* Long before this artist made his name as a mighty crossbow hunter, there was this heavy Detroit band in which he was content to play lead guitar, something he did very well and with much less threat to the Midwest's deer population. We'll enjoy this band's most famous track from 1968 this evening. Name the artist, the band and extra credit for the name of the song...
*This band was the best English band never to hit it big in America. Outside Europe, all anybody remembers them for is their one big hit, that we'll play later this evening. That hit was hardly representative of their psychedelic sound, much less their full musical range, but in England, the band was one of the most successful bands of the mid-60's, serious competitors to The Who and potential rivals to The Rolling Stones. Name the band and extra credit for the name of their big hit... *This 1965 hit song by this British band was inspired by a 1955 gospel song by The Staple Singers. The Staples version had a real uplifting message and was quite spiritual, but the new version by this band changed the meaning of the song, making it into a stern message to a girl. Many gospel fans felt the song was ripped off and that The Staple Singers should have received royalties, but that never happened. The band oftentimes has success reworking songs by black artists into hits. Name the band and extra credit for the name of the track... *This artist released an album in 1975 that did not fare well, so his next album was quite successful by comparison. The album of pop/rock songs brought the artist's usual rhythmic folk-rock into contemporary style with the Muscle Shoals rhythm section and snapply production that included lots of synthesizers. The album, as a whole, explored the artist;s ambivalence about being in the music business, an attitude that would find him dropping out and finding religion after one more album. We'll enjoy a track from it which produced a final Top 40 hit for the artist. Name the artist... BATTLE OF THE BANDS Get Back by The Beatles vs God Only Knows by The Beach Boys ANSWERS 1. Ted Nugent, The Amboy Dukes, Journey To The Center Of The Mind 2. Small Faces, Ithcycoo Park 3. Rolling Stones, The Last Time 4. Cat Stevens (Old Schoolyard) Listeners picked The Beach Boys by a 51% margin
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Jeff Weigl Beats Working Friday @ 4pm
Handle With Care was the first single from The Traveling Wilburys, a supergroup created by George Harrison and Jeff Lynne. Initially an informal grouping with Roy Orbison and Tom Petty, they got together at Bob Dylan's Santa Monica, California, studio to quickly record an additional track as a B-side for the single release of Harrison's song "This Is Love." "Handle With Care" was the song they came up with, which Harrison and his record company immediately realized was too good to be released as merely a B-side. The five superstars decided to form a band and make an entire album, recording nine more songs at Dave Stewart's (of Eurythmics) house in Los Angeles in a 10-day window when they were all available. "Handle With Care" is a phrase that is sometimes stamped onto boxes to let delivery personnel know that the contents are fragile. In this song, the singer must be handled with care because he's been hurt in the past. Bob Dylan's studio, where they recorded the song, was in his garage, and George Harrison noticed a box that was marked "Handle with Care," inspiring the lyric. Sunday Papers is one of the few songs on Joe Jackson's debut album Look Sharp! that isn't about interpersonal relationships and matters of love. It is a takedown of the Fleet Street press, the UK print media that were prone to cover sensationalistic and frightening news stories to boost readership. Jackson had his battles with the press, who often categorized him in ways that weren't to his liking. His message here: don't trust everything you read, and don't let it affect your lifestyle. Rock Critic Dave Marsh described Roger Daltrey’s scream near the end of the song Won’t Get Fooled Again by The Who as "the greatest scream of a career filled with screams". The song was originally intended for a rock opera Townshend had been working on, Lifehouse, which was a multi-media exercise based on his followings of the Indian religious avatar Meher Baba, showing how spiritual enlightenment could be obtained via a combination of band and audience. After Lifehouse was abandoned as a project, producer Glyn Johns felt "Won't Get Fooled Again", along with other songs, were so good that they could simply be released as a standalone single album, which became Who's Next. *Back in 1968 2 songwriters of this great band wrote a song in reaction to the murders of Martin Luther King and Robert F. Kennedy. The song message? A simple missive calling for unity and understanding. All this while the Vietnam war was waging and protests mounting. Name the band, the songwriters of the band and extra credit for the name of the song...
*Whoever named this band back in the day (they formed in 1967) was either lucky or prescient. The only thing about the group that hasn't changed since it formed is the rhythm section of the band members whose names played a huge role in the naming of the band. Name the band and the band members... *Hoyt Axton, largely seen as a country artist, wrote some great songs in his career, One of those tracks was written for an animated TV special called The Happy Song, but it never materialized. Undeterred, Axton pitched the song to a band he was opening for on tour. The band didn't think too much of it when they recorded it, but they tacked it on to their album at the time as they needed one more song for completion. It ended up being a huge #1 hit. Name the band that recorded it and the song itself... *This Canadian artist was basically a country traditionalist on her early albums evoking the spirit and talents of Patsy Cline. Her songwriting later on moved into a more impressionistic direction with her albums from the 1990's and forward. Name the artist... BATTLE OF THE BANDS Sweet Thing by Mick Jagger vs Take It Away by Paul McCartney ANSWERS 1. The Rascals, Eddie Brigati & Felix Cavaliere, People Got to Be Free 2. Fleetwood Mac, Mick Fleetwood, John McVie 3. Three Dog Night, Joy To The World 4. k. d. lang Listeners picked Paul McCartney by a 54% margin *After a remarkable string of hits through 1969, this band released its fourth album in less than 18 months. It sold well, got to #8 on one of the Billboard charts and the entire album consisted primarily of songs written by some of rock music's best, but as yet unheralded, composers. It also yielded the group's first number 1 hit, a track written by Randy Newman. We'll play a track from that album written by Paul Williams. Name the band and extra credit for the name of the song...
*We'll venture back to 1965 for one of the most gut-wrenching songs on record. It's about a man who tries to hide his pain, but cannot conceal his feelings from crying so much. It is a Motown hit that Berry Gordy has claimed to be the very best by this artist. Name the artist and the song from back in 1965. *One of the name band members of this group wrote a song inspired by Buddhist belief that life is a wheel and we get on and get off...just like life energy that gets recycled. Additionally inspiration for the track came from a 'real life' experience as he was riding on a friend's sailboat. He felt like he could immediately sail a boat even if he had not previously done so. Name the artist (songwriter), the band and the name of the song from 1970. *Timothy Leary was a psychologist who became famous for experimenting with LSD as a way to promote social interaction and raise consciousness. He experimented on himself and others as well, but the government cracked down on LSD and arrested Leary. In 1969, Leary decided to run for Governor of California and asked this particular artist to write a song for him. The original title of the song became Leary's campaign slogan, but his bid failed epically. The song became a classic with its shortened title. Name the artist who wrote the song and extra credit for the name of the track. BATTLE OF THE BANDS Tracks Of My Tears by Smokey Robinson vs I Say A Little Prayer by Aretha Franklin ANSWERS #1 Three Dog Night, Out In The Country #2 Smokey Robinson, Tracks Of My Tears #3 David Crosby, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Deja Vu #4 John Lennon, Come Together Aretha won by a couple of votes Jeff Weigl Beats Working Friday @ 4pm
I Can See for Miles by The Who was written by Pete Townshend after meeting his future wife. It was written in character, of a vindictive type, as the jealousy and suspicion that would well up in him while he was on the road. It was the only Who single to reach the Billboard Top 10. The Album In Step by Stevie Ray Vaughan was Stevie's first album after he stopped drinking and is dedicated to sobriety. The album title is a reference to the 12-step program for alcoholics. The songs on the album refer to the pressures of life that lead to alcohol abuse but show how you can still rock out even when you are sober. Stone Free by Jimi Hendrix was released as the B-side of his first single "Hey Joe," and was the first song Hendrix wrote for his band The Jimi Hendrix Experience. According to Hendrix: Setting the Record Straight, Jimi did not write it willingly. He wanted to use a cover of "Land Of 1,000 Dances" as the flip side to "Hey Joe," but his producer Chas Chandler ordered him to sit down and write a new song, which he did that night. 867-5309 / Jenny by Tommy Tutone was written by Alex Call while sitting under a tree. He said: "Despite all the mythology to the contrary, I actually just came up with the 'Jenny,' and the telephone number and the music and all that just sitting in my backyard. There was no Jenny. I don't know where the number came from, I was just trying to write a 4-chord rock song and it just kind of came out. I had the guitar lick, I had the name and number, but I didn't know what the song was about. Jim Keller, who's the co-writer, was the lead guitar player in Tommy Tutone stopped by and said, 'Al, it's a girl's number on a bathroom wall,' and we had a good laugh. I said, 'That's exactly right, that's exactly what it is.' When Jim showed up, we wrote the verses in 15 or 20 minutes, they were just obvious.” The single Play the Game by Queen was the first time Mercury displayed his soon-to-be-famous moustache, which would become a huge part of his look for many years - although at the time hardcore Queen fans didn't like the change of image, even going as far as to send him disposable razors to shave it off. Midnite Cruiser by Steely Dan is one of two songs on the debut album Can’t Buy a Thrill where Donald Fagen does not sing lead. The reason there are 2 other lead vocalists is that Donald Fagen expressed some concerns about singing live. The song Midnite Cruiser was sung by drummer Jim Hodder. *This great artist has long subscribed to the tenet of capitalism that it isn't necessary to come up with great ideas yourself as long as you can recognize someone else's great ideas and use them. The Grateful Dead, for example, developed a rabid following of self-dubbed fans and gave themselves a name with only gradual recognition by the band. This artist's band gained a title of recognition, but the inspiration and actual name was given to them by Timothy B. Schmitt, when he was actually playing in the artist's back up band in the early 80's. Name the artist and the name for the fan base...
*A song we'll play is about a guy who is infatuated with a girl, and convinces himself that she must have a boyfriend. As he tries to work up the courage to talk to her, he keeps losing confidence by reminding himself that she's too fine not to be taken. The song was written for and included in a 1982 film that we've all probably watched more than once. Name the artist, the song and 1982 film... *This band, part of a New York City music scene that included The Lovin' Spoonful and The Youngbloods back in the 60's wrote and performed a song that occupies an interesting little niche in music history: somewhere between Acid and Punk rock, with a little Mothers Of Invention "Freak Out" mixed in. (Nice) The track included boastful lyrics "Nothin' can hold us and nothin' can keep us down, and someday our names will be all over town. Alas, they ended up a one-hit wonder. Name the band and the track that also made the soundtrack of the cult movie, Easy Rider... *A track we'll play is about unconditional love where one is determined to stick it out through good times and bad. It is a very popular wedding song. The artist who wrote and performed it did about 100 takes before he got to one that he deemed passable, but really wasn't completely satisfied with even that one. One of the song's co-writers, Willie Mitchell who was also the artist's producer, set him straight telling him...'it had magic on it.' The track went on to spend 9 straight weeks atop the Billboard Hot Soul Singles chart. Name the artist and the song from 1972... BATTLE OF THE BANDS White Wedding by Billy Idol vs Good Times Roll by The Cars ANSWERS 1. Jimmy Buffett, Parrotheads 2. Jackson Browne, Somebody’s Baby, Fast Times at Ridgemont High 3. Blues Magoos, (We Ain’t Got) Nothing Yet 4. Al Green, Let’s Stay Together The Cars preferred by listeners by a 54% margin *This artist was a 13-year old paperboy in New Rochelle, NY when Buddy Holly died. He learned about the plane crash when he cut into his stack of papers and saw the lead story. He wrote a song in tribute to Holly as he absolutely loved his music. The Beatles, Sgt. Pepper's album was also a huge influence as that song represented the turn from innocence of the '50's to the darker, more volatile times of the '60's. Name the song and the artist who wrote and performed it...
*This song, a favorite of the writer and band member that performed it, got the idea after hearing the quite long song by Bob Dylan, Ballad in Plain D, on the radio. A particular line in the song became the foundation for the track released in 1969. Quentin Tarantino used the track in his movie, Jackie Brown. Name the artist who wrote it, the song and the band that recorded it... *1969's classic Crosby, Stills & Nash song, Wooden Ships lyrics became the inspiration and concept for this 1974 track. "If you smile at me I will understand/'Cause that is something/Everybody, everywhere does in the same language." The track appeared on this band's 3rd album, while reaching #10 on the Billboard chart, but it has resonated throughout the decades. It is also the title track of the band's album. Name the band and the song... *This artist did quite well in the '60's and 70's in 3 different bands, but was struggling to find success as a solo musician. He then teamed with a lyricist who had written songs for Barry Manilow, Joe Cocker and The Crusaders and the pair wrote all of the songs for his next solo album in 1980. It was the first album recorded at the studio he built in his English estate. He controlled every aspect of the album, playing all the instruments and doing his own production. Name the artist and extra credit for the album name that got him rolling as a solo artist... BATTLE OF THE BANDS Bare Trees by Fleetwood Mac vs South City Midnight Lady by The Doobie Brothers ANSWERS 1. American Pie, Don McLean 2. Randy Bachman, Undone, The Guess Who 3. Wet Willy, Keep On Smilin’ 4. Steve Winwood, Arc Of The Diver The Doobie Brothers preferred by listeners by a 59% margin |
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