Steve Lamacq is on 6 Music most days and regularly invites his listeners to submit a pair of songs which highlight the difference between a good day and a bad day. Here we have 15 questions on upbeat good day music, followed by 15 questions on miserable bad day tunes.
Answers: here
1 Captain Sensible had a novelty UK number one in 1982 with a version of the Rodgers & Hammerstein song ‘Happy Talk’. From which musical is it taken? What was his similarly wacky follow-up?
2 ‘Summer Holiday’ was a 1963 UK number one taken from a feel-good movie showcasing the talents of which singer? Which song by his backing band, also from the film, bumped ‘Summer Holiday’ off the top?
3 What was the last track on the first side of the Undertones’ debut album, later released in a speeded-up version as a single? Who was the writer of the song, one of two brothers in the band?
4 What was the 1978 debut single by the Undertones, a minor chart hit partly due to incessant plugging by John Peel? What was the 2012 film about the independent record label that launched the band’s career?
5 What was the massive 1993 global hit that launched Swedish pop band Ace of Base? Apart from Abba, who are the only other Swedish act to have sold more records than Ace of Base?
6 Which upbeat chunk of funk provided Kool and the Gang with their only US number one single in 1980? Which pop icon recorded it as her last single with Stock Aitken Waterman?
7 ‘Happy Hour’ was a 1986 hit for which Northern jangly guitar pop band? What unlikely football score was the title of their debut album?
8 Which track, first recorded by Elvis on the 1957 film soundtrack Loving You, was a hit for Wanda Jackson in 1960? Which 1989 Robin Williams school-based film used it on the soundtrack?
9 Which actor/comedian appeared in the video for Bobby McFerrin’s 1988 novelty hit ‘Don’t Worry, Be Happy’? Which Indian guru did the song quote in its title?
10 ‘Buddy Holly, Scammell lorries, yellow socks, sitting on the potty, the Marx Brothers and Salvador Dali’ were all what, in 1979? What part?
11 Which song from U2’s album All That You Can’t Leave Behind became their fourth UK number one single in 2000? Which TV sports programme adopted the song as its theme?
12 Which upbeat song was Chic’s biggest UK hit? It was based on the 1929 song ‘’Happy Days Are Here Again’: which US President used this song as his campaign theme in 1932?
13 Which jazz artist had a UK number one with ‘What A Wonderful World’ in 1967? A Joey Ramone version of the song was used at the end of which 2002 Michael Moore film?
14 Which song, released at the end of 2013, became the biggest selling single of 2014? Which animated movie propelled it to that level of success?
15 The Roar of the Greasepaint – The Smell of the Crowd (1964) isn’t the most renowned musical, but it spawned a stonewall classic when one of its songs was covered by Nina Simone the following year. What was it and who included a super version on their 2001 album Origin of Symmetry?
16 When Nick Cave released his new album in 1996, its title hinted it would be low on giggles: what was it? Which fellow Aussie duetted with him on ‘Where the Wild Roses Grow’?
17 Who bowed to public demand and recorded a duet of the break-up song ‘You Don’t Bring Me Flowers’, after their two solo versions were spliced together by a radio producer?
18 Who had a UK number one in 1960 with ‘Tell Laura I Love Her’, the dying words of Tommy, who loves Laura but will not make their wedding day. How does Tommy meet his end?
19 Which country star sang ‘I Fall to Pieces’ in 1961? Who did the backing vocals, taking time off from their day job as Elvis’s backing singers?
20 Which 1971 song, about an abused woman snapping and retaliating against her man, was US soul band the Persuaders’ biggest hit? Which band gave it a twist with female vocals on their 1984 album Learning To Crawl?
21 Where, according to a track on their 1992 album Bricks Are Heavy, would you end up if you upset L7? Which musician and producer, fresh from success on Nirvana’s Nevermind, produced the album?
22 Which 1999 Bloodhound Gang album led off with the entertainingly offensive ‘I Hope You Die’? Who was the porn star referenced in the title of another track on this album?
23 What is Eleanor Rigby doing in the first line of Paul McCartney’s lyric about ‘all the lonely people’? And who is writing a sermon that no-one will hear?
24 What is the junction in question in Squeeze’s ‘Up the Junction’? In their ‘Labelled With Love’, what does the protagonist sell off along with her silver and china?
25 Who topped the US chart in 2005 with ‘Bad Day’? Which cartoon band covered the song for their eponymous 2007 movie?
26 Which American country pop act recorded ‘The Ballad of Lucy Jordan’ in 1974? Who included an edgier electronic version of the song on her 1979 album, Broken English?
27 What was the characteristically gloomy title of the Smiths’ first UK Top 10 single from 1984? What was the subject matter of the single’s controversial B-side ‘Suffer Little Children’?
28 American couple Brett and Rennie Sparks record under what name? Their song ‘Far From Any Road’ was used as the theme tune for the first season of which gothic TV crime drama series?
29 Based on news stories that executed American murderer Gary Gilmore had donated his eyes to science, which punk band sang ‘Gary Gilmore’s Eyes’? Which new wave band’s song ‘Bring On the Night’ was also inspired by Gilmore?
30 What is the 1991 Richard Thompson song about a biker, James, who suffers a fatal accident and bequeathes his beloved bike to his girlfriend? What is her name?