Background English folkie Nick Drake barely created a ripple during his lifetime. He recorded three albums of beautiful acoustic folk, but barely sold a copy during his lifetime. His acoustic music was sophisticated, with flourishes of jazz, and his acoustic…
Congratulations to Jim S. and Bruce who both scored 49/50 in the first week of the decades quiz, putting them in the lead with an average percentage of 98%. This week’s challenge is from the 2010s. You need to link…
Carly Rae Jepsen’s 2015 album Emotion wasn’t a big seller, but it was critically adored and became a cult favourite, making it a tough act to follow. Alongside Jepsen’s impeccable pop sense, the record featured indie rock textures. Organic instrumentation…
For the next 6 weeks, you’re invited to join a decades quiz – as well as having a weekly winner, I’ll tabulate our scores to find a champion across the different decades of pop (from the 1960s to the current…
Weyes Blood was born Natalie Mering, in California, and grew up in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. She derived the name Weyes Blood from the Flannery O’Connor novel Wise Blood, and released her first album in 2011, following self released albums as Weyes…
James Murphy always intended to be a drummer or a sound technician, but ended up fronting a dance-rock band New York’s LCD Soundsystem bridge the divide between dance and rock – Murphy’s raw vocals are a great entry point for…
Congratulations to Jim, Rich, Badfinger20, and Tony who all scored perfect marks in last week’s 1970s quiz. This week’s challenge requires you to fill in will, won’t, can, or can’t into song titles. I like how they included both Joy…
Led Zeppelin were the archetypal hard rock band. They streamlined the sound of 1960s rock bands like Cream and The Who; an important innovation was John Bonham’s crisp, groove-based drumming, which contrasted with the busy style of The Who’s Keith…
In 1967, The Rolling Stones followed The Beatles into baroque psychedelia. While the resulting album, Their Satanic Majesties Request, has its admirers, the band were quick to abandon the summer of love, toughening their sound for the blues-rock of 1968’s…
Congratulations to Rich Kamerman and 2loud2old, who both scored 25/25 in last week’s quiz, with Rich scoring the slightly faster time. Maybe this week we should listen to what the Kamerman said? Bruce requested a 1970s quiz this week, so…
