Songs About Other Bands : #1 Trivia Quiz

Answer: Unseen Power Of The Picket Fence

"Unseen Power of the Picket Fence" first appeared on the 1993 benefit album "No Alternative", which also featured contributions from Bob Mould, Breeders, Nirvana, Sonic Youth ... Pavement wrote quite a few other songs about other people. When The Fall singer Mark E. Smith accused Pavement of totally ripping of his band, badly, and buying a Mercedes with the profits, singer Stephen Malkmus reacted by composing the ditty "Mark E Smith", in which he proclaims that Smith used to work for him and stole all his ideas.

They only played this song live a few times. Then there was the "Range Life" debacle. The lyrics to that one went: "Out on tour with the Smashing Pumpkins. Nature kids, I ... They don't have no function. I don't understand what they mean. And I could really give a ... Stone Temple Pilots, they're elegant bachelors.

They're foxy to me. Are they foxy to you? I will agree, they deserve. Absolutely nothing. Nothing more than me". It has been said, though nothing's officially confirmed, that in 1994 Smashing Pumpkins singer Billy Corgan had Pavement kicked off the Lollapalooza tour, due to these lyrics.

Answer: The Make Up

During an argument with a neighbour Arthur Lee reportedly fired a gun into the air. He was arrested and convicted of illegal possession of a firearm and reckless discharge of a firearm. He had had earlier convictions: assorted drug charges, two alleged arson incidents (he once broke into an ex-girlfriend's apartment and tried to burn it down), and driving without insurance since 1963.

He received eight to twelve years. He was released in 2001, though. Whether the Make Up song - in which they describe him as a seer and a teacher - had anything to do with this, is unconfirmed.

In April 2006 Lee was diagnosed with leukaemia.

Answer: I Heard Ramona Sing

"I Heard Ramona Sing" sounds nothing like The Ramones, but it's a beautiful tribute nonetheless. "I had so many problems. And then I got me a walkman. I really liked it a lot and - they walked right in and they solved them. They walked right in and they solved them - I heard Ramona sing. And I heard everything. The speed they're traveling. They are the only thing. Ramona."

Answer: The Freed Pig

A few years after the sacking of Barlow, original drummer Murph also left the group. Dinosaur Jr. effectively became a solo project for Mascis. In 2000 he started recording under his own name, as J Mascis & the Fog. Then in 2004 it was suddenly announced that the original line-up - JayLouMurph - was doing a reunion tour.

These three guys who supposedly hated each other and hadn't been on speaking terms for years, were suddenly touring again. One of the greatest rifts between band members ever, seemed to have cleared up all by itself. And it cleared out beautifully, cos now it's 2006 and Dinosaur Jr are still touring ...

Answer: Julian Cope Is Dead

The song appeared on Drummond's only solo album, "The Man" (1987). Unrelated info: former Soft Boys frontman Robyn Hitchcock wrote a song called "I Dreamed I Saw Julian Cope" in the early 90s. He only played it live and never recorded it. Hitchcock also wrote a song called "I Saw Nick Drake", which was used in a Volkswagen ad in 1999.

Answer: PS I Love You

Shields never completely disappeared though. From the mid-90s on he did a lot of producing and (re)mixing work (ao. for Dinosaur Jr, Yo La Tengo, Primal Scream, Mogwai, J Mascis, ...). After working on Primal Scream's "Exterminator" (2000) - or "Xtrmntr" as it's better known - he joined the band.

He even toured with them when "Evil Heat" (2002) was released. He also received a lot of praise for his contributions to the soundtrack of Sofia Coppola's "Lost In Translation" (2003). That's where on earth Kevin Shields is!

Answer: Free Kitten

Sub Pop records publicist Nils Berstein came up with the slogan 'Calvin Johnson Has Ruined Rock For An Entire Generation' as a playful dig at their 'rival' independent records mogul (Johnson is head of K Records; and singer with Dub Narcotic Sound System). Berstein printed up some t-shirts with the slogan and gave one of them to Licht. Licht then used the slogan as title for his 7". In a 1995 interview with Teen Looch he said the following: ""It's not that much of a 'statement', just a t-shirt Nils Berstein gave me. I have a t-shirt that says 'Wheelchair Sports' on it, I could have called it that too."
In 1996 Licht released a cd called "The Evan Dando Of Noise?". A reaction from the former Lemonhead hasn't surfaced yet.
Free Kitten was made up of Kim Gordon (Sonic Youth), Julia Cafritz (ex-Pussy Galore, ex-Action Swingers), Mark Ibold (ex-Pavement) and Yoshimi P-WE (Boredoms).

Answer: Velvet Underground

"Modern Lovers" was recorded in 1972-'73 but only released years later. By this time the original Modern Lovers had split up and Richman had formed a new band with a much softer sound. That's why he didn't like the record anymore, because it was quite an underground hit, but he didn't make that sort of music anymore. The original Modern Lovers were Richman of course, Jerry Harrison (Talking Heads), David Robinson (The Cars), John Felice (The Real Kids) and Ernie Brooks (David Johansen's band). The song "Velvet Underground" appeared on the 1992 album "I, Jonathan".
Who's he anyway, you ask? The guy with the guitar up the tree in "There's Something About Mary", OK.
In 2006 The Television Personalities also released a song called "Velvet Underground", on their "My Dark Places" album. It features lines like "Don't sit under the apple tree, with anyone but Lou Reed".

Answer: Alex Chilton

At the age of 16 Chilton was singer with The Box Tops, who scored a huge hit single with "The Letter" (1967). Because he was considered too young, he was given no say in the material The Box Tops recorded, so he left them. In 1970 he recorded a solo album, which was shelved until 1996.

After that he formed the powerpop band Big Star. They released three legendary albums. Later he released the garagerock standard "Like Flies On Sherbert" (1979) and produced the first records by The Cramps. With drummer Jody Stephens and aided by members of The Posies he started Big Star back up again.

They released an album - "In Space" - in 2005. His influence can't be overestimated. His songs were covered ao. by Teenage Fanclub, Placebo, This Mortal Coil, The Replacements, The Bangles, Garbage, Magnapop, The Walkabouts and Evan Dando.

Answer: "If Elvis would drop me a line."

Elvis Presley was born on January 8, 1935, in Tupelo, Memphis. In 1985 Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds released the album "The Firstborn Is Dead", which featured the song "Tupelo". It contains lyrics that refer to Elvis' birth: "Well Saturday gives what Sunday steals. And a child is born on his brothers heels. Come Sunday morn the first-born dead.

In a shoebox tied with a ribbon of red. Tupelo! Hey Tupelo! In a shoebox tied with a ribbon of red." Elvis' twin brother, Jesse Garon, died at birth and Cave gives this a very biblical twist.

As he does with everything.

Answer: Paul Weller

Teen Anthems operate under different names: Teen Anthems, Steps Pistols, Supercute, Samo Hung. Among their releases are: "Boyzone Kill Hippies", "Never Mind The Boy Rock Here's The Steps Pistols" and "Paul Weller = Anti-Christ". They're pretty funny. Check out their MySpace site: http://www.myspace.com/teenanthems

Answer: House Of Love

A certain sentence in the chorus of this 1990 tribute to The Beatles and The Stones - I can't believe they forgot about The Rolling Who - has often been the source of much merriment: "The Beatles and the Stones. Sucked the marrow out of bone. Put the 'V' in Vietnam.

The Beatles and the Stones. Made it good to be alone." Very moving indeed. So there once was a country named Ietnam, was there?

Answer: Johnny Depp

"Michael Stipe" namedrops a few other people: Sofia Coppola and River Phoenix for example. P was actually playing a gig in Johnny Depp's LA club The Viper Room on the night that Phoenix took an overdose there and passed away.
Depp is a pretty good guitar player. He's contributed music to albums by Shane McGowan & the Popes, Iggy Pop, Goran Bregovic, Chuck E. Weiss and even Oasis.
Years before this song was recorded Gibby Haynes and his band desecrated R.E.M.'s tour bus with a little poem: "Michael Stipe. Spread the hype. We'd like to suck on your bagpipe ..."

Answer: They wrote a song called "Redd Kross".

"Shonen Knife" appeared on Redd Kross' 1990 album "Third Eye". Shonen Knife sang a few songs about themselves as well: "Shonen Knife" on their "712" (1991) album and "Shonen Knife Planet" on "Happy Hour" (1998). Other bands that wrote songs about Shonen Knife: Benzene (Korean skate core - "For Shonen Knife"), Graverobbers (DC poppunk - "Shonen Knife") and Wesley Willis ("Shonen Knife"). Redd Kross were called Red Cross at first, but when the international Red Cross threatened with litigation they changed it into Redd Kross. Later, when they used a red cross in the artwork for some poster, the international Red Cross came a-threatening again.

Answer: Peter Holsapple (ex-the dBs and sometime R.E.M. collaborator) and Mykel Board (journalist for Maximum Rocknroll magazine)

Sonic Youth'ers Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo used to play in Glenn Branca's guitar orchestra, as did Swans' Michael Gira.
In a 1987 interview they had the following to say about the Swanic Youth single:
Interviewer: "What do you think of Swanic Youth?"
Thurston Moore: "It's kind of silly. I don't know."
Lee Ranaldo: "I wish I could hear it. I haven't heard it."
Moore: "Really? The only thing I don't like about it is that some people say they hear it on the radio and the DJ says it's us and the Swans together. They actually believe it's like a compilation."
It's a pretty cool single though, especially the a-side: a mangled calypso track, with vocals declaring "Thurston Moore, he big and strong. He write the dynamic songs." Check it out.