A Victory Wrenched From Our Hands

Back to our regular haunt this week. There were 27 teams at the pub this time, which is pretty good going by most standards. We are proud to say that we managed to triumph over 25 of these bands of quiz warriors, but alas, the winner's title is still evading us for the time being. We stormed the first half with 50 out of 50, but unfortunately we met our nemesis in 1990s music. It would have only taken one extra question for a draw and two for a win, so if you're into 90s hits (or Danish fruit) then you could have been our saviour. Shall we get down to business then?

09/09/2014
Venue: The Victory Pub                                   Team: Me + 4 others
Score: 94/100 (1st - 96)                                    Snowball: Not chosen

All in all we had a pretty fantastic run, with a slight dip in the 2nd half. There are not too many questions this week, but as usual I am including all 4 of the snowballs so you can see if you might have been able to walk away with the big money. We'll start with the main quiz slip ups first.

Questions

1) Who had a 1992 hit with 'Jump Around'?

2) 'Gravenstein' is a variety of which fruit?

3) 'My head's spinning, boy I'm in a daze' are the opening lyrics to which song?*

*This is the question as it was read to us on the night. It is debatable as to whether these are the opening lyrics to the song as there is a spoken section beforehand.

Could you have swung it for us?


Answers

1) House of Pain

2) Apple

3) 'Never Ever' by the All Saints

Analysis and Excuses

1) I was aware of the song, with its trademark dying horse sound effect throughout, but the best I could dredge up from the back of my mind was that the group had three words in it. I knew that the chances of me remembering the right combination was pretty slim, so we cut our losses and moved onto some of the others.
Fact File: The song was a No. 3 hit in the US and a No. 8 hit in the UK upon its re-release in 1993. The 'horse' sound effect is actually an altered saxophone squeal sampled from the 1967 song 'Shoot Your Shot' by Junior Walker and the All Stars. The sound effect appears a total of 66 times in the song. House of Pain were a New York trio made up of Erik 'Everlast' Schrody, Leor 'DJ Lethal' DiMant and Daniel 'Danny Boy' O'Connor and originally existed from 1991-1996. The name 'House of Pain' is taken from H. G. Wells' 1896 work 'The Island of Dr. Moreau'.

2) One of our team thought that since 'stein' is German for 'stone' then this would probably be a fruit with a stone in the middle, so we ended up going with cherries.
Fact File: The Gravenstein is the national apple of Denmark, originating in South Jutland in 1669 as a chance seedling, and first recorded in America in 1790. Sonoma County in California regularly hosts a Gravenstein Apple Fair. If you're looking for some vital statistics on the apple, look no further. It is favoured as a cooking apple, used for apple sauce, and also for cider.

3) I wouldn't have got this, and nor I think would the team, even if it hadn't been the last question. I had heard the song, but not since the late 1990s. I discounted 'Dizzy' by Tommy Roe and instead pushed for Feels Like I'm In Love by Kelly Marie, which in my defence, turned out not to be such a bad guess ('My head is in a spin, my feet don't touch the ground').
Fact File: Never Ever was All Saints' second single, taken from their eponymous debut album. It is their 1st UK No. 1 single (out of 5) and their best selling song, having shifted 1.32 million copies in the UK alone. It is also the second best selling song in the UK by a girl group, after 'Wannabe' by the Spice Girls (1.34 million). All Saints was founded as 'All Saints 1.9.7.5.' in London in 1993 and most famously consisted of Melanie Blatt, Shaznay Lewis and sisters Natalie and Nicole Appleton. The song won the group the Best Single and Best Video BRIT Awards in 1998. The song's spoken opening words are 'A few questions that I need to know, how could you ever hurt me so?'

If you got those, let me know and I'll confer a 'Where were you when we needed you?' award on you. But it's not over yet. Could you have won either £100 or £50 had you been picked? Here's your next chance to shine...

Snowball Questions

1) Champion boxer Joe Bugner was born in which country?

2) Which model appeared as a pole dancer in the White Stripes video for the song 'I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself'?

3) What was the name of the cab company in the US TV series Taxi?

4) In which year was Spinning Dog Brewery (which brews for the Victory Pub) founded - 2000, 2002 or 2003?

Snowball Answers

1) Hungary.
Bugner was born Jozsef Kreul Bugner in Szeged on 13th March 1950. After the Soviet crackdown on the 1956 revolution, Bugner's family relocated to the UK, settling in St Ives (then in Huntingdonshire). Bugner went on to be British, Commonwealth and European Heavyweight Champion and fought Muhammad Ali for the title of World Champion in 1975, losing out on points. Bugner retired the following year, though made several comebacks. He also appeared in the 1994 film Street Fighter as Bison's Torturer. He now lives in Australia.

2) Kate Moss.
Moss was born in Croydon, Greater London, in 1974. She was reportedly discovered by Storm Model Management at JFK Airport while she was only 14. Moss is renowned for helping to popularise the distinctive Heroin Chic look during the 1990s. Her signature hairstyle, involving pulling her hair tightly back behind her head, is known as the Croydon facelift. She is also known for involvement in the musical scene, especially her collaborations with Oasis and with the Libertines, notably dating frontman Pete Doherty. Moss has appeared in a number of music videos, and the White Stripes cover of the Bacharach and David song was released in 2003. She is now married to the Kills' guitarist Jamie Hince.

3) The Sunshine Cab Company.
Taxi was a sitcom set in New York based on the lives of Sunshine Cab's employees and ran from 1978 - 1983 on ABC and NBC. It most notably starred Judd Hirsch (Alex Rieger), Marilu Henner (Elaine Nardo), Tony Danza (Tony Banta) and Danny DeVito as the amoral head dispatcher Louie De Palma. It also featured Andy Kaufman as foreign engineer Latka Gravas. The show was nominated for 31 Emmys (winning 18) and 25 Golden Globes (winning 4) during its run. The iconic opening sequence features a taxi on Queensboro Bridge and the theme tune 'Angela' was written specifically for the show by Bob James.

4) 2000.
Given that I go to the said pub every week, this really is the sort of thing I ought to have known! Spinning Dog was founded by Victory landlord Jim Kenyon and named after Cassie, the family dog. You can find more information here.





Hope you enjoyed it this week and please leave a comment should it take your fancy, especially if you could have helped us get 100. See you back here soon.