The Music of Space: 'Tin Planet' Multiple Choice Quiz | Music

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. 'Avenging Angels', the first single to be released from 'Tin Planet', was originally written for Robbie Williams.

Answer: True

Space wrote the song for Robbie Williams, but eventually decided to keep it for themselves. It charted at number 6 in the UK singles chart, and is about the spirits of singer Tommy Scott's dead loved ones watching over him.

2. The most successful single from 'Tin Planet' was 'The Ballad of Tom Jones', which featured a female singer from another band who were successful in the late '90s. Who is she? (Hint: she is from the same country as Tom Jones.)

Answer: Cerys Matthews

Cerys Matthews is known these days for her radio shows on BBC 6 Music and appearance on 'I'm A Celebrity, Get Me out of Here'. However, in the '90s, she was the lead singer of Catatonia, a Welsh indie rock band whose most successful singles were 'Mulder & Scully' and 'Road Rage'. Space credit Catatonia with having given them their first big break; after hearing a demo tape, they offered Space a tour, and the two bands became firm friends.

3. Jamie Murphy sang lead vocals on three tracks. Which one did he NOT sing on?

Answer: There's No You

'There's No You' is one of Tommy's songs.

4. Although Tommy Scott played bass on 'Spiders', for 'Tin Planet', he switched to guitar after a fifth member joined to play bass for Space. Who was this?

Answer: David 'Yorkie' Palmer

Yorkie - given the nickname by Julian Cope because he was 'good, rich and thick' - was originally Franny Griffiths' keyboard tech, and his mother Gladys owned the basement in which Space used to rehearse and record. He joined the band in 1997, and remained with them until they split in 2005.

Leon Caffrey replaced Andy Parle as drummer in early 1998. Phil Hartley, another former Space roadie, and Allan Jones joined the reformed line-up in 2011, playing bass and drums respectively.

5. The artwork on 'Tin Planet', some of which featured in the video for 'Avenging Angels', was created by an artist and musician from Liverpool who shares his name with a small furry animal. Can you name him?

Answer: Mike Badger

Mike Badger creates sculptures from scrap metal. He made the robot on the cover of 'Tin Planet', as well as the cheesegrater 'angel' that appears on the cover of the 'Avenging Angels' singles and in the video, and the ship on the cover of 'Begin Again'. The album got its name from a sculpture of a planet made of colanders that Tommy saw in Badger's house.

6. Which song contains the lyric 'I feel like a freak who can't let go / and I'd like to start dancing round a pink handbag'?

Answer: Disco Dolly

'Disco Dolly' is about a woman who loves clubbing and dance music, and her hapless boyfriend, a rock music fan and terrible dancer. If you listen carefully to the beginning of the song, you can hear a woman saying, "Oh, hurry up, you, me favourite's on," and a man saying, "Alright Dolly, do I have to? You know I hate dance music!"

7. From which singer did Space receive 'A Liddle Biddy Help'?

Answer: Elvis

'It's just liddle old you and me, with a liddle biddy help from Elvis'. Buddy Holly gets a mention in the song, in the line 'Buddy Holly and Jimmy Dean will come to our wedding in the sky'. Frank Sinatra was a major influence on Tommy at the time of writing, but neither he nor Macca have ever had a Space song written about them.

8. What is the name of the instrumental track at the end of 'Tin Planet'? (Hint: which band member usually writes instrumental tracks?)

Answer: Fran in Japan

As with 'Growler', 'Fran in Japan' is the final track on 'Tin Planet', and is an instrumental by Franny Griffiths (as the name of the song suggests). At over 7 minutes, it is the longest song Space have ever done. Franny performed a shorter version of it on the spring tour in 1998.

9. In 'Unluckiest Man in the World', which of these men did NOT have their hearts broken by the woman in the song?

Answer: A gangster

For reference, see the lines 'you broke the hearts of a prince, a doctor, a pilot, a king', and later, 'you broke the hearts of a lawyer, a playboy, a judge and a pimp'.

10. Which single's video is filmed in black and white, set on a ship called the 'Sinking Heart', and features one of Space's road crew in drag?

Answer: Begin Again

Specifically, it's the woman who Tommy meets on the ship, who sits next to him on the deckchairs, and who scares off the ship's captain when he gets angry with Tommy pretending to steer the ship. She is actually Towyn Roberts, Space's lighting man, in disguise. (The actress who was originally supposed to play the character never showed up to the filming, so Space had to improvise.) This isn't the first time Roberts has been in a Space video - he also played one of the star-crossed lovers in the video for 'Me & You Vs the World'.

Due to the chorus of 'Begin Again' namechecking Rudolph Valentino (who is on the cover of one of the CD singles), the video is in the style of a '20s silent film, with headlines such as 'Clink!' and 'Gosh!' appearing between shots.

Source: Author Kankurette

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor kyleisalive before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.

The Music of Space: 'Tin Planet' Quiz

This is the second in a series of quizzes on the Liverpool band Space. This one is about 'Tin Planet', their second album.

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