You know the ones: the bands you’ve never heard of who sell out every gig in about two minutes flat. The bands whose names are tattooed on the wrists of the weird kids at school. The bands whose names appear on the T-shirts worn by the guy down the street who everyone thinks is a serial killer. The bands you finally get to see at End of the Road and think: ‘F*** me, they’re brilliant.’ Here are two sections of straight questions – but very definitely not straight answers.
Answers: here
1 John Darnielle is the main songwriter and performer in which cult US indie band? What’s the subject matter of their 2015 album Beat the Champ?
2 Which electronic production team have produced three albums of artists covering other people’s songs called Music of Quality and Distinction? What was the subtitle and subtext of the third release, which came out in 2013?
3 Released in 1972, #1 Record was the first album by which Memphis guitar band fronted by Alex Chilton? Chilton had first found fame in which band, who had a big hit with The Letter in 1967?
4 Tim Friese-Greene acted as producer and co-writer for much of the output by which eighties band? Who was the band’s frontman, singer and main songwriter, who subsequently retired from the music industry to spend more time with his family?
5 Whose steadfastly uncommercial career spans 16 studio albums, from 1982’s Closing Time to 2011’s Bad as Me? Which Grammy-winning 1999 release gave him his first UK top ten album?
6 Which 1980s proto hip hop funk band is made up of David Weiss and Don Fagenson? Which Temptations song gave them a UK Top 20 hit?
7 Led by Robert Pollard, which band have released over 20 albums since 1987 to massive acclaim but little commercial success? What name have they given to a series of four box sets, each containing four CDs and 100 tracks of unreleased material?
8 Luke Haines was the singer and songwriter in the Auteurs. Under what name, taken from a seventies radical militant organisation, did he release a solo album in 1996? What was the side project he formed with John Moore and Sarah Nixey, reaching the Top 20 with ‘The Facts of Life’?
9 Mark Linkous, who committed suicide in 2010, was the frontman and songwriter for which American band? What was the name of their last album, made with multiple collaborators and produced with Danger Mouse?
10 What is the name of the band formed by Dean Wareham after the break-up of Galaxie 500? Which guitarist, a huge influence on them, joined the band on their third album, Penthouse?
11 Who is the only permanent member of Spiritualized? What’s the name of the band he previously formed in 1982 with Pete Kember, developing the experimental guitar sound that later characterised Spiritualized’s output?
12 Gordon Gano and Brian Ritchie have been at the helm of the various line-ups of which American indie band? Which cult song of theirs found a new lease of life when it was re-recorded for the movie Grosse Point Blank?
13 Which Australian band acquired a cult following and had a Top 10 hit with their debut album, Since I Left You, in 2001? What’s the name of the follow-up album, released a full 15 years later in July 2016?
14 Isn’t Anything is an album of noisy, effects-saturated guitar rock by which experimental Anglo-Irish band? Which record label removed them from their roster after their second album, Loveless, went way over budget and failed to match its terrific reviews with commercial success?
15 Fee Waybill is the demonic stage presence of which cabaret-cum-punk band, formed in the mid seventies? What has been their only UK Top 30 hit, reaching number 28 in 1977?
16 Alison Statton is the breathy, emotionless voice of which cult band, who formed in the late seventies and have recently got back together? What’s the title of the band’s only album, a genuine cult classic?
17 ‘The alcohol loves you, while . . .’ Doing what, according to the Associates’ biggest hit, ‘Party Fears Two’? Who was the band’s lead singer, who committed suicide in 1997 two months before his 40th birthday?
18 What was the debut single by the Talking Heads spin-off Tom Tom Club in 1981, a cult club classic? ‘Under the Boardwalk’, the second single from their debut album, was a cover of a 1964 hit by which American vocal group?
19 Cindy Wilson and Kate Pierson are the bouffant-haired singers in which classic band? Who’s the group’s male singer, who often delivers songs with Wilson and Pierson in a call-and-response style?
20 Charles Thompson is the real name of which influential singer, songwriter and guitarist? What’s the name of his best-known band, co-founded with Joey Santiago when they were students at the University of Massachusetts?
21 Which Leeds-based indie act, pushed by John Peel when they emerged, released their debut album, When in Rome, Kill Me, in 1989? Named after their highest-charting single, what’s the title of their compilation, released in 2006?
22 Ed Droste and Daniel Rossen share singing duties and play guitar in which chilled-out American rock band? What was their breakthrough album, which hit the UK charts in 2009?
23 Which Newport trio advertised their presence as The Big 3 on the title of their debut album? And what was their cult debut single, named after a string of convenience stores?
24 The band Portishead took their name from an area to the south-west of which large British city? What’s the name of their lead singr?
25 What was the debut single, an acid house cult classic, by A Guy Called Gerald? Performing as Derek and Clive, which two comedians are sampled on the record?
26 Under what name does Vini Reilly usually record, often with drummer Bruce Mitchell? On which Mancunian’s debut solo album did Reilly play guitar in 1988?
27 Which singer composed the orchestral arrangements for Sarah Brightman’s 2003 album Harem? What’s the name of the band he’s fronted for nearly 40 years?
28 Which TV drama made a hit out of eighties anthem ‘Don’t Stop Believin’’ by Journey? And what’s the title of the show’s main theme, performed by London’s Alabama 3?
29 Greg Saunier is the last original member still playing with which experimental US band, a cult favourite for 20 years? With which Madonna hit does their 2014 album share a title (but little else)?
30 Inspired by the familial roots of guitarist Peter Solowka, which band recorded sessions of Ukrainian folk music for John Peel’s radio show? What was the unsurprising name of the new band formed by Solowka when he left the group in 1991?