Our final Off The Record of 2017 saw us pass the mic to the group for you to share the music you most enjoyed in 2017. Rather than listening to a whole album, the night was made up of individual tracks from the group’s favourite albums released this year.
We enjoyed another musical quiz, with questions below:
Question 1
Q: How many Christmas-themed songs has Cliff Richard reached the UK top 10 with?
A: Four. They were:
- 21st Century Christmas (#2 in 2006)
- Millennium Prayer (#1 in 1999)
- Mistletoe & Wine (#1 in 1988)
- Saviour’s Day (#1 in 1990)
Question 2
Q: How many times has Band Aid’s “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” been released?
A: Four: in 1984, 1989, 2004 and 2014.
Question 3
Q: Chris Rea was famously “driving home for Christmas” in 1988. But which of these cars was the highest-selling in the UK during the 80s?
A: Ford Escort. It sold 1.6m in the 1980s.
Question 4
Q: True or False? Shane MacGowan of the Pogues initially recorded both the male and female vocals for Fairytale Of New York himself until they came across Kirsty MacColl.
A: True. There’s a demo somewhere!
Question 5
Q: In 1971 John and Yoko sang “Happy Xmas (War is Over)” about the Vietnam war. But how many more years did they have to wait until war was, indeed, over?
A: Four years. The Vietnam war ended in April 1975
Question 6
Q: Jimmy Boyd recorded “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus” in 1952 at the age of 13. What was the divorce rate that year in America?
A: 25%. It’s unclear what proportion of this was down to adultery with Santa.
Question 7
Q: True or False? The song “Silent Night” was declared an “intangible cultural heritage” by UNESCO in 2011.
A: True. Another item on the same list is the Belgian tradition of shrimp fishing on horseback.
Question 8
Q: “Walking in the Air” was recorded for the 1982 movie The Snowman. But what was the name of the fictional boy who sings it?
A: James. Also, there’s a David Bowie intro to the Snowman and it’s amazing.
Question 9
Q: Paul McCartney released “Wonderful Christmastime” in 1979. What was the terrible name of the accompanying B-side?
- Drum All Ye Faithful
- Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reggae
- Little Drum’n’bass Boy
- God Rock Ye Merry Gentlemen
A: Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reggae.
Question 10
Q: How much in royalties is Mariah Carey estimated to have made from “All I Want For Christmas Is You”?
A: $60m: the 11th best-selling single of all time.
Question 11
Q: In the song “The 12 Days of Christmas”, what is the seventh item?
A: 7 Swans a-Swimming
Question 12
Q: In 2009, Rage Against The Machine got the Christmas Number One with “Killing In The Name Of”. How many times does the uncensored version of the song include the word “fuck”?
A: 17
Question 13
Q: True or False: Actor Neil Morrissey has had more #1 singles than Morrissey from the Smiths?
A: True (Neil Morrissey recorded the Bob The Builder Christmas #1 in 2000)
Songs
There was a huge list of music nominated by pretty much everyone in the room (18 festive music lovers) – thanks to all of you. The playlist is below – some fantastic music from the last twelve months (and beyond).
Spotify playlist of songs
See above to see who nominated each song which matched our theme, "2017 in Review".