WAMC's Ian Pickus and resident quizzer Mike Nothnagel switch seats for a show about the top albums of this century, so far.
Last week's challenge
Start with the phrase FOUR TITLES. Rearrange the letters to spell a five-letter word for a species of fish and a five-letter word for things that a fisherman uses. What are the words?
Answer: TROUT and FLIES.
THIS WEEK'S CATEGORY: TOP ALBUMS OF THE 2000s
On-air questions: Well Mike, this is our last show of the month….will you wake me up when September ends? That lyric comes from a song by Green Day off the band’s comeback album “American Idiot,” which was released in … September of 2004, went on to sell 15 million copies, and wound up becoming a hit Broadway musical and reportedly a film that is still in production. In honor of all of that, today’s quiz is about other blockbuster albums of the 2000s — counting physical album sales. I’ll name the album and some key facts about it, you name the artist.
1. 2006: Called “Back to Black,” it was co-produced by John Ronson; its singles include “Tears Dry On Their Own,” the title track, “and Rehab.”
2. 2015: Called “25,” it was the artist’s third straight album whose name was a number, it led to awards such as British Album and single of the Year, and its lead single “Hello” was the first to sell 1 million digital copies in a week.
3. 2001: Called “Invincible,” it was the artist’s sixth and final studio album despite the fact that he lived another eight years after its release, it featured the lead single “You Rock My World,” and it was pulled from some radio stations in Canada and New Zealand following the release of an HBO documentary earlier this year.
4. 2016: It’s the overall highest-selling album released in 2016, was itself accompanied by an HBO film, set off internet sleuths who tried to figure out who “Becky With The Good Hair” is, and its lead single “Formation” was performed during the halftime show at Super Bowl L.
5. 2004: Called “Confessions,” it features production work from fellow Atlanta figures Jermaine Dupri and Lil Jon, Lil Jon appears on its lead single “Yeah,” and it won the Grammy for Best Contemporary R & B Album.
Extra credit
1. 2001: “Laundry Service,” sold 13 million albums worldwide, featured the lead single “Whenever, Wherever,” and is the only album on this list by a native of Colombia.
2. 2005: “Confessions On A Dance Floor,” the 10th of its artist’s 14 studio albums to date, it featured a sample of ABBA’s “Gimme! Gimme! Gimme” on its opening track, and has a song called “Forbidden Love,” the same title of a different song on the artist’s earlier “Bedtime Stories.”
This week's challenge
Start with the name of a rapper who has had two of the highest-selling albums of the 2000s. Add an I, rearrange the letters, and you can spell the three-word name of a song by the band whose 2000 collection of No. 1 hits also sold more than 30 million copies. What is the song and what is the band? As a hint, this rapper goes by a single name.
ANSWERS
On-air questions
1. Amy Winehouse (this was her second and last studio album)
2. Adele
3. Michael Jackson (Jackson’s posthumous albums include “Xscape” and “Michael”)
4. “Lemonade” by Beyonce
5. Usher
Extra credit
1. Shakira
2. Madonna
