Musical Mystery - Random Trivia Answers

• A1) The Brady Bunch. On the January 26, 1973 episode "Amateur Hour", the six children perform this song as the Silver Platters on The Pete Sterne Amateur Hour to try to win $100 for an anniversary present (a silver platter, of course) for their parents. In The Brady Bunch Movie in 1995, they sing the same tune in a "Search for the Stars" contest to win $20,000 to save the family house.
• A2) "Billie Jean". Its nine weeks were six more than "Beat It", the only other single from the album to reach the top of the chart. "The Girl Is Mine" peaked at #2, "Thriller" (which also fits the quiz theme) at #4, "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" at #5, "Human Nature" at #7, and "P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)" at #10.
• A3) Political campaigning. The American equivalent of the English term is "going on the stump".
• A4) Tin. More specifically, it's a rusted tin roof. [For years I thought they were referring to a man named Rusty until I looked this up!]
• A5) Vitorino. "Macarena tiene un novio que se llama / Que se llama de apellido Vitorino" translates as "Macarena has a boyfriend whose name is / whose first name is Vitorino". Later in the song, "Now don't you worry about my boyfriend / The boy who's name is Vitorino" is sung in English.
• A6) "Mr. Roboto". Robert Orin Charles Kilroy, the title character of Styx's Kilroy Was Here concept album, escapes from a futuristic prison by hiding in the shell of a robot prison guard.
• A7) Carl Douglas. The novelty song held the top spot for two weeks in December before Harry Chapin's "Cat's in the Cradle" overtook it.
• A8) Tommy James & the Shondells. James didn't misspell the word "money"; he was inspired by the "MONY" sign atop the Mutual of New York's Manhattan building.
• A9) "Hound Dog". Presley performed thirty takes of the song before settling on the one he liked enough to release. The single was also the first to pull off the Pop, Country & Western, and Rhythm & Blues #1 trifecta.
• A10) Kenickie. A Jeff Conaway and John Travolta duet praises the "systematic, hydromatic, ultramatic" used car in the 1978 movie.
• A11) "The Twist". The song inspired a dance craze after Dick Clark's American Bandstand featured Chubby Checker's version.
• A12) "Walk Like an Egyptian". The Bangles sang, "All the old paintings on the tombs / They do the sand dance", which the Wilsons were also doing in 1934.