MetaQuiz: Songs on the Radio About The Radio -15

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. "Wake up, turn my box on, bust the shade, let the sun in Times are getting tougher 'bout time to start running Box in my hand, music by my side Skanking to the rhythm of the music by my side" This is from the song "Sound System" by the late-80s punk band Operation Ivy. Where did the band get its name from?

Answer: A testing program for nuclear weapons

The Operation Ivy nuclear tests were performed in 1952 at Eniwetok Atoll in the Pacific Proving Ground in the Marshall Islands, located near the equator. The Marshall Islands have since become an independent island nation. The band Operation Ivy formed in 1987 but lasted only two years, breaking up in 1989.

2. From the Rolling Stones' 1965 album "Out of Our Heads" came their first single to hit Number one in the United States Singles Charts. What was it?

Answer: (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction

"When I'm drivin' in my car, and the man come on the radio
He's tellin' me more and more about some useless information
Supposed to fire my imagination
I can't get no, oh, no, no, no, hey, hey, hey
That's what I say
I can't get no satisfaction, I can't get no satisfaction"

Mick Jagger and Keith Richards co-wrote the song. The great Jack Nitzsche helped the band when they recorded the song, playing piano and tambourine and co-producing it.

3. "Radios in Motion" is from their 1978 debut album "White Music." Who's the punk/new wave band?

Answer: XTC

"All the kids are complaining
That the songs are too slow
All I'm saying is you're deaf
To the fact that there's...
Radios in motion
Atmosphere to ocean
Radios in motion"

They formed in England in 1972 by Andy Partridge and Colin Moulding. The band went by different names in the beginning: Star Park at first, then The Helium Kidz. In 1977 they became XTC, derived from the word "ecstasy."

4. The TV show "WKRP in Cincinnati" was about a DJ and the radio station where he works. It ran from 1978 to 1982 and made a star of Loni Anderson whose poster adorned every teenage boy's wall. Who sang the show's theme song?

Answer: Steve Carlisle

"Baby, if you've ever wondered
Wondered whatever became of me
I'm living on the air in Cincinnati, Cincinnati, WKRP
Got kind of tired packing and unpacking
Town to town and up and down the dial
Maybe you and me were never meant to be
But baby think of me once in awhile."

The song's lyrics were written by the show's creator Hugh Wilson with music by Tom Wells. Gary Sandy played the lead on the show. The song was performed by Steve Carlisle.

5. "Life Is a Rock (But the Radio Rolled Me)" was a 1974 hit song by a group of musicians and singers in the industry who teamed up and called themselves Reunion. In a way the song is a kind of rap recording, featuring a fast-paced recitation of famous disc jockeys, famous musicians, names of songwriters, record labels, song titles and lyrics. Who recorded a cover of the song for her album "You Broke My Heart in 17 Places"?

Answer: Tracey Ullman

Joey Levine sang lead on the original--he had sung the lead on bubblegum smash hits "Chewy Chewy" and "Yummy Yummy Yummy." Music and lyrics for the song were written respectively by by Paul DiFranco (of the DiFranco Family fame...c'mon you know--remember "Heartbeat, It's a Lovebeat"?) and Norman Dolph. The song went to Number eight on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

6. The 1967 hit song "I Dig Rock and Roll Music" is by the folk group Peter, Paul and Mary. The song celebrates the group's affection for rock music and in three different verses they sing in the style of three popular recording artists of their era that excelled in rock music. They mimic all of these artists in the song EXCEPT for which one?

Answer: The Beach Boys

"I dig rock and roll music
I could really get it on in that scene.
I think I could say somethin' if you know what I mean
But if I really say it, the radio won't play it
Unless I lay it between the lines."

The song was written by Paul Stookey, James Mason and Dave Dixon. It turned out to be a big hit for Peter, Paul, and Mary, charting at Number 9 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100.

7. This band recorded "Rue Morgue Radio" for their album "Run For Your Life". The band plays psychobilly music and appropriately they write many of their songs about horror films. Thusly, the band's name is taken from perhaps this "King" of horror films?

Answer: The Creepshow

The Creepshow is a Canadian band formed in 2005. The album this song was on "Run For Your Life" came out in 2008, and featured other horror-themed tracks such as "Demon Lover", "Run for Your Life", "Buried Alive", "You'll Come Crawlin'", "Dearly Departed", and "Pet Sematary."

"This all started with a hum across the network
and no one knows the reason or the cause
But I can see through the crackle of static
that they're clueless to what's going on.
You can't touch that dial it's no use,
you're too late, the plan is already in phase
A new epidemic is lying in wait
and delivered across the airwaves."

8. "Just an old fashioned love song Playing on the radio And wrapped around the music is the sound Of someone promising they'll never go." This song "An Old-Fashioned Love Song" was written by Paul Williams and in 1971 it went to Number One on Billboard's U.S. Adult Contemporary chart for which band?

Answer: Three Dog Night

Chuck Negron sang lead and it was Three Dog Night's seventh top ten hit song. Mr. Williams had originally written it for the Carpenters (he'd already written their hits "We've Only Just Begun" and "Rainy Days and Mondays") but after Richard Carpenter turned it down, Williams brought it to Three Dog Night. Paul Williams actually played a bit of the song when he made a guest appearance in 1974 on the classic sitcom "The Odd Couple."

9. "As the snow flies On a cold and grey Chicago morn And a poor little baby child is born In the ghetto And his mother cries 'Cause if there's one thing that she don't need It's another hungry mouth to feed In the ghetto" These lyrics, originally from Elvis Presley's song "In The Ghetto" were co-opted by KLF, the electronic music band from England, that used the same lyrics for their recording, "Elvis on the Radio, Steel Guitar in My Soul." The initials KLF stand for one of their earlier band name's record label. What was that?

Answer: Kopyright Liberation Front

It's Kopyright Liberation Front oddly enough; the other choices are fictional. Their previous band's name that operated under this label was called The JAMS. Amongst the other names KLF went by include the Justified Ancients of Mu Mu, and the Timelords. KLF's Bill Drummond told "Melody Maker" magazine that he was inspired to record this track after he was awakened one morning by the radio on which was playing an Elvis Presley song.

10. "Good mornin' sun I say it's good to see you shinin' I know my baby brought you to me She kissed me yesterday hello your silver linin' Got spring and summer runnin' through me Hey 98.6 it's good to have you back again, oh Hey 98.6 her lovin' is the medicine that saved me Oh I love my baby" This is one of my favorite songs of all time. "98.6" went to Number seven on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1967. Do you remember who recorded this terrific pop tune?

Answer: Keith

Okay, I know that "98.6" refers to the human body temperature, and not to the radio frequency of a station. But I love the song so much that I discovered a reason why it would qualify for this list of "radio" songs about the radio. Apparently, in Australia there is a commercial radio station network run by NOVA Entertainment in Sydney and Melbourne.

The network is called "smoothfm" and they did one of those things that radio stations do, they re-recorded versions of this song replacing the "98.6" with two of their station's radio air frequencies: "95.3" and "91.5." The new versions were sung by Rick Price, an Australian singer/songwriter/musician/record producer.

Source: Author Billkozy

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor agony before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.

Here's the 15th quiz in this series of questions revolving around songs you might hear on the radio that are about radio itself. Mostly I'll provide the lyrics and you identify the artist. Sometimes you'll have to name the song. Or sometimes other stuff.

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>

NEXT>