80's Trivia Questions

Your source for weekly 80's trivia questions. You will find 80s trivia questions ranging from clothing and hair to TV and movies and, of course, 80's music. If you think you have the answer, post it in the comments section.

Styx Trivia: Concept Albums

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?

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1 Comments:

At January 25, 2007, Blogger Bill Cook said...

The answer to the Trivia Question (The lead single from the Styx 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. What was the name of the song?) was "Mr. oboto."

The answer to the Bonus Question (In the storyline that accompanies the album "Kilroy Was Here," what was the name of the political organization that Dr. Righteous uses to stamp out Rock N Roll?) was Majority for Musical Morality (MMM).

 

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