Here are 20 bands.

They are rendered by the initials of the individual band-members. To confuse you slightly, they DO NOT NECESSARILY begin with the initials of the singer(s).

To confuse you a little further, these bands DID NOT NECESSARILY retain these specific line-ups throughout their entire career.

Bonus points will therefore be awarded if you include in your answer the YEAR/ERA or ALBUM/ALBUMS in which (or on which) these line-ups played together.

Please name the bands.

1. MW, KR, RH, MS
Soft Boys (Underwater Moonlight, 1980, line-up) - THE VERY FAMOUS SPORTS REPORTER

2. HS, RG, DB, TS
Tin Machine - PERSONA

3. KM, JB, GS, DAS, TA
TV On The Radio - PERSONA

4. NS, JL, RE, IP, RB
Deep Purple original line-up with Nick Simper and Rod Evans - THE VERY FAMOUS SPORTS REPORTER

5. MC, DG, JH, DHS, CC (see "Technical Note", below)
Colosseum c. 1970 - GENE VINCENTS AMPHETAMINE BREATH

6. JF, GA, CW, DW, CJ
Flamin' Groovies, Shake Some Action line-up - CAPPUCCINO AND A SLICE OF QUICHE

7. SC, DD, GJ, MB, DL
T. Rex, the '76-'77 line up - MERE PSEUD.

8. BS, CC, MC, KT
Soundgarden, '90s line-up - PERSONA

9. JJ, MT, DT, SB, RW
Pere Ubu - THE VERY FAMOUS SPORTS REPORTER

10. GB, G, CG
Masters Of Reality, 1992 line-up - PERSONA

11. JM, GL, SE
The Walker Brothers - MERE PSEUD.

12. JM, JB, TW, LY
Tony Williams' Lifetime, 2nd album line-up - GENE VINCENTS AMPHETAMINE BREATH

13. JY, CH, GP, RM
The Byrds c. 1968-69 - MERE PSEUD.

14. MM, LL, BC, JH, JS, JV
Gypsy Sun & Rainbows, aka Jimi Hendrix and Friends at the 1969 Woodstock Festival - GENE VINCENTS AMPHETAMINE BREATH

15. CB, CT, DR, ED
Grizzly Bear - MERE PSEUD.

16. BA, TC, CM, AP
XTC - PERSONA

17. DP, MW, MF, SS
ABC (Lexicon Of Love line-up) - MERE PSEUD.

18. JO, MO, GB, HD
Take That, minus Robbie - BUY KURIOUS!

19. SN, MF, JM, LB, CM
Fleetwood Mac - PERSONA

20. JM, KM, SS, SS
Siouxsie And The Banshees - HICCUP PERCY


Points awarded so far (working on the basis of 2 points for a correct answer and 1 for a bonus)

Mere Pseud. - 14
Persona - 14
[Persona wins on a tie-breaker]
Gene Vincents Amphetamine Breath - 8
The Very Famous Sports Reporter - 8
Buy Kurious! - 3
Cappuccino and a slice of quiche - 3
Hiccup Percy - 2

Could you clarify if the initials are from stage names or real names?

eg Would Johnny Rotten be JR or JL?

(V Good quiz by the way)

These are bloody hard Zoot.

I think 20 is Siouxsie & The Banshees. Siouxsie, Steve Severin, Kenny Morris & John McKay. Not the 1st line-up but pretty early I think.

Stage names are used. The names that were written on the record sleeves.

Lydon would therefore appear as JR in a Sex Pistols line-up, but as JL in a PiL line-up.

He isn't in this quiz, though.

CORRECT.

Thanks.

The Ramones would have been pretty easy wouldn't they?

:lol:

Yep, I looked for them.

Bear in mind, however, that one of the bands might perhaps have gone through most of their career sharing the same surname for professional reasons, but then possibly reverted to their real surnames at a later stage in their career.

Maybe.

I think 16 is XTC, yes?

(Barry Andrews, Terry Chambers, Colin Moulding, Andy Partridge)

CORRECT.

TECHNICAL NOTE:

5. The member whose initials are given as CC is actually credited on the album under his real name, DC. However, he is better known by his nickname, CC.

17. ABC (Lexicon Of Love lineup)

1. Soft Boys 1980 Underwater Moonlight
4. Original Deep Purple with Nick Simper and Rod Evans.

2: Tin Machine.

(Hunt Sales, Reeves Gabrels, David Bowie, Tony Sales)

CORRECT - and a bonus point.

1. CORRECT - and a bonus point.

4. CORRECT - and a bonus point

CORRECT.

No bonus points available, sadly, as they only had one line-up.

Some clues:

3. Vance
5. Russell Crowe
6. Nora
7. Goldblum
8. eclipse
9. my baby says
10. on a sunday
11. no relation
12. dual
14. For one night only, folks
15. Don't get between a mother and her kids
18. nothing rhymes

19. Fleetwood Mac

13. The Byrds in 1968 (John York, Chris Hillman, Gram Parsons, Roger McGuinn)

Wasn't John York actually Chris Hillman's replacement?

CORRECT.

CORRECT -- and a bonus point.

And another bonus point for spotting the Deliberate Mistake in this quiz.

'CH' should actually have read 'CW'.

Then it's Gene instead of Gram Parsons.

No, I don't demand yet another bonus point. ;)

Fantastic quiz BTW. :applaud:

Yes, it's Gene.

Good quiz!

Rendered slightly less good by the fact that I can't get any of them. Grrr.

I don't suppose if I grovel shamelessly we could have pointers for the actual decades?

I've read this through 30 times now and it's driving me mad!

All I know for sure is that the Desperate Bicycles and Infa-Riot don't feature.

And if The Shitlickers turn out to be one of the answers I'm going to be mortified.

All right, let me think about that.

Some of the bands overlap decades, and a few are intentionally obscure in order to give intense satisfaction to those who might be able to spot them.

I'll think about re-jigging the chronology.

8. Soundgarden

(the final line-up, beginning with the "Badmotorfinger" LP, I believe)...

18 is Take That (minus Robbie :cry2: ).

Great quiz, Zoot. :applaud:

CORRECT. And you can have a bonus point for stipulating the era.

CORRECT -- and a bonus point.

This quiz is too difficult for me.

Here's one for you, then. Complete the name of the band.

The M-n-chrome Set.

I want a bonus point for that!

Is it the Minny Pops spin-off targeting the then burgeoning indie sector, The Minichrome Set?

Piece of piss.

Halfwit

Its the Menochrome Set

The surreal "middle aged women sitting under hairdryers" gruppe famous in Bavaria in the 1970's.

These clues have merely served to confuse me stilll further.

I can't do this fucker either. :angry:

Can I have an easy one, like RM2 got? :ohdear:

MES + GOB

3. Tommy
5. When in Rome
6. Bleedin'
7. Have a superfunk Christmas and a golden new year
9. As in 'Doubting'?
10. An album by the most influential band in history (according to some estimates)
11. They don't regret not being related
12. mr tillman
14. Half a million strong
15. Not a polar one