World of Chig   

31.10.06
Answers to Friday's Pop Quiz

As promised. Well done to the Schlagerboys for getting the two that no one else could get, and to Diamond Geezer, Mike and Simon, who were all first to answer one of the others correctly.

Answers in bold.

Q1) Razorlight had a UK number one single a couple of weeks ago with 'America'. Can you list all of the other UK chart-toppers which have just the name of a sovereign country as their title? (No other words in the title, and no nationalities either, just a country name.)

The only answer to this is 'Barbados' by Typically Tropical. No other country name on its own has been a UK number one apart from Barbados and now America. (Both of them managed only one week at the top.)

Q2) Which 1980s Top 5 hit song was very nearly called 'It's America', but was changed by the act who sang it into something meaningless, because they thought it might cause offence?

It was 'It's A Miracle' by Culture Club, which was written as 'It's America' and is clearly about America, but changed when they got cold feet about releasing it there. It all makes sense if you sing 'it's America', but makes no sense at all in its recorded version.

Q3) Surprisingly, the word 'America' had never featured in the title of a chart-topping song before Razorlight, but who came closest, with the word 'American'? (Some of them have to be easy, to compensate for the tricky ones!)

It was the Malawian babysnatcher herself, Madonna, with American Pie in 2000.

Q4) Scissor Sisters are just two days away from possibly joining a very exclusive chart club. What will they have to do in Sunday's singles chart to join Dickie Valentine, Tommy Edwards, Michael Jackson and Eminem (and no others)?

They didn't do it. They fell from 4 to 10 instead, but if Scissor Sisters had fallen just one place to 5, it would have been only the fifth single in chart history to go 1,2,3,4,5 in consecutive weeks.

Q5) How many gay men are there in this photo? (See photo of Chig and Jemini below.)

The answer is two, much to my surprise. My gaydar clearly failed spectacularly in 2003. Despite meeting Chris and Gemma at A Song For Europe, where the photo below was taken, and being in Riga for the whole of Eurovision week, including attending Jemini's rehearsal's and media conferences, I had no idea until I read Tim Moore's Nul Points book earlier this month, which makes the point quite clearly, twice.

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