Earworm (n:) A catchy song or tune that runs continually through the mind
The 6 Music morning-show presenter, Shaun Keaveny, likes listeners to text or tweet with their earworms. The result is a barrage of requests for songs you end up humming to yourself in an annoying manner for the rest of the day. Happily, Shaun doesn’t play all of them.
The songs that get under your skin – and stick in your brain – tend to be cheesy pop hits rather than cool album tracks. How often have you found yourself humming along to a popular hit you heard in a shop that day? ‘NO’ you declare, this must not be – but it’s too late, you are stuck with Justin Bieber or Taylor Swift rattling around in your head. This author accepts no responsibility for any earworms you pick up attempting this chapter . . .
Answers: here
1 A recent online poll determined that which Spice Girls song was the most prevalent earworm? What year was it released?
2 What was the song from Rocky III that was a huge hit in the US for American rock band Survivor? Which follow-up, from the Rocky IV soundtrack three years later, also went Top 10?
3 From which Abba song was the hook from Madonna’s’ Hung Up’ sampled? Which other Abba song, with its irritating ‘a-hah’ chorus, came out just before it as a double-A side with ‘Angel Eyes’?
4 Monica, Erica, Rita, Tina, Sandra, Mary: what are we talking about and who finished the sequence?
5 What was the mini-album released by Lady Gaga 15 months after her debut effort, The Fame? What was the lead single?
6 ‘Dum dum dum dooby doo wah’ went the hummable intro to Roy Orbison’s first UK number one in 1960: what was the song? Which classic track off Bruce Springsteen’s Born To Run name-checks it?
7 Which track, with an unmistakeable rock riff, kicked off the second side of Michael Jackson’s Thriller? Which eighties rocker played the guitar solo in the middle of the song?
8 ‘Don’t You Want Me’ was a massive Christmas number one in the UK for the Human League in 1981. Who provided the female vocals in duet with Phil Oakey? And where did her character work at the song’s outset?
9 ‘What’s that coming over the hill . . .?’ What was it, in 2006? And who were asking?
10 ‘YMCA’ by the Village People was a gay sing-a-long pop classic. In the video were a cop, a Native American, a GI, a leather-clad biker and which other two costumed dudes?
11 The Proclaimers’ ‘I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)’ came from their successful 1988 album, the title of which reflected their roots. What was the album and which football club play the title track before their home games?
12 Which Culture Club song was 1983’s best-selling single in the UK? Which three colours are mentioned in the chorus?
13 What, in June 2014, was the debut single by Meghan Trainor that rocketed her to international stardom? What was the title of her debut album (there’s a clue in the question)?
14 Which animated character hit number one with a mobile ringtone of a famous tune in 2005? What was the tune, which had also reached number one 20 years earlier when it was the theme to the movie Beverley Hills Cop?
15 Which song was released as a single off Deep Purple’s Machine Head album and became one of the most recognisable rock riffs ever? Which rock festival is cited in its first line?
16 Which 2001 UK number one hit saw a revived Kylie cause a national epidemic of earworms with its chanted intro? The song was written by Cathy Dennis and Rob Davis; the latter formerly played guitar in which seventies pop band?
17 ‘Who Let the Dogs Out?’ – well, who did, in 2000? And which Nickelodeon movie gave the song a big leg-up?
18 Which profoundly dumb but hummable single by Carly Rae Jepsen was the best selling single across the globe in 2011? In which country’s version of Pop Idol did Jepsen first gain exposure?
19 Which hip hop band had a huge 2005 hit with a song that was essentially a ‘celebration’ of boobs and bums? What was the follow-up, with a guitar run from Dick Dale and the Deltones’ ‘Misirlou’?
20 ‘Oh Mickey, you’re so fine . . .’ Who sang this in 1981? What was the original title of the song when it was recorded by British bubblegum pop band Racey in 1979?
21 ‘Rivers of Babylon’ was originally recorded by the Melodians in 1970: who turned it into a UK number one in 1978? What was the B-side, which gained almost equal airplay and was equally invasive on the ears?
22 Which former American Idol winner released the eardrum-plaguing single ‘Since U Been Gone’ in 2004? According to her in 2012 (and to Friedrich Nietzsche), what makes you stronger?
23 Which 1986 earworm was the only UK Top 10 hit for Swedish band Europe? What was the stage name, evocative of a fifties rock and roller, of their singer, Rolf Larsson?
24 You might hope that ‘Barbie Girl’ in 1997 was Danish band Aqua’s only hit, but no – their next two singles also hit number one. What were they?
25 ‘I get knocked down, but I get up again!’ we all chanted in 1997. Who were the band, and what was the song’s title?
26 Which two punk-era singles did One Direction merge into a pop earworm that topped the UK charts in 2013?
27 Who won Eurovision for the United Kingdom in 1981 with ‘Making Your Minds Up?’ What risque stage routine did they perform while singing it?
28 With its classic rumbling intro, which White Stripes song gave the band their first UK Top 10 hit single in 2003? On what was that now-familiar intro played?
29 Which 1978 UK and US number one, a female emancipation anthem written by Freddie Perren and Dino Fekaris, is believed to be the most sung song in karaoke bars across the western world? Who had the original hit with the song?
30 Which song, originally released in 2012 by Jamaican singer OMI, was a massive global hit in 2015 after a remix by Felix Jaehn late the previous year? Who promoted the song in the UK and was even seen on a viral promo video singing the tune himself?