Single Sentence Music Links Trivia Quiz

Answer: The Smiths

Jeff Buckley only released one studio album, "Grace" (1994). He was renowned for his live performances, the range of his tenor voice and his heartfelt and intelligent interpretations of other people's material, such as "Lilac Wine" by James Shelton, and even performing "Dido's Lament" by the English Baroque composer Henry Purcell. "I Know It's Over" was on "The Queen is Dead", the 1986 album by The Smiths. "It's so easy to laugh, It's so easy to hate, It takes strength to be gentle and kind."

Answer: New York Dolls

The New York Dolls were a band that straddled glam rock and punk, whose songs included "Jet Boy" and "Who Are the Mystery Girls?". Formed in 1971 and initially disbanding in 1976, their music, look, and attitude were influences on artists such as Sex Pistols, The Ramones and The Smiths, whose lead singer, Morrissey, formed a fan club for them.

In 2004, Morrissey arranged a concert for the three surviving members of the group: David Johansen, Sylvain Sylvain and Arthur Kane. Kane died shortly after the concert, but a new line up worked together until 2011.

Answer: Sex Pistols

John Anthony Genzale adopted the moniker Johnny Thunders in 1971, when he joined the New York Dolls. He and drummer Jerry Nolan left the band in 1975 and formed The Heartbreakers with Richard Hell. Thunders went solo in 1978, releasing the album "So Alone". "London Boys", co-written with Billy Rath and Walter Lure, was a reaction to the disrespectful 1977 Sex Pistols song "New York", and to disparaging comments the Pistols had made about the New York Dolls.

Answer: The Who

Pete Townshend wrote the 1978 song "Who Are You" partly about a night out drinking with Steve Jones and Paul Cook from the Sex Pistols. He got drunk and was found in a doorway by a policeman. He became friends with the pair and said "for a couple of figurehead anarchists, they seemed sincerely concerned about my decaying condition at the time".

The song was the title track of the last album the Who released before Keith Moon's death, and was a hit both sides of the Atlantic.

Answer: Elton John

"Pinball Wizard", written by Pete Townshend, was one of the songs featured in the Who's rock opera "Tommy". It was a hit single and became a firm fan favourite at Who concerts. When "Tommy" was made into a 1975 movie by Ken Russell, Elton John played The Pinball Wizard and performed the song in a pair of huge Dr Martens boots. Like the Who, he reached the top ten in the UK with the single.

Answer: Kate Bush

"Rocket Man", whose full title was actually "Rocket Man (I Think It's Going to Be a Long, Long Time)", was a 1972 Elton John song, co-written with regular collaborator Bernie Taupin. Released at the height of the Apollo moon missions, it hit the top ten of the singles charts in the UK and US. Taupin's lyrics were said to have been inspired by a Ray Bradbury short story called "The Rocket Man". For the 1991 tribute album project, "Two Rooms: Celebrating the Songs of Elton John & Bernie Taupin", Kate Bush chose to cover what she called her dream song: "Rocket Man".

Her version had a reggae beat and a Gaelic feel, using concertina and uilleann pipes, and was a stand-out track on the album and a hit single in the UK.

Answer: Utah Saints

"Cloudbusting", charting in the UK in 1985, is very likely the only hit single addressing part of the life of controversial psychologist Wilhelm Reich. Reich had been in the vanguard of leading psychologists in the 1930s. In later years his theories and practices had less approval from his peers. Kate Bush was inspired by a memoir by his son, Peter, about his father's work at his farm, Orgonon, into causing rain by aiming his "cloudbusting" machine at clouds.

The video to "Cloudbusting" starred Donald Sutherland as Wilhelm, and Bush (in a shorthair wig) as Peter. Utah Saints sampled the line "I just know that something good is going to happen" from "Cloudbusting" and used it as a key element of their 1992 single "Something Good".

They released updated versions of the piece in 2008 and 2009.

The popular video to the "08" remix jokingly suggested that the dance move called "The Running Man" originated in Cardiff and was stolen by MC Hammer.

Answer: Eurythmics

"What Can You Do for Me" was the first single by Jez Willis and Tim Garbutt, released in 1991 under the name Utah Saints. It was a top ten single in the UK. They sampled the 1986 song "Ain't Nothin' Goin' On but the Rent" by Gwen Guthrie, along with the 1985 Eurythmics single "There Must Be an Angel (Playing with My Heart)".

The latter song had a mouth organ solo by Steve Wonder, and was the second single from the album "Be Yourself Tonight".

Answer: Dusty Springfield

David A. Stewart and Annie Lennox, the duo who recorded as Eurythmics, were previously in a band called The Tourists from 1976-1980 along with Peet Coombes, Eddie Chin and Jim Toomey. Their biggest success as The Tourists was the 1979 single "I Only Want to Be with You".

This song, by Mike Hawker and Ivor Raymonde, was, in 1964, Dusty Springfield's first single. It was also a hit in 1976 for the Bay City Rollers and in 1989 for Samantha Fox.

Answer: Pet Shop Boys

"What Have I Done to Deserve This?" was Dusty Springfield's biggest US hit and returned her to the singles top ten in the UK for the first time since the 60s. Springfield performed the song with Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe, the Pet Shop Boys, who wrote the song along with Allee Willis.

The Pet Shop Boys went on to write two subsequent singles for Springfield: "Nothing Has Been Proved" and "In Private".