The Questions

1. What song did Santana perform in 1969 at Woodstock?

a. Black Magic Woman
b. Smooth
c. Soul Sacrifice
d. Oye Como Va

2. There were several working titles for the song “Touch Me” by the Doors. Which of the selections below was among the Doors’ potential titles for this classic tune?

a. do me
b. hit me
c. kiss me
d. push me

3. Which 1960s hard rock group generated a smash hit with a song based on the fantasy “Alice in Wonderland?”

a. Deep Purple
b. Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs
c. Jefferson Airplane
d. The Cheshire Hep Cats

4. It is rumored that alcohol was involved when the heavy-hitting Iron Butterfly song “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida,” was recorded. The lyrics were allegedly supposed to be:

a. In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida
b. I Got a Hot Fever
c. In the Garden of Eden
d. Got a Girl Named Rita

5. Which group sang a hit song containing these words: “flaxen,” “fleas,” “birds” and “bees” in the late ’60s?

a. The Cowsills
b. Grateful Dead
c. The Pretenders
d. Electric Prunes

6. Which of these is NOT a band name from the 1960s?

a. Strawberry Alarm Clock
b. Gerry and the Pacemakers
c. Translucent Ham Sandwich Band
d. Cathy Jean and the Roommates

7. Which of these songs tells the tale of a couple meeting and getting married?

a. Green Tambourine
b. Bus Stop
c. Snuggled in the Seat
d. Ain’t No Mountain High Enough

8. Cher possesses Native American heritage on her mother’s side, and what nationality on her father’s side?

a. Italian
b. Armenian
c. Transylvanian
d. Japanese

9. Which of these songs was NOT banned from radio play in the 1960s?

a. Little Red Riding Hood
b. Let’s Spend the Night Together
c. Last Kiss
d. A Day in the Life

10. Which of these recording artists released a ballad about a man with a lament because he had a girl’s name?

a. Tommy James and the Shondells
b. Alice Cooper
c. Barry Manilow
d. Johnny Cash

11. Whose golden voice can you hear singing lead vocals on the 1968 psychedelic musical oddity “Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In?”)

a. Kenny Rogers
b. Bobby Sherman
c. Howard Keel
d. Perry Como

12. Which popular 1964 tune was written on a shirt cardboard with crayons belonging to the songwriter’s children?

a. Summertime Blues
b. My Boy Lollipop
c. House of the Rising Sun
d. Leader of the Pack

13. Prior to the formation of Velvet Underground, Lou Reed worked as a songwriter for:

a. Yoko Ono
b. Pickwick Records
c. Barry Manilow
d. Tripod Jimmie

14. The Monkees’ first release, “Last Train to Clarksville,” quickly shot to the top of the charts. What song did it surpass and knock into second place?

a. “I Hear They Smoke the Barbecue” by Pere Ubu
b. “Harper Valley PTA” by Jeannie C. Riley
c. “96 Tears” by ? and the Mysterians
d. “I Will Survive” by Gloria Gaynor

15. What ’60s singer headed up a group called the Union Gap?

a. Jerry Lee Lewis
b. Gary Puckett
c. Huey Lewis
d. Dean Martin

16. Which 1963 tune soared to #1 in the charts just four weeks after it was released?

a. Do It Again Just A Little Bit Slower
b. Walkin’ My Cat Named Dog
c. Paradise By the Dashboard Light
d. My Boyfriend’s Back

17. Why did Otis Redding whistle at the end of “Sitting on the Dock of the Bay?”

a. To make the song sound laid back
b. He was a fan of the theme from The Andy Griffith Show
c. He forgot the words
d. He held the official title of top whistler in the US.

18. What is the last year mentioned in the futuristic one-hit wonder by Zager and Evans “In the Year 2525?”

a. 9510
b. 25,000,000,000,000,000
c. 7575
d. 9595

19. The distant echo track in “Whole Lotta Love” where Robert Plant is singing “Woman, you need it” was the result of a new recording studio technique: True or False?

a. True
b. False

20. What one-hit wonder made it all the way to number one on the charts in 1963?

a. “Sukiyaki” by Kyu Sakamoto
b. “Yakety Sax” by Boots Randolph
c. “Killer Joe” by the Rocky Fellers
d. “Wipe Out” by the Surfaris

The Answers

1. c – Soul Sacrifice. “Smooth” was a Santana smash success in the late 1990s.

2. b – “Hit Me,” in reference to playing black jack. It was changed to “Touch Me” after contemplating potential reactions from rowdy individuals in the audience.

3. c – Jefferson Airplane’s “White Rabbit” contained heavy inferences to the use of hallucinogenic drugs.

4. c – In the Garden of Eden. There are varying accounts of how the song was actually named and recorded, but alcohol was allegedly in the picture.

5. a – The Cowsills in the song “Hair”

6. c – Translucent Ham Sandwich Band is a real group in today’s time

7. b – “Bus Stop” by the Hollies declares “…Nice to think that that umbrella
led me to a vow.”

8. b – Armenian. Cher’s recording career with Sonny Bono started in 1964.

9. a – “Little Red Riding Hood.” Although the lyrics by this Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs song are a little risque for the day, it was not known to be banned. Meanwhile “Let’s Spend the Night Together” by the Rolling Stones is obvious, “Last Kiss” was deemed too morbid but it sold like crazy anyway, and “A Day in the Life” makes a reference to having a smoke, which was interpreted as using marijuana.

10. d – “A Boy Named Sue” by Johnny Cash. The song was initially recorded during a performance at San Quentin State Prison on February 24, 1969. It was written by Shel Silverstein.

11. a – Kenny Rogers, who was with The First Edition at that point in his long and illuminating musical career.

12. d – “Leader of the Pack,” which was penned (or crayoned) by George Morton and sung by the Shangri-Las.

13. b – Pickwick Records, a job he described as being “a poor man’s Carole King.”

14. c – “96 Tears” by ? and the Mysterians, an unusual song which is credited with starting the punk rock movement in some musical circles.

15. b – Gary Puckett and the Union Gap released a number of hits songs in the late 1960s, including “Woman, Woman” and “Lady Willpower.”

16. d – “My Boyfriend’s Back” by the Angels. As a side note, “Walkin’ My Cat Named Dog” by Norma Tanega did make it to #22 of the Billboard Hot 100 in 1966.

17. c – The whistling was on-the-spot improvisation because Otis forgot the words he had written for the song’s fade-out ending.

18. d – 9595 “In the year 9595
I’m kinda wonderin’ if man is gonna be alive
He’s taken everything this old earth can give
And he ain’t put back nothing…”

19. b – False. The distant echo lyrics were the result of an unwanted bleed through of a previously recorded track. After echo was added to it, Jimmy Page suggested the erroneous track remain in the song to save time and trouble.

20. a – “Sukiyaki” by Kyu Sakamoto reached the top of the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States in 1963, and remains the only Japanese-language song to have achieved this musical accomplishment.

The Ratings

15 – 20 correct. Incense and Peppermint to you, O Exalted Expert – You must have owned a transistor radio and a stack of 45s during the 1960s. You were tuned into the musical world around you so well during that decadent decade that you still carry part of it with you. No, seriously, there’s a record player in your car. Just kidding. Well done! You hold the gold in the trivia event of 60s rock and roll. Either that or you just googled your way to the top of this 1960s heap.

10 – 14 Doo Wah Diddy Diddy Dinger – Nice work. You have a grip on which band was playing what song during the surreptitious sixties and you know it. You probably like to listen to oldies stations, and might even jump up and do the mashed potato while you’re mashing potatoes for dinner. Your expertise in ’60s music is fun to flaunt at parties, and you clean up in this category when playing trivia games.

5 – 9 Wild Thing – You hung in there and knew more than the Day Trippers, which is a good thing if you want to consider yourself knowledgeable in 60s music. Now walk, don’t run, to a place in the sun and maybe you’ll see Puff the Magic Dragon. Next time you’re in the thrift shop pick up a record player and a stack of scratchy 45s and expand your wild thing horizons.

0 – 4 Day Tripper – There’s a chance that you might be either very young or somewhat old and cranky, but then again, you just might be the type who doesn’t savor the psychedelic sixties sound. Or perhaps you were tripping way back when and lost part of your memory to a mischievious microdot. Your consequence for scoring so low is a sentence of listening to “Honey” and answering a brief quiz where you will be required to know just how big the tree has grown.

* * * * *
Be sure to take all of Xtine’s fun and informative quizzes here on WordPress – or google “Xtine’s 20 Questions”

And check our her various original band videos on her youtube page