The Hits: Lighthouse, Part 2 Quiz | Music

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. After Lighthouse bought its way out of its contract with RCA at the end of 1970, it decided to sign with a new label named Rock 'n' Roll Records. Who started Rock 'n' Roll Records?

Answer: Vinnie Fusco (Lighthouse's manager)

Although Lighthouse entertained offers from at least four labels, its manager Vinnie Fusco decided that the best deal would be to put together a co-operative label that was owned by the artists (but managed by him) and then make distribution deals with other labels.

In Canada, the label was distributed by GRT Records, better known as a tape company; in the U.S., the label was distributed by tiny Evolution Records, which was part of the mail-order Longines Symphonette Society, better known for releasing records of old radio shows; and in Europe, the label was distributed by the prog-rock Vertigo Records imprint of PolyGram Records. According to Billboard (Nov. 28, 1970), there were four artists scheduled to be on the label -- Lighthouse, Bryan Maclean (from Love), Cynara (led by Michael Tschudin), and Harold Logan -- but only Lighthouse ever released anything on Rock 'n' Roll Records.

2. One benefit for Lighthouse from signing to Rock 'n' Roll Records was that the label's U.S. president, who had previously worked for a music publisher, produced the band himself. Who was this producer, who adopted a logo showing teeth between smiling lips?

Answer: Jimmy Ienner

Jimmy "Teeth" Ienner was an executive with the Peer Southern music publishing group when he convinced Skip Prokop that he could help Prokop rework his songs into radio hits, and he was then hired to be president of the U.S. operation of Rock 'n' Roll Music (Prokop became president of the Canadian operation). Ienner immediately changed several of the band's practices, most notably eliminating the structured orchestral arrangements.

Instead, under Ienner, the song's composer could decide who did the arrangement, which led to six Prokop compositions or co-compositions on Lighthouse's next album being arranged by Prokop and new saxophonist Keith Jollimore. "Teeth" later became famous for producing Raspberries, Grand Funk Railroad, Three Dog Night, and the Bay City Rollers, along with the soundtrack for "Dirty Dancing".

3. In 1971, Lighthouse's first album on its new label with its new producer was entitled "One Fine Morning", but the first single from the album (and the band's first top ten hit in Canada) was a song co-written by Prokop and new lead singer Bob McBride about a random meeting. Which song was it?

Answer: Hats Off (to the Stranger)

The wrong answers are all hit songs by Canada's Gordon Lightfoot. Producer Jimmy Ienner believed that Lighthouse needed an "introductory" charting hit prior to releasing "One Fine Morning" as a single, and he also thought that the more commercial vocals of Bob McBride would change the popular image of Lighthouse as an experimental band that was more at home playing jazz or classical than rock.

4. "One Fine Morning", Lighthouse's biggest hit, reached number two in Canada and number 24 in the US. Its popularity was aided by something that bandleader and writer Skip Prokop had supported before the Canadian Parliament in 1970, which then started in 1971 and became known in Canada as "MAPL". What was "MAPL"?

Answer: Canadian content airplay regulations

According to The Globe and Mail, Prokop testified before Parliament in April 1970 in support of requiring Canadian radio stations to play a minimum percentage of songs by Canadian artists, which would help build the Canadian music industry. At the start of 1971, Canada adopted the "CanCon" (Canadian content) airplay regulations, requiring Canadian stations to have at least 25% of their broadcast music consist of songs that met at least two of the following four standards: Music (solely by Canadians), Artist (Canadian citizen or equivalent), Production (recorded in Canada), Lyrics (solely by Canadians).

The CanCon system soon became known by its initials, "MAPL". "One Fine Morning" thus received heavy airplay not only on stations within Canada but on influential stations bordering the US such as CKLW (Windsor, but heard clearly in Detroit and Cleveland).

5. The success of "One Fine Morning" led Lighthouse to quickly release a second album on its new label, with a title perhaps referencing Lighthouse's problems with personnel turnover. What was the name of Lighthouse's next album?

Answer: Thoughts of Movin' On

Although Lighthouse had just recorded its breakthrough hit, only five of the original 13 members were left (Skip Prokop, Paul Hoffert. Ralph Cole, Howard Shore, and Don DiNovo), and some positions had turned over multiple times as other opportunities (including openings in symphony and jazz orchestras) came along for the members. Plus, Prokop's songwriting royalties, coupled with the power within the band now given to songwriters, led to a new democratization of Lighthouse's songwriting, and seven of the band's (now 11) members wrote or co-wrote songs on the next album.

Although the album had a few memorable songs (including the Cole/Jollimore single "Take It Slow (Out in the Country)", Shore's "You and Me", and Prokop's "I'd Be So Happy"), the new album simply wasn't as strong as its predecessor.

6. Lighthouse's two 1971 albums led to its receipt of what annual award in 1971 (and also in 1972-73) presented to the top Canadian recording artists, which sounds like it was named for a Roman goddess?

Answer: Juno Award

The Juno Awards began in 1970 and were actually named after Pierre Juneau, the head of the Canadian Radio-Television Commission who was responsible for the Canadian content ("MAPL") regulations, but were spelled phonetically. Lighthouse won for Outstanding Group Performance in 1971 and then for Best Group the next two years.

7. Lighthouse's biggest album success was a double-live album, "Lighthouse Live!", recorded in 1972, that became the first Canadian platinum album. Lighthouse must have practiced a lot beforehand, because where did Lighthouse record this album?

Answer: Carnegie Hall, New York City

As of 2018, Carnegie Hall still is New York's premier classical concert hall; the hint in the question is an echo of an old joke (Tourist asks, "How do you get to Carnegie Hall?"; passerby answers, "Practice."). Lighthouse's producer Jimmy Ienner was able to reserve consecutive dates at Carnegie Hall and brought the band there to record its live album in front of a huge and enthusiastic crowd.

8. After "Lighthouse Live!", the title song of Lighthouse's next album (sung casually by Skip Prokop, not Bob McBride) became a surprise summer hit in 1972 that led to the end of Rock 'n' Roll Records. What was the hit single, which was also the album's title song?

Answer: Sunny Days

Since Jimmy Ienner began producing the band, Prokop had always sung lead on a song or two on each album; but "Sunny Days" was the first hit single featuring his solo vocal. The inability of Evolution Records to capitalize on the success of the single led Lighthouse to give up on Rock 'n' Roll Records and sign directly with the Polydor imprint of PolyGram Records for everywhere except Canada, but this change also was seen as the logical point for many of Lighthouse's remaining members (including original members Howard Shore and Paul Hoffert and lead singer Bob McBride) to depart.

The only remaining original members were Prokop, Cole, and violist Don DiNovo.

9. Despite personnel turnover, Lighthouse's next album, 1973's "Can You Feel It?" produced yet another hit single sung by drummer Skip Prokop, which kept the band active for another two years. What was this hit?

Answer: Pretty Lady

Although Prokop was an excellent singer, he had always found it difficult to sing lead while drumming, which was why Lighthouse had always had a lead singer. For Lighthouse's tour behind this album, though, Prokop played guitar, and the band added a new full-time drummer.

But by the end of 1975 (and after one more album, entitled "Good Day"), Prokop left Lighthouse, and after 1976, Lighthouse was no more.

10. After Lighthouse broke up in 1976, they temporarily reunited for a one-weekend concert series at Ontario Place in 1982. In 1992, however, an opportunity to headline a concert at an annual Canadian prairie event led them to reunite for good. What event was this?

Answer: Calgary Stampede

The Calgary Stampede takes place in the prairie province of Alberta; the other three events are all held in Ontario. For the reunion, Skip Prokop, Paul Hoffert, Ralph Cole, Bob McBride and original trombonist Russ Little all returned, along with some younger associates. Lighthouse then released a new album entitled "Song of the Ages" in 1996 (although McBride's drug problems caused him to leave before that, and he died in 1998).

Source: Author AyatollahK

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The Hits: Lighthouse, Part 2 Trivia Quiz

After a few years of struggle, Lighthouse finally broke through during the early 1970s but disbanded by 1976 -- only to reform in 1992 and continue in existence into the 2010s. Part 2 of this quiz covers those years.

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