I Never Promised You a Rose Garden Quiz

"Every Rose Has Its Thorn". Poison was a heavy metal band that formed in 1983 in Pennsylvania. They were one of the so-called glam-metal bands that were a staple part of the 80s rock scene. They had a string of metal hits such as "Talk Dirty to Me" (1987), "I Won't Forget You" (1987), "Nothin' But a Good Time", "Fallen Angel" (1988), "Your Mama Don't Dance" (1989), and "Unskinny Bop" (1990).

"Every Rose Has Its Thorn" was written immediately after lead singer, Bret Michaels, rang his girlfriend from a payphone in a Dallas laundromat and heard a male voice in the background. "Music Week" (a British music periodical), reviewer Jerry Smith wrote that the song was an "overwrought ballad, but it makes a change from their ponderous metal posturing. "Cash Box" magazine stated, "Poison slows it down with a bevy of acoustic guitars, and delivers a well-measured ballad".

The song stayed at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 for three weeks in December 1988. On the "VH1" list of "100 Greatest Songs of the 80s", it was named number 34.

"Kiss from a Rose". Seal, full name Seal Henry Olusegun Olumide Adeola Samuel, born in London on 19 February 1963, is an English singer and songwriter. He has sold over twenty million records and won four Grammy awards. His eponymous debut album from 1991 was a commercial and critical success, spawning two hit singles, "Crazy" and "Killer", which reached number two and number one, respectively, on the UK singles chart. The album was only a minor success, comparatively, on the US Albums Chart, reaching number 27.

Seal released a second eponymous album in 1994, which featured two singles, "Prayer for the Dying" and "Newborn Friend", both of which were successful in the US and UK. The album later received a Grammy nomination for Album of the Year. However, when the third single, "Kiss from a Rose", was remixed for the "Batman Forever" album, this made Seal a worldwide household name. The single was more successful in the US, where it topped the US Billboard Hot 100 (number four in the UK). It won a Grammy Award for Record of the Year and a Grammy Award for Song of the Year in 1996.

This established Seal as a musical success story. He had a long, successful recording career, which was matched with philanthropic endeavours and stints on various TV shows, mainly as a celebrity music judge.

"Paper Roses". Marie Osmond was the only daughter in a family of nine. Four brothers initially formed a successful vocal band called The Osmond Brothers. Later, they were joined by younger brothers Donny and Jimmy to form the Osmonds. (The two elder brothers, Virl and Tom, had hearing difficulties.) Marie was encouraged to have a singing career as well, but she chose to record country rather than pop music.

In June 1973, aged 13, she flew to Nashville (The family was originally from Utah then lived in Los Angeles), where she recorded nine previously memorised songs. One of these was Anita Bryant's "Paper Roses", which was released as her debut single. It reached number one on the US Country Charts and crossed over to the Billboard Top 100, where it reached number five. The subsequent debut album with the same name as the single reached number one on the US Country Album Chart. She formed a successful singing duo with her brother Donny, and also had a successful TV show with her brother. While she had subsequent number one country songs, "Meet Me in Montana," "There's No Stopping Your Heart," and "You're Still New to Me" in 1985 and 1986, "Paper Roses" was always her signature song.

"Paper Roses" was written and composed by Fred Spielman and Janice Torre in 1960. Anita Bryant recorded the song, and it was a top-five hit on the Billboard Hot 100 the same year. It was her biggest hit and was also her signature song.

"Bread and Roses" had a long history before becoming a popular song. Its origin can be traced back to the Miracle of the Rose, a folk tale about St. Elizabeth of Hungary in the 13th century. She smuggled bread against her husband's knowledge to feed the poor. When accosted and accused whilst distributing this food, the cover of her basket revealed not bread but roses. In the legend, the bread represents basic human needs, and the rose dignity and human rights.

The slogan "Bread and Roses" was adopted by the women's suffrage movement and the labour movement. Helen Todd, an American suffragette, used the phrase in her speeches, "... life's Bread, which is home, shelter and security, and the Roses of life, music, education, nature and books, shall be the heritage of every child that is born in the country". Between January and March, 1912 the phrase was often associated with the textile strike in Lawrence which came to be known as the "Bread and Roses strike." The slogan pairing of bread and roses represented both fair wages and dignified working conditions.

Poet James Oppenheimer used these contexts to create "Bread and Roses". The poem was published in several national publications. The poem was set to music in 1917 and 1952. However, when Mimi Fariņa (Joan Baez's younger sister) set the poem to music using a different arrangement, it became her signature song. It was recorded by several artists, including Pete Seeger, Ani DiFranco, and Utah Phillips, among others. One of those artists was Judy Collins, who made the song her own and titled her album "Bread and Roses" in 1976.

"Second Hand Rose" was written in 1921 by Grant Clarke and James F. Hanley for Fanny Brice, an American stage and later radio artist. She introduced the song into the "Ziegfield Follies" on Broadway, where it was hailed as the standout song in a good production. It made a star out of Fanny Bryce and was made even more popular when she sang the song again in the 1928 movie, "My Man". It was her most popular song and became her signature song.

Barbra Streisand had made a name for herself in "Funny Girl", the 1964 Broadway musical based on Fania (Fanny) Brice's life. She recorded "Second Hand Rose" as one of the songs on her 1965 television special "My Name Is Barbra" and released it as a single for the upcoming album "My Name Is Barbra, Two..." It became a worldwide hit and was an early signature song until she released "The Way We Were" in 1977. She included both "Second Hand Rose" and Bryant's "My Man" in the 1968 film adaptation of "Funny Girl" (Neither song appeared in the original stage version), adding to Streisand's popularity.

"Blood and Roses". The Smithereens were a New Jersey rock band quartet from New Jersey where they formed in 1980. When their 1986 debut single "Blood and Roses" was used in the soundtrack of the 1986 movie "Dangerously Close", it gained them worldwide attention. "Blood and Roses" featured a growling bassline that underpinned the whole song. It told the story of a girl whom lead singer Pat DiNizio met in high school. The song reached 14 on the US Rock Mainstream Charts.

The album, "Especially for You", reached the Top 50 on the Billboard Albums Chart. Two more hits from the same album quickly followed: "Behind the Wall of Sleep" and "Strangers When We Meet". They collaborated with Otis Blackwell, Graham Parker and The Kinks, Belinda Carlisle, Julian Lennon, Lou Reed, and Suzanne Vega. More hits followed mainly in the 90s: "Only a Memory", "A Girl Like You" and "Too Much Passion".

The band lost their leader, Pat DiNizio, in 2017, but continued as a trio with guest vocalists.

"Rose of Cimarron" was a single by country rock band Poco and a 1976 album of the same name. Poco were the quintessential American country rock band: rock music with pedal steel guitar, country vocal styles and western lyrical themes.

In the same vein, "Rose of Cimaron" is the quintessential country rock track. Laid back rock driven by songwriter Rusty Young's pedal steel guitar and twin lead vocals and harmonies from Timothy B. Schmidt and Paul Cotton. The western theme was provided by the song, which told the story of Rose Dunn, who was romantically involved with outlaw George Newin. The song was written in 1973 in Oklahoma during Poco's 1973 tour. They learned of her from a pamphlet: "It told a story of a woman who took in outlaws in the 1800s. She fed them, mended their wounds and sent them on their way."

The album track was long at 6:42, which had to be cut down to 3:14 to make it radio-friendly, which caused it to lose some of its lyrical imagery. It charted on the Billboard Hot 100 as high as number 94, but it probably increased album sales as the album charted higher on the corresponding albums chart. Surprisingly, it charted highest in Australia, where it was their only hit.

Fun fact. Bass player and Poco vocalist Timothy B. Schmidt replaced Randy Meisner in Poco, who left to play bass in the Eagles. When Meisner left the Eagles in 1976, it was Schmidt who replaced him... again!

"Candle in the Wind 1997", also known as "Goodbye England's Rose", was a tribute to Princess Diana, who died at 36 in a car crash in Paris in 1997. It was a reworking of John's "Candle in the Wind" (1973), a tribute to Marilyn Monroe, who also died aged 36. Perhaps because of the same age at death, many of those writing in the book of condolence at St James's Palace were quoting the lyrics of "Candle in the Wind". Elton John was asked if he would rework the song and sing it at the funeral. He did both. (His writing partner Bernie Taupin revised the lyrics). His rendition of the song, the only time he publicly performed the new version, was at Princess Diana's funeral at Westminster Abbey. Elton John was a personal friend of the Princess.

The single of the song became the fastest-selling single in the UK, selling 1.5 million copies in the first week and over five million copies overall in the UK. It debuted at number one on the UK singles chart and stayed there for five weeks. Worldwide, it sold 33 million copies.

The image is of a horse-drawn hearse similar to one used in the Princess' funeral, which was one of the most-watched TV programs in history.

"(I Never Promised You A) Rose Garden" (1970) was a country song that made the US pop charts and won a Grammy for Best Country Vocal Performance, Female.

The song was written by American singer-songwriter Joe South in 1967 and recorded three times in two years by South himself, Billy Joe Royal, and Dobie Grey. The latter was a minor hit, reaching number 19 on the Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100 singles chart.

Lynn Anderson had some minor country hits before appearing on "The Lawrence Welk Show", which garnered her a recording contract with Columbia Records. Moving to Nashville with her husband and producer, Glenn Sutton, Anderson began to seek country-pop material to record. She had a minor hit in that genre with 1970's "Stay There, Till I Get There", written by her husband, who also produced.

Anderson wanted to record "Rose Garden" but Sutton refused, stating it was not a girl's song, ostensibly because of the male-oriented lyrics (e.g., "I could promise you things like big diamond rings"), but Anderson persisted, and Columbia Records, Clive Davis, heard the song being mixed and told Sutton to release it as he believed it would be a "smash". He was right. It went to number one on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart in 1970, and then went to number three on the Billboard Hot 100. It sold 1,000,000 copies and was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America. It became Lynn Anderson's signature song.

The image invokes a mean husband telling his lovely wife, "I never promised you a rose garden", despite her impassioned pleas for him to buy the quintessential English cottage. What a creep!

"Bed of Roses". Bon Jovi was a massively successful glam rock band from New Jersey. In 1984. Their self-titled debut album and its single "Runaway" both reached the top forty of the US Albums Chart and the Billboard Hot 100, respectively.

By the time they released their fifth studio album, "Keep the Faith" (1992), they had had three number one Billboard Hot 100 hits and two number one albums. The second single from the album. "Bed of Roses" marked a change for the group. "Bed of Roses" was a ballad, albeit a power ballad, and its characteristic soft piano playing was in sharp contrast to the extended guitar riffs that normally defined the Bon Jovi hard rock sound. The personal song was written on the road (Jon's hotel bought a piano to his room). The song explains some of the problems he was undergoing at this time as he was trying to balance home life with the struggles of life on the road. (The "mistress" in the song is the music industry, and the media is the "spotlight".)

The song was a worldwide top ten and helped entrench the power ballad as a commercial enhancement for hard rock bands of the era. (Note the similarities in success with Poison and "You Give Love a Bad Name".)