So It Goes: The Nick Lowe Story Quiz

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. Where was singer/songwriter and producer Nick Lowe born?

Answer: Surrey, England

Lowe was born in Walton-On-Thames on March 24, 1949.

His father, Geoffrey Drain Lowe, was a wing commander in the Royal Air Force in WW2.

As a boy on military bases around the world, Nick Lowe learnt to play the ukulele and cited Tennessee Ernie Ford as among those he liked to listen to. He has also named Smokey Robinson as an influence.

2. In 1967, Nick Lowe joined a band called Kippington Lodge with a schoolfriend who was to be a collaborator for many years. Who was he?

Answer: Brinsley Schwarz

The band was soon renamed 'Brinsley Schwarz' and Lowe wrote many of the songs.

The line-up was Brinsley Schwarz, Ian Gomm, Nick Lowe, Bob Andrews, and Billy Rankin. They released six albums between 1970 and 1974.

The band also toured with Paul McCartney and Wings and backed up Scottish singer Frankie Miller on an album.

3. Nick Lowe became the in-house producer for Stiff Records and is credited as the producer of Britain's first punk single. Who recorded "New Rose"?

Answer: The Damned

"New Rose" was written by The Damned's guitarist Brian Jones.

At a time when New Wave - or punk - music was threatening to sweep away the old order, The Damned were an exciting, frenetic band on stage. Nick Lowe's sparse production caught that energy perfectly.

At one stage, The Damned were backing The Sex Pistols, but they released "New Rose" as their debut single a month before the first recording by the Pistols.

The website bestclassicbands.com (among others) judged "New Rose" to be the "1st UK Punk Single".

4. Which 1978 single gave Nick Lowe his highest entry in the UK pop charts?

Answer: I Love the Sound of Breaking Glass

"I love the sound of breaking glass
Especially when I'm lonely
I need the noises of destruction
When there's nothing new..."

"I Love the Sound of Breaking Glass" reached number seven. The following year, "Cruel to Be Kind" reached number 12. It was also a number 12 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and on the Canadian and Australian charts.

5. Behind a mixing desk, Nick Lowe produced the first five albums of a new-wave scouser noted for finely-crafted songs. Who was he?

Answer: Elvis Costello

Costello was to have a number of hits, including the Lowe-penned "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding".

Years later, a cover of "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding" by Curtis Stigers, was on the soundtrack of the movie "The Bodyguard". (It earned Lowe an estimated $1m in royalties.)

Lowe also produced three albums for Graham Parker, another writer of well-crafted songs.

6. For five years in the late 1970s Nick Lowe toured and recorded with a British band that regularly opened for other acts. What was its name?

Answer: Rockpile

The line-up comprised Lowe with Dave Edmunds, Billy Bremner, and Terry Williams.

Their albums were intermingled with solo releases by Edmunds and Lowe, including Lowe's best performer on the US album charts, "Labour Of Lust", 1979. The band also featured on these solo albums by Lowe and Edmunds.

Among the acts that Rockpile supported were Lowe's wife, Carlene Cash.

Lowe later recalled of this time: "We opened for a lot of big acts, and we had much more fun than them. It's no fun being a big celebrity. The poor loves hang around with each other, and a room full of celebrities is a mind-numbingly dull event."

7. Nick Lowe released an album in 1979 that had to be renamed for the sensitiveness of an American audience. What was "Pure Pop for Now People" called in the UK?

Answer: Jesus of Cool

In the USA, Columbia Records changed the track listing and substituted several tracks.

Despite being critically acclaimed, the album did not break into the Billboard 200.

8. With which short-lived 'super group' did Nick Lowe record and tour in the early 1990s?

Answer: Little Village

With Lowe were Ry Cooder, John Hiatt, and Jim Keltner.

Cooder, in particular, had become something of a forgotten figure at that time and his reappearance was welcomed by many.

One concert reviewer said: "Anyone who longs for a down-home guitar twang and a groove with a backbeat will find it in Little Village - and get something extra, too." [New York Times, April 1992.]

The band released an album "Little Village" in 1992 and it performed respectably in the UK album charts, reaching number 23. Lowe found the experience with the others to be great fun, but the album, he said, was "no good".

9. In 1979, Nick Lowe married into a family of American music royalty. To whom was he married?

Answer: Carlene Carter

Low and Carlene Carter were married from 1979 to 1990. Carter was the daughter of June Carter Cash and stepdaughter of Johnny Cash.

Lowe produced two of her albums, "Musical Shapes" in 1980, and "Blue Nun" the following year.

In 1980, he wrote and produced "Without Love", a track on Johnny Cash's album "Rockabilly Blues".

10. Which song gave Nick Lowe his biggest hit on the Billboard Hot 100?

Answer: Cruel To Be Kind

"You've gotta be cruel to be kind, in the right measure
Cruel to be kind, it's a very good sign
Cruel to be kind, means that I love you, baby
(You've gotta be cruel)
You gotta be cruel to be kind..."

"Cruel To Be Kind" reached number 12 in September 1979. It was co-written by Lowe and Ian Gomm.

The title of this quiz is taken from Nick Lowe's debut solo single, "So It Goes", which failed to chart in 1976:

"And so it goes and so it goes
And so it goes and so it goes
But where it's goin' no one knows..."

You got that last line spot on, Nick.

Source: Author darksplash

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

Either at a microphone or behind a mixing desk, Nick Lowe was an influential figure in the 'new wave' music movement in Britain in the 1970s. See what you know.

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