Who Needs Singers? Trivia Quiz

Answer: Glenn Miller

Glenn Miller and his orchestra released "In the Mood" in 1940. According to the "Billboard" magazine "Best Selling Retail Records" list, it was number one for twelve weeks. Miller was one of the major big band leaders of the 20th century. He died while flying from Bedford, England to Paris in December, 1944 to entertain troops.

Some of Miller's last recordings were made at studios owned by the Gramophone Company at 3 Abbey Road in London. Two decades later the Beatles made use of the same studios.

Answer: Tequila

"Tequila" was recorded by the Champs, basically a group of studio musicians at the Challenge record studios, owned by cowboy star Gene Autry. "Tequila" was the B-side of "Train to Nowhere", which really went nowhere until a Cleveland, Ohio disc jockey turned it over and played "Tequila".

The song topped the Billboard Hot 100 for five weeks, longer than any instrumental rock song of the 20th century and is considered a rock and roll classic.

Answer: Percy Faith

"Theme from A Summer Place" was originally called "Molly and Johnny Theme", about the two teenage heartthrobs of the movie, Sandra Dee and Troy Donahue. Hugo Winterhalter and his orchestra recorded it for the movie; Percy Faith's orchestra recorded it under the revised name as a commercial hit. Billboard had recently switched its main record chart to the Billboard Hot 100; Faiths' record was number one for nine weeks and held the record for the most weeks at number one on the Hot 100 until Debby Boone came along with "You Light Up My Life" in 1977 (ten weeks).

Answer: The Harmonicats

The Harmmonicats, later Jerry Murad's Harmonicats, were a quartet (sometimes a trio) of harmonica players. Using more than just the Hohner Marine Band harmonica, they played several types of harmonicas, including the extra-wide Hohner Chord harmonica. "Peg O' MyHeart" included a bass and electric guitars as well as harmonicas.

The Harmonicats were popular because of their offbeat approach to music and if memory serves me correctly, they were featured on "The Ed Sullivan Show" well into the 1960s.

Answer: Lawrence Welk

"Calcutta" is a German pop song but it was the Lawrence Welk Orchestra who had the big hit record. Rock and rollers snickered over Welk's style and mannerisms, and his television show was sponsored for many years by Geritol, a dietary supplement for older people.

But at 57 years old, he showed the kids a thing or two by becoming the oldest person to that date who had a number one record in America.

Answer: The Stripper

"The Stripper" is a hit that almost wasn't. David Rose recorded it in 1958 for MGM Records; it sat in their vault, unnamed, until 1962 when a song was needed to be the B-side of "Ebb Tide", which was to be credited to Joe Loss & His Orchestra. As the story goes, an MGM office boy was given the task of sorting through Rose's tapes and finding a song.

He liked one particular song; it was named "The Stripper", possibly as a joke. Then a Los Angeles disc jockey discovered it, played it to death and David Rose received his claim to fame. Swedish model Gunilla Knutson got her claim to fame when she was the spokesperson in the Noxzema commercial urging men to "Take it off, take it all off!" with Rose's song as the soundtrack.

Answer: The Tornados

The Telstar satellite was launched on July 10, 1962. The "Telstar" music was written, recorded and released by August 17th. The Tornados became the second U.K. group to get a number one U.S. record that year; the other was Acker Bilk for "Stranger on the Shore". Written by Joe Meek, the Tornados recording was among the first to use electronic instruments. Meek was sued for plagiarizing the tune from "La Marche d'Austerlitz" for his work and he was unable to receive royalties.

It was finally settled in his favor, three weeks after his 1967 suicide.

Answer: Love Is Blue

"L'amour Est Bleu" became "Love Is Blue" and led to gold for Paul Mauriat. He is the only French artist to have a number one song on the Billboard Hot 100. Billboard also named it the number two song for all of 1968, beaten only by "Hey Jude" by the Beatles.

Answer: Wonderland by Night

Three of those songs were by Herb Alpert but "Wonderland by Night" was Kaempfert's hit record. Besides being number one on the Billboard Hot 100" it somehow crossed-over and became number five on Billboard's rhythm and blues chart. Many people have covered it, including Anita Bryant, Englebert Humperdinck and jazz singer and trumpeter Louis Prima.

Answer: Miami Vice

Hammer wrote "Miami Vice Theme" for the 1984 debut of the show. It was released as a single record in 1985 and captured the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 for one week, the last instrumental song to top the charts in the 20th century. It also won Grammy awards for Best Instrumental Composition and Best Pop Instrumental Performance.