording of "Like a Virgin":

"When Madonna recorded it, even as our demo faded out, on the fade you could hear Tom saying, "When your heart beats, and you hold me, and you love me..." That was the last thing you heard as our demo faded. Madonna must have listened to it very, very carefully because her record ends with the exact same little ad-libs that our demo did. That rarely happens that someone studies your demo so carefully that they use all that stuff. We were sort of flattered how carefully she followed our demo on that. [Source: "The Billboard Book of Number 1 Hits 2003".]

It was the perfect union, I knew it from the first day in the studio. The thing between us, man, it was passionate, it was creative. [...] Madonna was sometimes temperamental during the recording, everyone told me she was a terrible ogre, but I thought she was great." [Source: Clerk, Carol (2002), "Madonnastyle".]

"Like a Virgin" became Madonna's first of twelve number one hits where it stayed Number One for six weeks straight. The song would later become widely acknowledged as one of Madonna' definitive recordings. She performed the song live at the 1984 "MTV Music Awards", standing on top of a giant wedding cake and dressed in a wedding gown. The performance was very risque and has become an iconic MTV performance.

The track also became highly controversial, as many social groups attacked the song for its sexual lyrics.

Answer: Bon Jovi

According to VH1, the best song of the 1980s was Bon Jovi's Number One hit "Livin' On a Prayer". Although the song was a definitive 1980s song, I don't know if I would say it was the best song of the decade.

Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora wrote the song with Desmond Child. "Livin' on a Prayer" became the band's first number one hit on the US Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks, and second consecutive Number One Hit on the Billboard Hot 100. The track has re-charted several times in the years following its release.

Answer: The Grateful Dead

The Dead first performed "Touch of Grey" on September 15, 1982 as an encore. They finally did a studio recording of the song in 1987 for their album "In the Dark", their first studio album in seven years since the 1980 record "Go To Heaven".

The song was the first by the band to have a music video. The song peaked at Number Nine on the Billboard Top 100 and hit Number One on the Mainstream Rock chart.

Answer: Journey

In 2008, Journey had an apparent resurgence. They licensed "Don't Stop Believing" for various TV appearances, including the series finale of "The Sopranos". Twenty-seven years after its release on the 1981 album "Escape", they had the best-selling catalog song in iTunes history. A catalog song is iTunes terminology for a track that was recorded before the digital era.

Answer: Prince

Steve Nicks got inspired from the Prince song "Little Red Corvette" while she was driving in her car. She wrote "Stand Back" that same day and contacted Prince. Prince played keyboards on her recording and is also occasionally credited as co-author.

Source: MTV article about Fleetwood Mac.
Article name: "Stevie Nicks Wants To Work With Timbaland, Opens Up About Collaborating With Prince Fleetwood Mac singer admits Prince co-wrote 'Stand Back.'" By Rya Backer and Kim Stolz

"Little Red Corvette" was Prince's biggest hit up to that point in his career, going to Number Six on the Billboard Top 100. This video, along with "Billie Jean" by Michael Jackson, was the first video by a black artist to be in heavy rotation in on MTV

Answer: Survivor

Beginning in July 1982, Survivor's "Eye of the Tiger" went to Number One for six weeks. According to the Internet Movie Database, originally Stallone wanted "Another One Bites the Dust", but Queen refused to license their work, which proved a huge career break for Survivor. The track won the Grammy award for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group.

Jim Peterik, one of the key writers of the song, also said this: "When we got the initial rough cut of the movie, the scene that 'Eye Of The Tiger' appears in was cut to 'Another One Bites The Dust' by Queen. Frankie and I are watching this, the punches are being thrown, and we're going, 'Holy [expletive], this is working like a charm.' We called Stallone and said, 'Why aren't you using that?' He goes, 'Well, we can't get the publishing rights to it.' Frankie and I looked at each other and went, 'Man, this is going to be tough to beat.' We had the spirit of, 'We've got to try to top this.' I started doing that now-famous dead string guitar riff and started slashing those chords to the punches we saw on the screen, and the whole song took shape in the next three days."

Source: Songfacts

Answer: Michael Jackson

"Rock With You" become one of the first Billboard Top 100 number one singles of the 1980s, and was the fourth highest selling single of 1980. Rod Temperton wrote three songs for Jackson's 1982 album "Thriller": "Baby Be Mine", "Thriller", and "The Lady in My Life".

He also wrote three songs from the 1979 album "Off the Wall": the aforementioned "Rock With Me", the title cut "Off the Wall", and "Burn The Disco Out".

Answer: U2

"With or Without You" became U2's first Number One hit in the United States and Canada, topping the Billboard Top 100 for three weeks straight and the RPM chart for one week. The band recorded the demo in 1985. While they were recording "The Joshua Tree", they were on the verge of abandoning the song as they could not find a suitable arrangement. Ultimately, they did finish the song with Bono crediting his friend Gavin Friday for pushing the band to complete the track. Band manager Paul McGuinness did not want to release the track as a single, but Friday pushed for the song's release as a single, and it became the band's biggest hit up to that time.

The song has gone on to become one of U2's most highly acclaimed songs, frequently appearing on critics' "best of" lists.

Likewise, "The Joshua Tree", the album with "With You or Without You", is one of U2's most critically lauded LPs as well.