Welcome to the future (if you’re reading this in the Americas). It’s already 29 August here, and it’s time for some quizzing. We’re up to #37 in this long-running series. This week you need to tell the difference between the…
Neil Finn grew up in Te Awamutu, a provincial town in New Zealand. As a teenage guitarist, he joined his brother Tim in the art-rock band Split Enz. When the Enz switched gears to new wave pop, Neil provided their…
Every New Zealand #1 single… 7 Black or White by Michael Jackson Topped the NZ chart: for 8 weeks from 24 November 1991. Michael Jackson Michael Jackson was the eighth of ten children, growing up on Jackson Street in Gary,…
The Decemberists rode the wave of early 21st-century Indie to success, attracting attention with their predilection for historical epics and olde English folk music. They hail from Portland, Oregon, but the band was named for the Decembrist Revolution in 19th-century…
Pointing out bad lyrics in a tween fantasy Disney series feels like shooting fish in a barrel. But this quartet of movies features some of the most ridiculous wordsmithery I’ve ever heard. I’ve had this post sitting in my draft…
It’s just another day of quizzing. Can you match 20 disparate artists to their greatest hits? I could do it with 85% efficiency, scoring 17 The overall results were interesting – Adam Lambert is apparently more recognisable than Freddie…
Creedence Clearwater Revival released their first album in 1968. They seemingly emerged from a Florida swamp but actually came from El Cerrito in California. Rebelling against the psychedelic rock of the late 1960s, Creedence began their career playing stripped-down and…
Neil Finn’s Crowded House has become a family firm, with his two sons officially in the band, while his wife and older brother Tim also contribute backing vocals Meanwhile, singer-songwriter Jessica Pratt is back with a record where Phil Spector…
Before he became Patti Smith’s lead guitarist, Lenny Kaye compiled Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era. Released in 1972, the two-LP set covered American garage rock and psychedelia from the years 1965-1968 and was a major influence on…
Number 36 in the series, and as we know, the sum of the integers from 1 to 36 is 666. Can you match the artist to the cover of their greatest hits? I find it difficult to believe that Sandi Thom…
