10,000 Maniacs: 40 Years of Mania Quiz

Answer: Still Life

The closest "major" city to Jamestown is the Lake Erie port city of Erie, Pennsylvania, about 45 miles away, with Buffalo (NY) about 70 miles distant and Cleveland (OH) and Pittsburgh (PA) about 150 miles. Despite Jamestown's and the region's ties to the Chautauqua movement of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the area has become better known in recent years as Lucy's hometown, and the Lucille Ball Desi Arnaz Museum is located in Jamestown.

But another big tourist attraction is the infamous and bizarre "Scary Lucy" statue in the neighboring town of Celeron (where Lucy grew up) in 2009.

Although a replacement statue that looked much more like Lucy was commissioned and installed in 2016, the original statue had become such a tourist attraction that it was also retained, although relocated 75 yards away from its replacement.

Answer: Natalie Merchant

Merchant had been a backing singer in Still Life, where the lead singer was Teri Newhouse, the ex-wife of lead guitarist Rob Buck. After Newhouse left that band, Merchant took over as lead singer, and the band changed its name to Burn Victims and then to 10,000 Maniacs (a parody of the name of the low-budget 1964 grindhouse horror movie "Two Thousand Maniacs!").

She and fellow band member John Lombardo (rhythm guitar) soon began writing original songs for the band to perform, so it could escape the dead end of being a "covers" band that played songs by others -- although the band's two biggest hits in its first 40 years turned out to be covers.

Answer: Peter Asher

10,000 Maniacs' first Elektra album, "The Wishing Chair", was produced in London by Joe Boyd, who was also producing R.E.M.'s "Fables of the Reconstruction" at the same time (the wrong answers were the next three producers to work with R.E.M. after Boyd). The decision to go with Asher as producer and appeal more to the popular market was not without conflict, as guitarist John Lombardo left the band. He later started a Buffalo-based folk-rock duo named "John & Mary" with violist/singer Mary Ramsey, and they released two albums on Rykodisk in 1991 and 1993. However, other members of the group, mainly lead guitarist Rob Buck and keyboardist Dennis Drew, took over Lombardo's role of writing melodies for Natalie Merchant's lyrics, and Merchant also wrote a few herself. And success followed. Beginning with the first album with Asher, named "In My Tribe", the next four 10,000 Maniacs albums all went platinum in the US, meaning that they sold at least one million copies.

Working with Asher, who had been head of A&R for Apple Records and was a close friend of The Beatles, was not without challenges, however. As bassist Steven Gustafson remembered in a 2016 interview, "[Asher] was used to working with studio musicians who would and could play anything you asked them to play. We didn't have that kind of talent and I think it frustrated him at times, but he was a true professional and liked us enough to work with us again."

Answer: These Are Days

"These Are Days" was composed by singer Natalie Merchant and lead guitarist Rob Buck. All four of the choices were songs from the 1992 album "Our Time In Eden", but "These Are Days" was the only one that reached the charts as a single.

Answer: Peace Train

Although all four of the choices were covers recorded by 10,000 Maniacs, only "Peace Train" was written and performed by the artist previously known as Cat Stevens, who converted to Islam in 1978 and adopted the name Yusuf Islam. In February 1989, Ayatollah Khomeini, the ruler of Iran, issued a fatwa ordering devout Muslims to murder British author Salman Rushdie over Rushdie's novel "The Satanic Verses", as well as the editors and publishers of that novel. Iran offered a reward of $6 million for Rushdie's murderer.

A couple of weeks after that, Yusuf Islam was asked during an appearance at a UK university about the fatwa and stated, "[Rushdie] must be killed. The Qur'an makes it clear." He also stated in a TV interview at the same time that he would rather burn Rushdie in person instead of burning an effigy of Rushdie.

The backlash was immediate, including the reaction by 10,000 Maniacs. In subsequent years, Islam tried to disavow these comments, stating repeatedly that he had been quoted out of context and that the meaning of his words had been twisted by reporters.

Answer: Because the Night

All four of the choices are songs that 10,000 Maniacs took into the US Billboard Modern Rock Tracks top 10, but the incorrect answers were all originals. The Patti Smith Group's original version of "Because the Night" had peaked at number 13 in the Billboard Hot 100 in 1978, but 10,000 Maniacs' version, taken from their live performance on "MTV Unplugged", rose all the way to number 11. Lead singer Natalie Merchant and lead guitarist Rob Buck performed "Because the Night" with the house band on "Late Night with David Letterman" after the album's release -- the fourth time they had appeared on the show without the rest of 10,000 Maniacs (contrasted with only one time that the entire band had appeared on Letterman's show). Powered by the hit, the band's "MTV Unplugged" live album became their biggest hit in the US, certified as triple platinum for sales of over 3 million units.

Answer: Mary Ramsey, a member of the backing band, took over as lead singer

Since drummer Jerome Augustyniak joined at the start of 1983, 10,000 Maniacs' core membership had only had one change heading into 1993: the departure of John Lombardo in 1986. Then Merchant, who was the band's singer, lyricist, and on-stage focus, left -- and the band's momentum cratered. Elektra Records chose to keep her and drop the band.

But Mary Ramsey, former member John Lombardo's partner in the duo John & Mary, had been playing viola and violin (and adding backing vocals) in 10,000 Maniacs' touring band since 1990, after John & Mary had done a tour as their opening act, and had also played on both the "Our Time in Eden" and "MTV Unplugged" albums.

The band decided to continue with Ramsey out front, similar to the way Merchant herself had replaced Teri Newhouse in 1981.

The other members also invited Lombardo to rejoin, and so the net impact was that John & Mary became a full part of 10,000 Maniacs in place of Merchant. However, although the split was not acrimonious, the band's fans tended to choose sides between the band and Merchant, which created a hostile environment for 10,000 Maniacs' next release.

Answer: More Than This

Although all four songs listed are from 10,000 Maniacs' next album "Love Among the Ruins", the other three are originals. Brian Ferry's "More Than This" had been a huge hit for Roxy Music in the UK, reaching number six, but in the US it peaked at number 58 on the Billboard Hot 100. Once again, as with "Because the Night", 10,000 Maniacs' cover, which reached number 25 on the Billboard Hot 100, was a bigger hit in the US than the original.

However, the album ended the band's run of success, peaking at number 104 in the Billboard Top 200 albums, which led to the band being dropped by Geffin Records. To date, "Love Among the Ruins" was the band's last album on a major record label.

Answer: Lead guitarist Rob Buck died

Buck died of liver failure in December 2000 after a three-week hospital stay. Unfortunately, his condition deteriorated so rapidly that a liver transplant was not possible. About a year after Buck's death, the band played a benefit concert in Toronto with Jeff Erickson, who had been Buck's guitar tech, replacing him, and some of the members decided to reform the band in 2002 with Erickson in Buck's place -- but with Chicago-based Oskar Saville as lead singer.

As a result, John & Mary left and released two more duo albums in 2003 and 2007.

However, in 2006 Mary Ramsey returned to 10,000 Maniacs as a backing musician, and a year later Saville left and Ramsey again moved to lead vocals, where she has remained ever since.

Answer: Music from the Motion Picture

In fact, the band has only released nine studio albums in those 40 years (five with Merchant and four with Ramsey), and just two in the last 20 years. 2013's "Music from the Motion Picture", dedicated to Rob Buck, was the only studio album of originals in that 20-year period. 2015's "Twice Told Tales" was a collection of traditional songs (thus, "twice told") from the British Isles arranged in 10,000 Maniacs' style, which also marked the return of John Lombardo to the band.

The other two options were both live albums: "Live Twenty-Five" was a live album from the 25th anniversary tour in 2006 featuring Oskar Saville as lead vocalist, and "Playing Favorites" was a live album from 2016 featuring the current band, which has remained unchanged since Lombardo's return.