'80s Flashcards
“Boys of Summer” was perhaps the most famous single by this former Eagles drummer and vocalist.
Don Henley
He was the member of Wham! that was not George Michael.
Andrew Ridgeley
This British all-female group is considered to be a blueprint for the Spice Girls. They achieved a 1986 U.S. number one hit with a cover of Shocking Blue’s “Venus.” They were known for their vocal style, generally singing in unison rather than in harmony like most vocal groups.
Bananarama
This former Metallica bassist was killed in a 1986 bus crash while the band was on tour in Europe.
Cliff Burton
What fictional clothing store at the corner of Ludlow and Rivington on New York’s Lower East Side only ever existed on the cover of a 1989 record album?
Paul’s Boutique
Carlton Ridenhour, William Jonathan Drayton, Jr., Norman Rogers, and Richard Griffin (as the Minister of Information and leader of the Security of the First World) are the real names of the core of what hip-hop group and 2013 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee during its 1980s/90s peak?
Public Enemy
Beauty and the Beat, Vacation, and Talk Show are the early 1980s albums from what rock band?
The Go-Go’s
According to Mojo Nixon’s 1987 song “Elvis is Everywhere”, every human being on Earth has a little bit of Elvis Presley in them - except one. Which actor is this Anti-Elvis? (In the future, Nixon would explain his choice as an “evil yuppie twit” who “pretended to be a rock-and-roller”.)
Michael J. Fox
What artist and TV personality was discovered while a member of the Laker Girls cheerleading squad and choreographed videos from Janet Jackson’s Control album before achieving pop stardom of her own later in the 1980s?
Paula Abdul
Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson talked this duet of theirs all the way to No. 1.
Say Say Say
Among the strangest musicians to ever be labeled rock (and that classification may be a stretch), what performance artist received high acclaim for her extraordinary (and sometimes frightening-sounding) vocal range on her debut album The Litanies of Satan in 1982? The artist in question is also somewhat known for collaboration with John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin.
Diamanda Galas
After several years of mainstream popularity, what former quartet and quintet member confused and alienated much of his fanbase in 1982 with his electronic album Trans? For what it’s worth, he is equally, if not more, famous for his solo career.
Neil Young
Pioneering grindcore band Napalm Death recorded the oddity “You Suffer” on their influential 40-song album Scum. The song itself has been recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records, holding what distinction?
Shortest song recorded
Though he was essentially the group’s lead singer, Ralph Tresvant had arguably the least prolific post-breakup musical career of all the primary members of what 1980s R&B group?
New Edition
This animated character appeared with Paula Abdul in her video for “Opposites Attract” in 1989.
MC Skat Kat
The 1986 hit song “That’s What Friends Are For” was a collaboration among Dionne Warwick, Stevie Wonder, Elton John, and what other artist, who herself had hits (with her supporting group) that include “Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me” and “Midnight Train to Georgia”?
Gladys Knight
Dr. Dre was part of what electro-hip-hop group prior to forming NWA?
World Class Wreckin’ Cru
What was the name of the record label formed by Eazy E and Jacob Heller in 1986?
Ruthless Records
What 17-year-old rapper released Def Jam’s first-ever album in 1985?
LL Cool J
John Cale and Lou Reed, co-founders of The Velvet Underground, spoke for the first time in years in 1987 at Andy Warhol’s funeral, where artist and filmmaker Julian Schnabel suggested they collaborate on a memorial piece. The resulting album (a bit of the opening song, “Small Town,” is in the audio clip), released almost exactly three years later, would lead to a VU reunion, another personal falling out between Cale and Reed, and VU’s final breakup in 1993. What is the name of this album?
Songs For Drella
What two words have been edited out of the following image? These days, the phrase in question is much more commonly written as one word, due to its use by an entirely different musical group.
Radio Head
The 1980 concert film Divine Madness centered on a performance the year before at Pasadena’s Civic Auditorium by what performer, whose nickname (dating to her early years as a bathhouse diva) is referenced in the title?
Bette Midler
Name the country artist who released the 1987 album Always and Forever, which spent 40 weeks at #1 on the Billboard Country album chart and saw four of its songs (including “Forever and Ever, Amen”) reach #1 on the Country Singles chart.
Randy Travis
A new wave album named Trans, which prominently features electronic sound and use of a Sennheiser Vocoder VSM201, and whose current availability on streaming services is limited, was a polarizing 1982 release by what Canadian-born rock music artist?
Neil Young
Belinda Carlisle’s self-titled mainstream pop album from 1986, which featured the hit song “Mad about You”, was her solo debut after her band’s (first) breakup in May of the previous year. What was the name of that band?
The Go-Go’s
Michael Stipe, lead singer of the band R.E.M., alluded in an interview to a dream he once had in which he was attending a party where every guest (but him) had the same initials. Many of these people are famously mentioned by name in the lyrics to R.E.M.’s “It’s the End of the World as We Know It (and I Feel Fine)”. What were these two initials?
LB
Names include Leonard Bernstein, Lenny Bruce, and Leonid Brezhnev
“That’s when I saw her, ooh, I saw her. She walked in through the out door, out door. She wore a…” are lyrics from what 1985 Prince & The Revolution song?
Raspberry Beret
Possibly the most notorious WTF moment in Grammy history was when the award in the new Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance Vocal or Instrumental category did not go to AC/DC, Iggy Pop, Jane’s Addiction, or Metallica, but to what legacy rock band whose most metal attribute may have been lead singer Ian Anderson’s flute?
Jethro Tull
