Stop Being So Meme! Trivia Quiz

Answer: Dragostea Din Tei

It's not often you hear a pop song sung in Romanian outside the Eurovision Song Contest, but 'Dragostea Din Tei' is a very notable exception (the band were from Moldova). The catchy chorus of the song goes 'vrei sa pleci dar nu ma, nu ma iei' ('you want to leave, but you don't want, don't want to take me'). 'Dragostea Din Tei' means 'the love of the linden tree', and is notable for being one of the very few UK chart hits sung in the Romanian language. Brolsma's video originally appeared on Newgrounds.com, posted under the name 'Gman250'.

The video itself spawned parodies, and has been viewed over 18 million times.

Answer: 'Never Gonna Give You Up' by Rick Astley

The prank was known as 'rickrolling', and the many links to the music video caused views to go into the billions. 'Never Gonna Give You Up' was originally released in 1987, and was a Number One smash for Astley in his native UK, amongst other countries. Capitalising on the popularity of the meme, Astley performed the song at the 2008 Macy's Thanksgiving Parade, and also used it as a finisher in several concerts.

He also won an MTV Music Video Award in 2008, thanks to internet votes, and released a comeback album, '50' in 2016.

Answer: Smash Mouth

Originally known as Smashmouth, Smash Mouth had a number one hit with their debut single, 'Walkin' on the Sun', in 1997 (incidentally, it was the first single I ever bought). As well as 'Shrek', 'All Star' also appeared in the superhero parody movie 'Mystery Men', and featured several members of the cast. The band's cover of the Monkees' 'I'm a Believer' also featured on the 'Shrek' soundtrack. Remixes and parodies of the song have included a mash-up with David Bowie's 'Space Oddity', and a parody made entirely of Windows '95 sound effects.

Singer Steve Harwell also attracted attention on the internet after making a bet with the website Something Awful that he would eat 24 eggs if fans could raise $10,000 for St Jude's Children's Hospital (in the end, $15,000 was raised).

Answer: Robin Hood

The song in question is called 'Whistle Stop', and it's played at the beginning of the film as the characters are introduced. It is sung / whistled by Roger Miller, the voice of Alan-a-Dale (the narrator). The part that plays as Friar Tuck and Little John are introduced is the part that got speeded up for the 'Hampsterdance' (and yes, the misspelling of 'hamster' is intentional).

The Boomtang Boys released an 'official' version, 'The Hampsterdance Song', in 2000, featuring an added rap by Erin Andres. 'Cognoscenti vs.

Intelligentsia' also featured a speeded-up 'Whistle Stop' along with fragments of sampled speech.

Answer: Friday

'Friday' came about after one of ARK Music Factory told Black's mother about the company, and Black's mother paid $4000 for the song and an accompanying music video. It attracted millions of views, albeit mainly for negative reasons. It featured lyrics such as 'gotta have my bowl, gotta have cereal' and 'kickin' in the front seat, sittin' in the back seat, gotta make my mind up, which seat will I take?' The song attracted attention from celebrities; Black performed the song on 'Tonight with Jay Leno', and appeared in Katy Perry's video for 'Last Friday Night (TGIF)'.

The song also featured in an episode of 'Glee'. Black released a follow-up called 'Saturday' in 2013, and started her own record label, RB Records.

Answer: 'What Is Love?' by Haddaway

'What Is Love?' was originally released in 1993 by the German / Trinidadian singer Nestor Haddaway, aka Haddaway. It reached Number Two in the UK and German charts, and Number One in some other countries. On 'Saturday Night Live', it features in the 'Roxbury Guys' sketch, which often features the characters nodding along to the song. 'The Roxbury Guys' is about a pair of brothers, played by Will Ferrell and Chris Kattan, who attempt to pick up women in clubs, and are sometimes joined by a third man (the most well-known example being Jim Carrey).

Answer: Finnish

Loituma are a Finnish quartet who sing in their native language and play the kantele, a traditional Finnish stringed instrument. The song used for the meme is called 'Ievan Polkka' ('Eva's Polka'), and is a Finnish song from the 1930s with a traditional polka melody that dates back to the 17th century.

It appears on Loituma's 1995 debut, 'Things of Beauty'. The lyrics are in a North Karelian dialect. The bit used for the meme is actually nonsense - it's the Finnish equivalent of scat singing. The band reportedly received thousands of fan letters as a result of the meme.

Answer: True

There's an interesting story behind the 'Trololo Song'. It's sung as non-lexical vocables, i.e. nonsense syllables (see also: scat singing, any song containing 'la la la'). It was originally about a cowboy riding a horse to his farm, while his wife Mary knitted him a stocking. It was written by Russian light music composer Arkady Ostrovsky. Khil and Ostrovsky disliked the lyrics and decided it should be performed as a vocalisation, although Khil conveys the sentiment of the song through his facial expressions in the original footage.

As a child, Khil was evacuated to a children's home during World War 2, and performed for wounded soldiers in a nearby hospital. He started out as an opera singer, but switched to popular music in the '60s after going to a gig by the pop star Klavdiya Shulzhenko. He became a cabaret performer after his career died, but enjoyed a resurgence thanks to the meme, which gave him the nickname of 'Mr Trololo', and performed at the 65th anniversary St Petersburg Victory Parade in 2010. He died of a stroke in 2012.

Answer: Imogen Heap

Imogen Heap's 'Hide and Seek' plays as Marissa (Mischa Barton) shoots Trey (Logan Marshall-Green) in the back in the final episode of Season 2 of 'The OC'. Imogen Heap is a British singer-songwriter who has released both solo material and collaborations, such as Frou Frou and the musical 'Harry Potter and the Cursed Child', for which she wrote the music. 'Hide and Seek' comes from her second album, 'Speak For Yourself', and the entire vocal is recorded through a vocoder.

It isn't the first time Heap has appeared on 'The OC's soundtrack; it also featured an a cappella cover by her of Leonard Cohen's 'Hallelujah'.

Answer: Pork and Beans

'Pork and Beans' is from the album. Its cast includes comedian Liam Sullivan, Gary Brolsma of the 'Numa Numa' dance fame, Youtube personality Chris Crocker, and Tay Zonday, an aspiring musician whose song 'Chocolate Rain' went viral. It also featured takes on viral videos such as experiments with Mentos and Diet Coke, and the Dancing Baby from 'Ally McBeal'. (On the subject of Weezer videos and popular culture, check out 'Keep Fishing', which features the Muppets, and 'Buddy Holly', a 'Happy Days' tribute.)