Weekly Contest: '80s Edition ANSWERS & WINNER!

[Mr. Atari]

Here we go again.

I love doing these, but in the era of google, wikipedia, and the IMDB, it's getting way too easy.

These are all questions from the massive repository of pointless information in my brain (which is better than a massive suppository, I suppose). Are you tough enough to answer them without scouring the interweb?

Here are my ground rules:

1) PM all answers to me. NO POSTING ANSWERS IN THIS THREAD. If you post answers in this thread, you will be disqualified and probably mildly reprimanded.

2) You must be at least a "Tibby" to play (that is, at least 50 posts). This is to discourage cheating and to reward more committed members.

3) In the event of a tie, the impartial Atari kids will pick a name from a hat.

4) The lucky winner will receive 3 DVDs from everyone's favorite, skyroniter.

Good luck and may God thy gold refine.

[Mr. Atari]

And now the questions. Please keep in mind, these all have to do with pop culture in the 1980s. Also please keep in mind that there is no apostrophe when pluralizing a number. For the love of Jebus, that bugs me.

Music:
1) Combining the Billboard Top 100 songs of each year in the decade (1,000 total songs), only 2 non-solo artists had 10 or more. Who were those groups?

2) What British pop band, which scored two top-10 hits in the mid-‘80s, took their name from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy?

Movies:
3) In what club did Marty DiBergi first see Spinal Tap?

4) In Top Secret, when Nick is trying to avoid persistent fans, what MSTed actor’s name does he use as an alias?

TV:
5) What long running show (featuring an MSTed actress) focused on waitresses working in a fancy top-floor restaurant?

6) What show had a famous episode where its cast re-interpreted The Taming of the Shrew?

Sports:
7) Who was the only pitcher to win 25 games in a season in the decade?

8) Who was the losing quarterback in the famous “band on the field” college football game?

In the News:
9) What event occurred on March 30, 1981?

10) An architect from Hungary became the first self-made millionaire in a Communist country when what invention of his became a worldwide phenomenon?

Bonus Analogy Question (Cartoons):
Mumm-Ra : Mon-Star :: Snarf : ??

[GProopdog]

number 5 seems like it has such an obvious answer
but the one I'm thinking of doesn't match scenarios
other then that, these are good question.

[Hugh Beaumont]

This contest seems right up my alley. I'm not sure whether or not to enter, though, as I'm anal about my burned MST discs all looking the same (as in, the same DVD+R brand/type with the same labelling system). I'm an idiot, I know. Hmm...

[Mr. Atari]

Go ahead and enter, Sugarfly.

If you win and don't want the prize, I'll make sure the DVDs go to a worthy cause.

By "if" I mean "when", and by "worthy cause" I mean "my house".

[Hugh Beaumont]

sampo said:

Go ahead and enter, Sugarfly.

If you win and don't want the prize, I'll make sure the DVDs go to a worthy cause.

By "if" I mean "when", and by "worthy cause" I mean "my house".

Heh. Suuuuuure.

Yeah, I think I'll enter. I'll just need to rack my brains on a couple of them that might trip me up. One's definitely got me stumped. I think I know most of them, though. I think that I'll be banking on nobody else getting them all right.

[davidmello]

Too bad I'm not a Tibby (I'm about 22 short). I already have six, but am having problems with the others.

[Mr. Atari]

david, go ahead and enter. You've been around for awhile.

22 posts are easy to get if you want to go Sloaning.

[Arizona Warwilf]

So, if I may ask for clarification, we're cool if we can do this without using search engines, but internet research is not actually against the rules?

[Mr. Atari]

azwarwilf said:

So, if I may ask for clarification, we're cool if we can do this without using search engines, but internet research is not actually against the rules?

Sure.

I assume people are using search engines, but I don't have to like it.

[Mr. Atari]

Just a reminder:

The contest will end at Noon on Sunday (Mountain Time, of course).

You can still win. I hope you do.

[Hugh Beaumont]

By the way, I forgot to ask what happens if there's a tie? How does that work? (I guess this goes for any contest of this nature.)

[Mr. Atari]

Good question. While I can't speak for other contests, this rule (from the first post) will govern this contest:

3) In the event of a tie, the impartial Atari kids will pick a name from a hat.

[Hugh Beaumont]

sampo said:

Good question. While I can't speak for other contests, this rule (from the first post) will govern this contest:

3) In the event of a tie, the impartial Atari kids will pick a name from a hat.

Oh, duh. I should've seen that.

[Mr. Atari]

Time for the answers.

Let me just say I was very disappointed with this contest. Five entrants got all 10 correct. Two more got 9 correct. That is unacceptable. This was WAY too easy. Next time, just to make it hard enough, you're going to have to guess what I was doing on June 12, 1985 at 2:30 PM. Good luck with that, you overachievers!


1) Combining the Billboard Top 100 songs of each year in the decade (1,000 total songs), only 2 non-solo artists had 10 or more. Who were those groups?

I thought this would be the impossible question. Apparently, this info is more readily available online than I anticipated.

The two groups are Hall & Oates (14 songs) and Huey Lewis & The News (11).

The solo artists with more than ten were Michael Jackson, Lionel Richie, Madonna, and Prince. If you combine George Michael's solo output with Wham!'s and Sting's with that of the Police, they also make the list.

2) What British pop band, which scored two top-10 hits in the mid-‘80s, took their name from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy?

Level 42.

Their songs were "Something About You" and "Lessons in Love".

3) In what club did Marty DiBergi first see Spinal Tap?

The Electric Banana (don't look for it, it's not there anymore).

4) In Top Secret, when Nick is trying to avoid persistent fans, what MSTed actor’s name does he use as an alias?

Girls Town's Mel Torme. But Nick was definitely NOT Mel Torme.

5) What long running show (featuring an MSTed actress) focused on waitresses working in a fancy top-floor restaurant?

It's a Living, featuring Master Ninja's Crystal Bernard.

6) What show had a famous episode where its cast re-interpreted The Taming of the Shrew?

Moonlighting. This ep was one of the best hours of television ever, by the way.

7) Who was the only pitcher to win 25 games in a season in the decade?

Steve Stone did it for Baltimore in 1980. He then went on to be the best color commentator in all of sports.

8) Who was the losing quarterback in the famous “band on the field” college football game?

John Elway of Stanford. Whatever happened to that guy? I guess he couldn't get over such a stunning loss...

9) What event occurred on March 30, 1981?

You all got this wrong. The correct answer is my 6th birthday. But after doing a quick search, I was able to verify that, as most of you mentioned, Ronald Reagan was also shot on this day.

10) An architect from Hungary became the first self-made millionaire in a Communist country when what invention of his became a worldwide phenomenon?

Erno Rubik made a fortune with his puzzle cube. His other contribution to world culture is as a ubiquitous crossword answer.

BONUS: Mumm-Ra : Mon-Star :: Snarf : ??

This analogy links The Thundercats with The Silverhawks. The answer I was looking for was Copper Kid, as he (like Snarf) was the little, annoying member of the team who always learned a valuable lesson before the end of the episode. But I gave credit to some of you who brought to my attention the possibility of Tallyhawk; who (like Snarf) was the animal member of the team.

A couple votes went to Seymour and his bird Zeke due to their comic relief roles. This was a less satisfactory entry, as Seymour was never a member of the Silverhawks, but was just some cosmic cab driver.

Yes, I am a nerd.