Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. Recording only their second album, the producer realized the album was just too short...they needed a ~3-minute filler track. The pressure was on, as the English band only had the studio booked for a few days.
The band's guitarist quickly came up with a strong riff, and the bass player (the band's primary songwriter) wrote lyrics as the lead singer made up the tune on the spot as he read them. The entire song was completely written and recorded in just a few hours.
The guys in the band weren't fans of the song. However, it was the shortest track on the album, so it was chosen as a single. It became the band's biggest hit and only Top Ten hit on the UK Singles chart.
2. It's the mid-1970s, when the drummer of a hard rock band wrote a song that wasn't going to make the cut for the album. That is, until the producer felt the album could benefit from additional material, and this particular song offered something a little different.
The track was released as a B-side for a song the band expected to be a major hit. But radio stations started playing the B-side track instead, and the song became this band's highest-charting single in the US.
3. A solo artist was recording a signature album, featuring a few songs that were expected to be released as singles. This particular track wasn't one of those, it was added as the production team was filling out the album. The song was released as the B-side track. To everyone's surprise, radio DJs and fans preferred the B-side track, and the song became this artist's first major international breakthrough.
The song went number one in the US, UK, Australia, and Canada.
4. While recording an album in Germany, the band's legendary lead singer had a sudden burst of Elvis inspiration for a song. With the simple acoustic track coming together so quickly and easily (written in around ten minutes), it was able to be added to the album despite not being part of the planned set list.
Despite playing rhythm guitar on this track, the singer was not known at all for being a guitarist...his bandmate had that role well-covered.
5. Writing their first album together, a singer and his songwriting partner were getting rejected left and right by every record label...no one seemed to get their music. Finally, a well-established guitarist agreed to produce the album himself in his own studio. This song was the last one written for the album, inspired by an Elvis classic.
It's a good thing they added it, as the song spent 23 weeks in the Billboard Top 100 chart, reaching number 11. The album reached even greater heights.
6. The 1980s were winding down when this hair band was in studio to record their next album. The president of Columbia Records, Don Ienner, wanted an anthem. The band's lead singer sat down and wrote this double-entendre song in 15 minutes on the back of a pizza box. The song was quickly recorded, and became the title track for their album.
While the song became an MTV staple and a Top Ten hit, the band would later come to regret that this song became the one that defined the band.
7. One of rock music's all-time legends had essentially finished recording a new album. His manager pushed him for one more radio-friendly single, a request the artist initially rejected. This last-minute song became this American artist's biggest hit, even bigger than the album's famous title track. The album itself would launch him to mega-star status. The video became famous for its own reasons.
8. This artist was already a star, but the song that would prove to be his first number one single in the US almost didn't make it on his latest album. With the album complete, film director Albert Magnoli asked the artist to write one more song for his film. By the following day, they had the top-selling single of the year. One unique thing about this song...no bass.
9. The band had completed recording their fifth studio album when producer Chris Thomas - known for his work with The Beatles and Pink Floyd - told them he didn't hear a hit single. The band left the studio with one day left to write and record a song to meet his challenge.
The following day, they returned with a new song that became the band's first Top five hit in the United States, reaching number five on the Billboard Hot 100. The song, released in 1985, became an MTV staple and helped launch the Australian band onto the international stage.
10. Already having an album that peaked at number one in the UK and yielded a massive, timeless number three hit, this English duo has some pressure on them as they returned to the studio to build momentum on their success. This new album was pretty much complete, when two chords one member kept repeatedly playing grabbed the attention of the album producer. He encouraged them to use those chords and write a last minute-addition to the record.
The song would prove to be the band's biggest single, reaching number one in the US, Canada, and New Zealand and hitting number two in the UK, Ireland and Australia.
Source: Author
dcjam
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agony before going online.
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