Australia gave the world many great bands and artists back in the 80's. INXS, Men At Work, Midnight Oil, Rick Springfield, Real Life, and Kylie Minogue all came from the continent down under. These artists established themselves in Australia, then got noticed in the U.S. through the import bin at the record store and exposure on MTV. While some hit the U.S. charts early on and then faded away, others had a series of hits in the United States. Then there was Kylie Minogue, who had U.S. hits in the 80's, but not again until 2002.

Anyways, for the Aussie band The Church, getting recognition in the United States involved a slow and steady climb. From early on, their records were available on import, and they got airplay on alternative and college radio. But the band's search for major label support in the U.S. led them to associations with a couple of different record companies. It was after the band signed with Arista that they had their most successful release in the states. The album they put out in 1988 was called "Starfish," and while it didn't put them up there with U2 or R.E.M,. they did score their first and only Billboard Top 40 hit. What was the name of the song?

Bonus Question: The 80's band Eurogliders weren't actually from Europe. True, they had an English singer, but the band was formed in Perth, Australia. The one Eurogliders song that made it into the U.S. charts only got to #65, what was the name of this song?

In the early days of rock and roll, the medium of choice was the single. Back in the 50's, a stack of 45's might make up the majority of a teenager's collection. Long playing record albums mainly served to collect together a band's top singles. In the 60's, artists like the Beach Boys and The Beatles saw the album as a valid medium all its own, and released theme albums like "Pet Sounds" and "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band." The songs made more sense within the context of the other songs on the album. One step up from a theme album was the concept album, in which all the songs on the album had common characters and told a larger story. Examples include The Who's "Tommy," David Bowie's "Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars," and Pink Floyd's "The Wall." Half the records ever released by Yes or The Alan Parsons Project qualified, but as the 70's wound down and punk rock emerged, the concept album got a bad reputation.

The emerging punk scene associated concept albums with bombast and rock era excess. But there were artists that still strove to put out concept albums in the 80's, and in the case of the band Styx, the desire of lead singer Dennis DeYoung to pursue concept albums put him at odds with the rest of the band. In fact, the Styx album "Kilroy Was Here" lead to the band's break up. The album sold well enough, but it got poor reviews, and the tour that followed emphasized theatrics and dialog to the point of alienating fans and band members alike. But the lead single from the album "Kilroy Was Here" was the band's second million seller, and while it wasn't their biggest hit, it's probably there best remembered tune. The song was heavy on camp value and unintentionally corny lyrics, and was later referenced by everything from "Futurama" to "Austin Powers" to a 1999 Volswagen commercial. What was the name of the song?

Bonus Question: The album "Kilroy Was Here" tells the story of a time in the future in which rock and roll is outlawed. The movement to ban rock is lead by Dr. Everett Righteous, who organizes record burnings and ultimately imprisons the story's hero, rock star Robert Orin Charles Kilroy. So what was the name of the political organization that Dr. Righteous uses to stamp out Rock N Roll?

There was a story in the news recently that caught my attention . It seems that there's a group of cheerleaders at McKinney North High School in Texas that until recently had been absolutely terrorizing the place. This so called "Fab Five" were the most powerful clique in the school, and they owed it all to their incredible popularity and the fact that one had a mom who was the school's principal (up until the story got out and she was forced to resign.) But word has it these girls were cutting class, talking back to teachers, and just plain getting away with murder. I'll bet there were some kids at that school that wanted to burst their bubble. Anyways, the whole scandal is like some Hollywood movie come to life. Stories in the press about the McKinney High cheerleaders have compared the situation to the movie "Mean Girls." But I remember a film from the late 80's that, while not exactly the same, did feature an all powerful clique of ultra-popular chicks who run psychological roughshod over their classmates. The movie starred Wynona Ryder as a one time confidant of the group who conspires with outsider Christian Slater to burst their bubble in a most morbid fashion. What was the name of the film?

Bonus Question: The aforementioned film took place at the fictional Westerberg High School. Apparently, the name for the high school came from the last name of the lead singer of Wynona Ryder's (at the time) favorite band. So what band are we talking about?

Actor Val Kilmer began his pursuit of a career in acting by attending some very prestigious acting schools, such as the Hollywood Professional School and Juilliard. His early career included lots of theatre work, along with some appearances in commercials, and an after school special. When Kilmer set his sights on film work, he scored the lead role in his first two movies. Ironically, he got more attention for the supporting roles that followed, such as his part in the 1986 film "Top Gun."

He returned to leading roles in the 90's, portraying Jim Morrison in "The Doors" (1991) and the legendary caped crusader in "Batman Forever" (1995). He got a reputation as being difficult to work with (especially after the Batman gig), but many view Kilmer's technique of immersing himself in the role as the key to his ability to play many diverse types of characters. Back in 1985, Val Kilmer played the brilliant-yet-quirky leader of a group college students who divide their time between conducting cutting edge research and performing devious pranks. What was the name of the film?

Bonus Question: The film makers invented a fictional school to provide the setting for the afore mentioned movie, but it was based on an actual school. In fact, many of the pranks in the film were based on the exploits of the students at this actual school, and an alumnus of that school was on the set acting as a consultant during filming. What's the name of the real school that provided the inspiration for the fictional school in our mystery film?