The Marvellous Lightning Seeds Quiz

Answer: Big in Japan

Although Big in Japan were short-lived and not particularly successful, they had a number of Liverpool-based musicians in their line-up who went on to become famous with other bands. As well as Broudie, Johnson and Drummond, they also included drummer Budgie (who played with the Slits and Siouxsie and the Banshees), producer and guitarist Clive Langer (who also played with Deaf School), and Dave Balfe, who would go on to play keyboards with the Teardrop Explodes and sign Blur to his label Food. As well as Big in Japan, Broudie also played with the Original Mirrors, Bette Bright and the Illusions and Care, a duo which also featured Wild Swans singer Paul Simpson.

The Lightning Seeds would later perform one of Care's songs, 'Flaming Sword', at gigs.

Answer: Pure

'Pure' was released in 1989 and peaked at Number 16 on the UK Singles Chart; it was also the only Lightning Seeds single to break the 'Billboard' Hot 100 in the US, where it peaked at Number 31. It was the first single that Broudie had entirely written and sung himself; he was offered the chance to make some music of his own while producing the Pale Fountains. British TV presenter and conservationist Chris Packham has stated that 'Pure' is one of his favourite songs of all time, and that he played it at his mother's funeral, because his dogs would howl along to it and make her laugh.

Answer: The Life of Riley

'Living the life of Riley' means living an easy life, but the song itself was named for Broudie's son. The accompanying video features football footage, including Broudie's beloved Liverpool FC, and the football association continued when an instrumental version of 'The Life of Riley' became the background music for the 'Goal of the Month' segment on 'Match of the Day' throughout the '90s.

As a result of the song's popularity, it was reissued after initially peaking on the UK Singles Chart at Number 28. Riley Broudie, incidentally, would grow up to become a musician and play guitar with his dad's band, joining the Lightning Seeds in 2009.

Answer: Strawberry

The cover of 'Jollification', created by Mark Farrow, has multiple strawberries of various colours on it; if you look at it closely, you'll notice that the central red strawberry has human faces for seeds. When the band did the anniversary tour for the album, giant strawberries were hung from the stage as a backdrop and lit up with multicoloured lights. Five singles were released from 'Jollification': 'Lucky You' (twice), 'Change', 'Marvellous', from which this quiz gets its title, and 'Perfect'. 'Marvellous' also featured in a car advert for the Renault Scenic. Ian McNabb of the Icicle Works co-wrote 'Feeling Lazy', while Alison Moyet co-wrote 'My Best Day'.

Answer: David Baddiel and Frank Skinner

'Football's coming home...' With Euro '96 being hosted in the UK, Ian Broudie was asked by the Football Association to write a Euro '96 theme song and wrote the melody, while comedy duo and 'Fantasy Football League' presenters Baddiel and Skinner wrote the lyrics.

The title of the song refers to the England team's badge. 'Three Lions' got to Number One on the UK Singles Chart but sadly, England were knocked out in the semi-final on penalties by eventual winners Germany. A revamped version was released for the World Cup two years later with 'thirty years of hurt' being changed to 'no more years of hurt'. 'Three Lions' has remained a signature song for the England team since, and enjoyed a revival both at the 2018 World Cup and during Euro 2020 when England made the final under Gareth Southgate, the same man who had missed a penalty at Euro '96 (although, once again, the team were beaten on penalties, this time by Italy).

Answer: The Spice Girls

As well as Dodgy, the Manic Street Preachers, the Lightning Seeds and fellow Scousers Space - whose keyboardist, Franny Griffiths, was a Hillsborough survivor - the Hillsborough Justice Concert also featured Smaller, the Beautiful South and Holly Johnson.

At the end of the concert, all the bands came out onstage to sing 'You'll Never Walk Alone'. The Manic Street Preachers are also long-term supporters of the Hillsborough Justice Campaign (and drummer Sean Moore is a Liverpool fan) and wrote two songs about the disaster, 'SYMM' on 1998's 'This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours' and the more upbeat 'Liverpool Revisited' on 'Resistance is Futile', twenty years later.

As well as the Hillsborough Justice Campaign, Broudie was also a supporter of the Liverpool dockers' strike; the song 'Tales from the Riverbank' on 'Tilt' is dedicated to them.

Answer: Nicky Wire

Nicky Wire (or Nicholas Jones, as he is credited) was the bassist and, following the disappearance of Richey Edwards, main lyricist of the Manic Street Preachers. He was one of multiple collaborators on 'Dizzy Heights', with his co-writing contribution being 'Waiting for Today to Happen'. Specials frontman Terry Hall, a long-time collaborator with the Lightning Seeds who had previously co-written 'Lucky You' and 'Sense' (incidentally, his version of 'Sense' is great), co-wrote 'Like You Do' and the opening track, 'Imaginary Friends', while Stephen Jones of Sheffield band Babybird co-wrote the single 'Sugar Coated Iceberg'.

The album also featured a cover of the Turtles' 'You Showed Me'.

Answer: Al Green and Marvin Gaye

See the first line of the song: 'I've been on my own all day/With Al Green and Marvin Gaye.' Unfortunately, neither 'Sweetest Soul Sensations' nor 'Tilt', the album that spawned it, did well in the charts; 'Sweetest Soul Sensations', unlike its more upbeat predecessor 'Life's Too Short', did not break the UK Top 40 singles.

The Lightning Seeds' record company opted to promote the album with an unusual poster campaign that made billboards look somewhat wonky, although Eleanor Trickett, who was behind it, was not a fan of the band and called their songs 'insipid'. Broudie also was unhappy with the album and went on a subsequent hiatus, producing Liverpool bands such as the Zutons and The Coral (both of whom were just starting out at the time), although he did release the album 'Tales Told' under his own name in 2004.

Answer: The Liver Building

The building on the front of 'Like You Do' is the Liver Building, one of Pier Head's 'Three Graces' with the Liver Birds on top, one looking out to sea and one looking towards Liverpool. Broudie is shown surfing on the Mersey River. As well as multiple singles and an updated version of 'Waiting for Today to Happen', the album also contained two new songs, 'What You Say' - which was co-written with Terry Hall and peaked at a lowly Number 41 on the UK Singles Chart - and 'Brain Drain'. Previously, the band had released 'Pure', a collection of songs from their first two albums, in 1996 and would go on to release another greatest hits album, 'The Very Best of the Lightning Seeds', in 2006, which also featured covers of the Ronettes' 'Be My Baby' (a live favourite) and Pink Floyd's 'Lucifer Sam'.

Answer: Abi Harding

The Lightning Seeds have had a few female keyboardists over the years, the most prominent of whom was Angie Pollock (who played with them from 1996 to 2000). Abi Harding began playing live with them in 2016, as well as contributing saxophone (her signature instrument with the Zutons).

She also fronted AbiChan, which included both Riley Broudie and Jim Sharrock; the name of the band was inspired by Japanese fans calling her 'Abi-chan', a term of endearment, when the Zutons played in Japan. Zutons drummer Sean Payne also briefly played with the Lightning Seeds in 2011 and 2012. Harding did not appear on the 'Jollification' anniversary tour; the band had a separate keyboard player and saxophonist.