*Inspiration for songs can come from anywhere, anytime...this one happened in 1981. While taking a cab to Heathrow Airport, this band's guitarist and singer simply wrote down what he saw and felt as they were worming their way through traffic. The chorus must have anticipated a good time on the upcoming tour. The artist that sang lead on this track also sang with a couple of other bands...hits for the band Ace and Mike And The Mechanics. And the producer of this song was another well-known artist. Name the band, the song and who sang lead. Extra credit everywhere if you know the hit songs from Ace And Mike And The Mechanics as well. Have fun...
*We'll go back to 1967 to grab a track that features a key percussion instrument, but also highlights an electric sitar, orchestral strings and something called a vibraslap...a quite unusual percussion instrument akin to a jawbone that produces a rattling sound when struck. A year later, it was used in the intro to Jimi Hendrix's 'All Along The Watchtower. The lyrics of the song came to the writer after reading a newspaper article about an elder UK street musician. Name the band that did the track and of course, the song... *An internal challenge by fellow bandmates to come up with new material resulted in this group's songwriter vowing to leave them for the day, only to return in the morning with a brand new song . Furthermore he vowed the track would be a song of 'universal appeal'. Well...he did...creating the first Hot 100 chart-topper with a day in the week in the title. 1966 was the year. Name the band, the songwriter and of course the name of the song... *A song that touches on this artist's earliest childhood memories is on tap, this version from 1970 with his other famous bandmates. When this artist was 4, his parents moved to a 'nice little town...a sleepy kind of place' where everybody knew everybody. At the age of 6, the artist contracted polio prompting his parents to spend an entire year in Florida, hoping the warm weather would speed his cure. The artist also dealt with the divorce of his parents where he and his brother went to a different parent. His memories inspiring this track are bittersweet and not something he could control...to say the least. Name the artist, the song and the band that performs it from 1970... BATTLE OF THE BANDS Pearl Necklace by Z Z Top vs Rad Gumbo by Little Feat ANSWERS 1. Squeze, Tempted, Paul Carrack, How Long, The Living Years (Elvis Costello Produced) 2. The Lemon Pipers, Green Tambourine 3. The Mamas & the Papas, John Philips, Monday Monday 4. Neil Young, Helpless, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young Little Feat won by a mere 3 votes in a high vote total
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*This band had personnel changes that actually somewhat changed the style of the band back in the mid-70's. The original lineup though, reunited in 1989 for an album that went gold and represented a swing back to the bluesy boogie of their early albums. This reunion brought back the original lead singer as well. Name the band and extra credit for the name of the 1989 album and the original lead singer...
*We'll enjoy the second of two songs by this great band that put them on the rock and roll map in 1964. Their record company pressured them to follow up hits quickly, which created what the lead singer described as 'an assembly line of songs". The song we'll play is a lusty rocker where the guy can't stand to be away from his girl even for a minute. He called it, "A neurotic song-youthful, obsessive and sexually possessive. Name the band and extra credit for the name of the song and the lead singer... *A musician by the name of Warren Pash was trying to make it in the music business in Los Angeles and was working on a song called 'I Need You To Need Me', but he didn't like the title. While driving on Ventura Boulevard, he saw a movie billboard for a 1980 movie starring Don Knotts and Tim Conway. He turned around, went home and wrote the song with a new title and chorus. The song was recorded by this great group in 1981. Name the song and the band that made it a big hit... *This track won a Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance in the early 90's, beating out Oleta Adams, Mariah Carey, Amy Grant and Whitney Houston. It was also nominated for Record of the Year, but lost to 'Unforgettable'. It's a song about conversation rumors and the effect it has on the singer and the guy she's secretly in love with... Name the artist and the song... BATTLE OF THE BANDS Country Road by James Taylor vs Help Me by Joni Mitchell ANSWERS: 1. Doobie Brothers, Cycles, Tom Johnston 2. Kinks, All Day And All Of The Night, Ray Davies 3. Private Eyes, Hall and Oates 4. Bonnie Raitt, Something To Talk About James Taylor won by a mere 2 votes in a high vote total *We'll enjoy a track that is full of gypsies, travel and community. It's about the open road and music, a general celebration of freedom, despite the writer and performer creating it during a stationary period of his life.. He had moved to Woodstock, NY after recording an album in 1968 lured by the peace, quiet and the art community. And the other reason...Bob Dylan had also recently moved there. While his house was over a mile away from any other houses, he swore he could hear a radio playing as though it was in the same room...a mystery that fascinated him even to this day. Name the artist and extra credit for the song title...
*In 1971 this artist released a much more heavily produced album than his 1st three...including a lush string section. The track we'll enjoy ripened into one of his classics, but it didn't even crack the Top 40 upon release.The charting failure may have been due to the fact that the song ran 6:12, making it too long for many radio stations (not so much on Inside The Gates Radio). Name the artist, the album and the track... *Eric Clapton claimed in a press release for this album, his 14th of original material, that "One of the earliest statements I made about myself was back in the late ;80's with Journeyman. But this album completed the cycle in terms of talking about my whole journey as an itinerant musician and where I find myself now, starting a new family. That's why i chose this title of the album". Name the album... *This artist wrote most of his own material, but one of his biggest hits was a cover written by Rodney Crowell, who recorded it on his 1981 self-titled album. The plaintive track reflect on the burdens and compulsions every man carries, which seem to be most acute around midnight. Some called it a country and western song. The artist admits to it being western...but it is actually a Cowboy song. Name the artist and extra credit for the song title... Battle Of The Bands! Logical Song by Supertramp vs Can’t Get It Out Of My Head by Electric Light Orchestra Answers: 1. Van Morrison, Caravan 2. Elton John, Madman Across The Water, Tiny Dancer 3. Back Home 4. Bob Seger, Shame On The Moon Electric Light Orchestra was the winner with 56% of the votes *This great track from 2003 won the Grammy for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal. The group performed the song at the 2005 Grammy Show. The lyrics were written by a bandmember as a prayer as he was attempting to deal with the pain of losing a loved one...a son at an early age.. Name the band and extra credit for the name of the track...
*This artist let many of his strong political feelings loose in many of his songs. The track we'll play is an angry, acidic attack on then US President Richard Nixon, who resigned 2 weeks after the release of this artist;s album that included this track. The album won the 1974 Album of the year Grammy in 1974. Name the artist and extra credit for the name of the album and the song... *We'll go back to 1964 for a track written by Harold Eugene Clark and Roger McGuinn of The Byrds. The song wasn't released by this band until 1968 and was a huge hit for the group. The Byrds demo of the song was released a year later in 1969...but that one we all know and love is by the original band...a great group of the 60;s. Name the band and extra credit for the name of the song... *Another artist who never shied away from politics in his music gave us this classic track in 1970. The song is about racism in the American South, with references to slavery and the Ku Klux Klan. Another band from the south wrote a response to the song as they didn't appreciate the generalization referenced in the track. It was a 'good-natured' answer to the song as they were actually fans of the artist who did the song in question. Lot's to guess here... Name the artist and his politically charged song...Name the band that responded in kind and the name of their song... Battle Of The Bands! Is This Love? by Bob Marley vs You Haven't Done Nothing by Stevie Wonder Answers: 1. Los Lonely Boys, Heaven 2. Stevie Wonder, Fulfillingness First Finale, You Haven’t Done Nothing 3. The Turtles, You Showed Me 4. Neil Young, Southern Man, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Sweet Home Alabama Bob Marley was the winner with 54% of the votes |
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