Do you know your summer pop hits? – quiz

Heaven is a place on earth … the only thing missing is the Beach Boys. Photograph: Kjersti Joergensen/Alamy

1. 

   In Summertime Blues, Eddie Cochran was so troubled by being unable to take his baby on a date that he planned to take his problem to the United Nations. Which singer recontextualised that plea in a single released in February 2011?

   1. Chromeo on Hot Mess

   2. JLS on Eyes Wide Shut

   3. Britney Spears on Hold It Against Me

   4. PJ Harvey on The Words That Maketh Murder

2. 

   Which of the following popular sports did the Beach Boys reminisce about playing in All Summer Long?

   1. Surfing

   2. Frisbee

   3. Miniature golf

   4. Crown green bowls

3. 

   In The Boys of Summer, Don Henley tried to capture his generation’s selling out in a lyrical image of a decoration on a vehicle. Which one?

   1. A disabled badge on a Maserati

   2. A Deadhead sticker on a Cadillac

   3. A carphone in a Model T

   4. A Honk If You’re Horny! sticker on an Escort XR3i

4. 

   The Lovin’ Spoonful’s Summer in the City is one of the most beloved of the great 60s summer hits. But what is the first car horn you hear during the instrumental bridge?

   1. A Volkswagen Beetle

   2. A Ford Mustang

   3. A Cadillac Coupe de Ville

   4. It’s not a car horn at all. It’s a comedy horn from a joke shop.

5. 

   Cruel Summer became Bananarama’s first US hit after being featured in which hit 1984 film?

   1. Police Academy

   2. Splash

   3. Revenge of the Nerds

   4. The Karate Kid

6. 

   Which British metal legend provided backing vocals on Queens of the Stone Age’s Feel Good Hit of the Summer?

   1. Rob Halford of Judas Priest

   2. Biff Byford of Saxon

   3. Cronos of Venom

   4. Bruce Dickinson of Iron Maiden

7. 

   In Summertime, the Fresh Prince – Will Smith, as he was soon to be better known – outlined the optimum speed for cruising around Philadelphia in one’s freshly waxed car. What was that speed?

   1. 60mph

   2. 36mph

   3. 2pmh

   4. 11mph

8. 

   Mungo Jerry’s debut single In the Summertime has sold an estimated 30m copies since its release in 1970. For which company was singer Ray Dorset working when he wrote the song?

   1. Amex

   2. Timex

   3. Rolex

   4. Fed Ex

9. 

   Summer Nights, No 1 in the UK for seven weeks in 1978, was a duet between John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John in the movie Grease. How many lines in the song were delivered by other characters from the film?

   1. None

   2. Three

   3. Five

   4. Seven

10. 

    LFO – not the Warp Records ones, but the American pop group whose name stood for Lyte Funkie Ones – expressed their love for Summer Girls in 1999. They especially like girls who wear a particular brand of clothing. But which brand?

    1. Abercrombie and Fitch

    2. Hollister

    3. GIlly Hicks

    4. Superdry

11. 

    Everybody knows where Bryan Adams got his first real six-string in Summer of ’69, and how long he played it. But can you name the two “guys from school” who had to leave the band in the song?

    1. Johnny and Jack

    2. Joey and Jason

    3. Jamie and Jacob

    4. Jimmy and Jody

12. 

    The sleeve for the Undertones 1979 single Here Comes the Summer featured a picture of what?

    1. The band wearing Speedos, pictured on the Giant’s Causeway

    2. Surfers and their girlfriends

    3. A vintage postcard showing family riding a horse and cart beside a lake.

    4. An child eating an ice cream.

Solutions

1:D - The problem she was planning to take to the United Nations was war in the Middle East., 2:C - This was not an exciting summer. Among the memories the Beach Boys have is “when you spilled Coke all over your blouse”., 3:B - It was inspired by passing a Cadillac Seville on the San Diego freeway with just such a sticker. , 4:A - 1,080,165 Beetles were produced in 1966, the year Summer in the City was a hit., 5:D - The song reached No 9 in the US, though Bananarama did not allow it to be included on the film’s soundtrack album. , 6:A - He happened to be recording in a neighbouring studio at the time., 7:C - According to the Pennsylvania vehicle code: “No person shall drive a motor vehicle at such a slow speed as to impede the normal and reasonable movement of traffic.”, 8:B - He had to ask for time off the appear on Top of the Pops. , 9:D - In 2010, Billboard ranked Summer Nights the ninth best summer song of all time., 10:A - In 2004, Abercrombie and Fitch faced protests after selling T-shirts implying the residents of West Virginia routinely committed incest. , 11:D - Jimmy quit. Jody got married. , 12:C - The back cover featured the supposed text of the postcard

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