It’s fair to say that the eighties’ reputation precedes it. Readers of a certain age who grew up during this most maligned of decades may remember parts of it rather fondly. For almost everyone else, it was a heinous time for music – and, for that matter, fashion. Leg warmers and bouffant hair wasn’t a good look even then, and it certainly isn’t today. There are two sections to this quiz, some questions in the usual format and then three quickfire memory rounds.
Answers: here
1 Clare Grogan was the singer with which pop-punk band in the 1980s? The band’s main composer, Johnny McElhone, went on to have a string of UK Top 10 hits with which other Scottish band?
2 Who had a massive Christmas hit in 2003 with ‘Mad World’? Who sang the original eighties hit?
3 Stedman, Lorraine, Denise, Doris and Delroy Pearson were the five siblings in which British pop-soul band? What was the title of their chart-topping second album?
4 Kid Creole & the Coconuts’ 1982 album Tropical Gangsters was a hit on the back of two hit singles: one about a police informer and one a protestation of non-parenthood. What are their titles?
5 Which 1987 Christmas single by the Pogues re-entered the UK Top 20 every year from 2005 to 2015? Who sang lead vocals on it alongside Shane MacGowan?
6 What was Abba’s final UK No 1 single from 1980? And what was their last album, from Novembet the following year?
7 Foreigner were massive in their native US but were never as big in the UK. What was the principal exception, a worldwide number one hit in 1984? The band’s English co-founder, Mick Jones (not that one), had previously been a member of which scary-sounding prog rock band?
8 Featuring session singer Carol Kenyon sharing vocal duties, ‘Temptation’ became the first UK Top 10 hit for which band in 1983? From which album was it taken?
9 Songwriter, singer and guitarist Paddy McAloon was the prime mover, and remains the solitary member, of which pop band who emerged during the 1980s? Containing their only Top 10 single, ‘The King of Rock ’n’ Roll’, what’s the title of their most successful album?
10 What’s the name of the hit collaboration between David Bowie and Queen in 1981? Which 1982 Queen album did it appear on?
11 What was the first Police album with an English-language title? Written about the troubles in Northern Ireland, what was the first single from the album?
12 What’s the full name of the band usually referred to as OMD? (To get the full two points, you have to spell it correctly.
13 What’s the name of the vocalist with the Style Council who was also Paul Weller’s wife? With which eighties pop band had she previously cut her teeth as a backing singer?
14 Elvis and Me, Priscilla Presley’s memoir of her late husband, inspired which classic Depeche Mode song? Which country legend later covered the song as part of his American Recordings series?
15 What were the two British number ones from Adam & the Ants’ third studio album in 1981?
Name the artists behind these hit songs:
1 ‘China in Your Hand’ (1987). 2 ‘Reap the Wild Wind’ (1992). 3 ‘Sign Your Name’ (1987). 4 ‘Wouldn’t It Be Good’ (1984). 5 ‘Every Time You Go Away’ (1985). 6 ‘You Take Me Up’ (1984). 7 ‘Oblivious’ (1983). 8 ‘If She Knew What She Wants’ (1986). 9 ‘Torch’ (1982). 10 ‘Smalltown Boy’ (1984).
And these, all of them number one singles.
1 ‘Japanese Boy’ (1981). 2 ‘A Good Heart’ (1985). 3 ‘I Owe You Nothing’ (1988). 4 ‘Oh Julie’ (1982). 5 ‘Rock Me Amadeus’ (1986). 6 ‘Fame’ (1982). 7 ‘I Should Have Known Better’ (1984). 8 ‘Move Closer’ (1985). 9 ‘Hand on Your Heart’ (1988). 10 ‘Down Under’ (1983).
Finally, match the album to the band or artist that recorded it.
1 Some People (1985). 2 Globe of Frogs (1988). 3 Before Hollywood (1983). 4 EVOL (1986). 5 English Settlement (1982). 6 Pretty Hate Machine (1989). 7 Like Gangbusters (1983). 8 A Date with Elvis (1986). 9 In the Flat Field (1981). 10 Turn Back the Clock (1988)
Artists: Bauhaus, Belouis Some, the Cramps, the Go-Betweens, JoBoxers, Nine Inch Nails, Robyn Hitchcock & the Egyptians, Johnny Hates Jazz, Sonic Youth, XTC.