Another month, another quiz. As always, 20 five-second intros to popular songs from that year. All but one were hits in Britain or the US, except one well-known song which was an album track in 1988 but was released as a single a decade and a half later. It is a bit of a classic though, so everybody should get it.

I've tried to leave a little silence between each track; if you don't hear a silence, it's the same track.

As usual, PM me your answers if you like. Oh, and I'll give Rhino a pass on number 18.

Intros Quiz 1988

PM sent.

I did really well on the first seven or eight, then collapsed completely. Maybe next time.

Hah! You too? I was thinking "Fuck me, I'm going to ace this" and then died utterly and completely. Maybe PT looked up the "Number 1 in SA" list by mistake.

Well, it was tough rounding up a fair spread of hits from 1988 without resorting to the SAW canon or just UK Indie (I don't think many would've got the Rock Lobsters, had I included them).

Still, I don't think it's that obscure, though it does have a bit of a UK bias.

Clues then, bearing in mind that I don't have a charts book for the US:

1. Everybody will know that one
2. ibid
3. Big dance track, #8 in the UK (#3 USdnce charts)
4. #11 UK, became a big hit later in the US, I think
5. Easy
6. Top 5 UK
7. Top 10 UK, possibly not big in the US
8. Indie classic; first released in '88 (when I bought it), became a hit later
9. Top 5 UK, Top 10 US (I think)
10. Hit in the US, only #60 in UK but well known
11. Top 5 UK
12. US #2, from one 1988's biggest albums
13. UK #1 and #2 in the US
14. UK Top 10 by US group (US R&B #1)
15. #1in UK and US
16. UK Top 10
17. US hit; from one the 1988's biggest albums
18. One for the US audiences, flop in UK
19. UK Top 10
20. Well-known album track from seminal group

Number 11 was indeed a #1 in SA.

1. Got it.
2. Got it.
3. Who the fuck?
4. Got it.
5. Got it.
6. Got it.
7. Who the fuck?
8. Got it.
9. Got it.
10. Damn...should have got it.
11. Who the fuck?
12. Got it.
13. Never would have got it.
14. Who the fuck?
15. Never heard of it.
16. Never heard of it.
17. Never heard of it.
18. You're kidding.
19. Never heard of it.
20. Never heard of it.

Never heard of 15? Where were you in 1988? A hermitage. You couldn't escape that awful song.

Truthfully, in 1988 I would never have been near a radio station that would have played that song. Numbers 1, 4, 6 and 10, yes. But not 15.

After a preliminary listen I managed to get a few, but it's unlikely I'll trouble the leader board. I'll have another go tonight with m'lovely wife to help out on the rock ones.

PM Sent G-man. Some of them really take me back. Still got quite a few gaps though.

I reckon I have 12.

This is the only period- all right, year- I'd get more than about 5 on, but amazing how many this can get you in pub quizzes, even today. It's just like the way sitcom questions are always about the seventies.

Jon, I think 15 is a very good score.

The answers:

1. Morrissey - Every Day Is Like Sunday
2. Traveling Wilburys - Handle With Care
3. Inner City - Big Fun
4. The Proclaimers - I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)
5. Guns 'n Roses - Sweet Child O' Mine
6. Primitives - Crash
7. Mica Paris - My One Temptation
8. The La's - There She Goes
9. Taylor Dane - Tell It To My Heart
10. Michelle Shocked - Anchorage
11. Transvision Vamp - I Want Your Love
12. INXS - Devil Inside
13. Phil Collins - A Groovy Kind Of Love
14. Mac Band - Roses Are Red
15. Whitney Houston - One Moment In Time
16. Aztec Camera - Somewhere In My Heart
17. Tracy Chapman - Baby I Can Hold You
18. Toto - Pamela
19. Prefab Sprout - The King Of RockīnīRoll
20. Pixies - Where Is My Mind

A pitiful 13/20 (without looking at the answers).

God, the late 80s were horrible. It was when the Republicans and Thatcherites and straights and squares completely seized control. I'm glad I don't know these songs. I'd retreated deep into the indie/alternative scene by that point, not to emerge for another five years.

I really hated the Wilburys, and the Houston and Collins records were dire. Don't like the Mac Band song either. And I'd hate the Taylor Dayne track if it didn't remind me of the lovely Leslene...

Inner City and Mica Paris were great though. And I love the Tracy Chapman album.

Next month I'll do 1993. I wonder if I have 20 sufficiently well-known songs from that year...

1998 will be easier; by then I had joined the MP3 downloading revolution and accumulated lots of hits for my nephews.

Fuckin' loved that Inner City album.

Have just done the quiz without looking at the answers on the thread, though did pretty badly largely for the reasons SR outlines