MetaQuiz: Songs on the Radio About The Radio -2

Answer: They Might Be Giants

John Flansburgh and John Linnell formed They Might Be Giants back in 1982. They performed as a duo and then in the 1990s they expanded to a full fledged alternative rock band. The band has predominantly been featured successfully on modern rock radio stations and college radio music charts.

Answer: System of a Down

The band formed in southern California in 1994 and consists of four members all with Middle East ethnic lineage. They have been nominated for four Grammy Awards, and this song, "Radio/Video" is from their 2005 album "Mesmerize". The band's name comes from a poem titled "Victims of a Down" written by guitarist Daron Malakian.

The "Danny and Lisa" mentioned in the song were friends of Malakian when he was a boy.

Answer: The Ramones

From their 1980 album "End of the Century", the song "Do You Remember Rock 'n' Roll" is the Ramones' homage to the music of the 50s and 60s that influenced them. The opening of the song features a voice saying, "Come on, let's rock and roll with the Ramones." That voice belongs to Sean Donahue, a California disc jockey who worked at radio stations in San Francisco (KSAN) and San Jose (KOME, KSJP).

The song "We Want The Airwaves" is from their 1981 album "Pleasant Dreams." The song was Joey Ramone's statement that he wants real rock songs played on radio stations.

Answer: "Nothing's On Her...Radio" by Bare Naked Ladies

The title of all of those actual songs derives from a quote by Marilyn Monroe. In 1952 the blonde bombshell actress addressed the issue of her posing nude for a calendar: "It's not true I had nothing on. I had the radio on."

Answer: The Dead Kennedys

The Dead Kennedys formed in San Francisco in 1978 consisting of Klaus Flouride, Jello Biafra, D. H. Peligro and East Bay Ray. This title of this song of theirs plays off the title of the Leni Riefenstahl film "Triumph of the Will"--the propaganda nature of that documentary and its Nazi attempt at mind control was likened in the song to the mind control of commercial music:
"See the macho cock-rock metal heroes
Vomit fire out of their big mouths
Shake your fists obediently
Make Leni Riefenstahl real proud."

Answer: punk rock

NOFX was formed in 1983 in Los Angeles, California by vocalist/bassist Fat Mike (Mike Burnett) and Eric Melvin (guitarist). The name for the band, NOFX, stemmed from Burnett's admiration of a hardcore Boston punk band called Negative FX.

Answer: Rush

Neil Peart, the drummer for Rush, told Billboard magazine, "'The Spirit of Radio' was actually written as a tribute to all that was good about radio, celebrating my appreciation of magical moments I'd had since childhood, of hearing 'the right song at the right time.'"

Answer: Stevie Wonder

Pixie told the story: "We were recording in Los Angeles, and one of the guys said he had a friend coming over - he wouldn't say who it was. I was really overwhelmed when Stevie Wonder, my all-time favorite musician, walked through the door." And it is Stevie Wonder who plays harmonica on the record.

"Throw your hand in the air
'Cause we come we don't care
Oh don't forget this
You can wreck this
With the sand on my face
Let's go back to the base
Where everyone will let it go
'Cause Stevie's on the radio"

Answer: The Clintons and Good Charlotte

The Clintons' song goes like,
"And then another song about sex starts playing on the radio
And it sounds so good, the world gets to singing along."

And Good Charlotte's song goes,
"I love the song she sings
'Cause when I turn around it's like she singing to me
And every word she means
Like it could be about me (it could be about me)
She's sounds to me
She's sounds like sex on the radio
I love to hear her scream
And when I push play she's screaming in stereo"

Answer: Steely Dan

How can "FM" not be in a quiz featuring songs about the radio? Steely Dan is one of my favorite bands, so it was a very sad occasion to me when founding member Walter Becker passed away last year at the age of only 67.

And so I sign off the air for now with these words about "FM" from Donald Fagen, the other half of Steely Dan: "There was a film called FM and we were asked to do the title song," he said. "And I said, 'Does it have to have any specific words?' And they said, 'No, it just has to be about FM radio.' We wrote that very quickly, I remember, in one or two days. And we also recorded it very quickly, too. Johnny Mandel came in and did the string chart. It was fun to meet Johnny Mandel."