A Whole Lotta Rosies Trivia Quiz

Answer: AC/DC

I thought I'd start with the song that gave me the idea for this quiz. "Whole Lotta Rosie" was taken from the AC/DC album "Let There Be Rock". The song is believed to based on Bon Scott's experiences with a rather large lady called Rosie although Angus Young and Malcolm Young also contributed to the lyrics. "Whole Lotta Rosie" was released in AC/DC's native Australia in 1977 but didn't chart in Britain until some three years later.

Answer: Poison

"Every Rose Has Its Thorn" was a power ballad by the Pennsylvanian rock band Poison. It was written by vocalist Bret Michaels in response to a failed relationship. This type of power ballad was not always appreciated by fellow glam-metal bands: Dee Snyder of Twisted Sister on the demise of glam-rock "...it was them "power ballads", you know! Bret is gonna kill me for saying this but "Every Rose" completely killed the metal in the pop metal scene man. All of a sudden, all the heavy metal rock bands got rid of their distortion pedals and went acoustic." Well maybe but I think it had probably had its day anyway.

Answer: Aretha Franklin

"Spanish Harlem" is a brilliant song from Jerry Leiber and Phil Spector which was first recorded by Ben E. King in 1961. The great Aretha Franklin changed the lyrics slightly (originally the rose was red) and took her version to a slightly disappointing number fourteen some ten years after the original (which hadn't charted in Britain).

Answer: Seal

Seal (real name; Seal Henry Olusegun Olumide Adeola Samuel!) had hit singles with "Crazy" and "Killer" before "Kiss from a Rose" in 1995.
Fish was the lead singer with Marillion.
The Seahorses were a band formed by John Squire after the break-up of The Stone Roses.

Answer: Don Partridge

Ah! the 'sixties; when anyone could seemingly make the charts from The Singing Nun to... well a one-man-band! Don Partridge was discovered while busking and his song "Rosie" reached number four in the UK charts. The follow-up "Blue Eyes" went one better.

After that the novelty started to wear-off and Don went back to relative obscurity, resurfacing occasionally on various retro TV shows and a couple of appearances on "Never Mind the Buzzcocks".

Answer: The Stone Roses

The Stone Roses were a Manchester band which included Ian Brown and John Squire both of whom had later successes in various guises. "She Bangs the Drum" was a number thirty-six hit for The Stone Roses in 1989.
"Second Hand Rose" was a hit single for Barbra Streisand in 1966 and is also the name of a Chinese rock band.
Rose Tyler, played by Billie Piper, is the name of one of The Doctor's companions in the BBC TV series "Doctor Who". Billie had turned to acting after a successful music career which included two number one singles but, disappointingly, none of her hits contain the word rose in the title.

Answer: Joe South

Joe South was born in Atlanta Georgia and had hit singles with songs such as "Walk a Mile in My Shoes" and "Games People Play". Several acts, not all of them country, have recorded Joe South's songs including Deep Purple with "Hush". Lynn Anderson's version of "... Rose Garden" was a number three hit in 1971.

Answer: Marv Johnson

I'm sure there must be cheesier titles for hit singles than "I'll Pick a Rose for my Rose" but I can't think of any others off-hand. Marv was on the Tamla Motown label but only scored one other top ten hit; "You Got what it Takes" got to number seven.
Marvin Gaye should need no introduction but you might haave forgotten Johnny Johnson (and The Bandwagon) who had hits with "Breaking Down the Walls of Heartache" and "Blame it on the Pony Express".
The rather splendidly named Marvin Rainwater had a big hit in 1958 with "Whole Lotta Woman". (I'm not sure if AC/DC referenced that title for "Whole Lotta Rosie".)

Answer: How Many More Times

All four tracks can be found on Led Zeppelin's eponymously named debut album first released in 1969. "How Many More Times" was the final track and was listed on the sleeve notes as being 3.30 minutes long however in reality it is over 8 minutes long! Apparently it was a deliberate ploy by Jimmy Page to try to gain more radio play for the band.

The song is really a medley of smaller pieces some of which Jimmy had played while with The Yardbirds, some of which the band had thought of while in the studio; most of the pieces give more than a nod to some old blues standards.

Answer: An alcoholic drink

The song was written after Neil had visited a native Canadian tribe. They made a type of alcoholic drink which the men would drink while sitting around the fire. They called this brew 'cracklin' rosie'; a pun of rose wine.
Released in 1970 "Cracklin' Rosie" was the first chart success for Neil Diamond on both sides of the pond.
I once knew this kid when I was at school; he had two pigs, one called Crackling, the other called Apple Sauce! Strange guy...