I know the Music round is my chance to score points on University Challenge, but for gods sake!!!

I'm constantly amazed at how simple the popular music questions are and how rarely they get them. Like I don't understand how you can live your life knowing the most obscure aspect of fluid dynamics but not recognise a really famous top ten single.
I guess more and more it's basically 'they're young'

Most 19 year-olds not hugely interested in 20-30 year-old pop music feels reasonable

Also less and less likely to access music thru older curators like "classic radio" etc

Also always been posh kids on UC who don't have much interest in pop music of any era

infuriates me when they act all embarrassed for actually knowing a pop music question

Well that's a different kind of douchiness but hardly limited to kids

yes, but it's a common occurrence on the TV show University Challenge

It's usually Paxman who starts it

that's true

It's sad/irritating when kids have those packaged opinions about things they're too young to have experienced as "live" cultural moments but if my boy's anything to go by I blame reading and watching too many internet Fantanos

"received wisdom": not quite an oxymoron but something like that

Posts, yes if its something like knowing the lineup of One Direction or some such, but genuine annoyance if its something they 'should' know, (see the 'Velvet Underground AND NICO' up thread)

I think the relative importance of 1D or the VU is your opinion, not a historical truth, and to a 19-20 year-old that's an even more arbitrary distinction.

Sure, but then that's what this quiz is about: Knowing the year of accession of King Henry III vs the year Ringo joined the Beatles. In 1972 only one of these facts were deemed important.

Something about pop music questions not being tied into canonicity - it's a different kind of question/knowledge, just as akin to current affairs or sociology as it is to catalogues of dates. By kinder's argument upthread I see no difference between the likelihood of knowing about the Beatles or Drake or fluid dynamics or etc

Or in shorter words, thinking one pop question should be more obvious than another is nothing but a product of age and upbringing.

The idea that out of 1D and VU, only one would be in a library.

(Not an actual library obv, one of those fusty old ones that politicians like to stand in front of to look important)

Most 19 year-olds not hugely interested in 20-30 year-old pop music feels reasonable

Pretty sure some have been more contemporary though. I wasn't making the argument that one pop question should be more obvious than another, not at all, in fact that's what astonishes me is that as a rule they hardly ever get them right whether it's VU or Elton John.
Plus I disagree, I don't set out to listen to Katy Perry or w/ever but somehow it just gets absorbed by my brain somewhere while I'm doing other things, or some info on pop culture will be thrust in my face while I'm online or standing in a shop - this doesn't happen with physics facts.

I would love to see a list of past music questions.

http://play.bbc.co.uk/play/pen/g9bwm75d4q

Well, here's a BBC quiz that ties in with this quiz, so hey its Friday so as the great Hans Keller obce said, 'after all, why not?'

Nice, thanks. 8/10 on my first attempt. Not good enough :/

9/10

8/10 which is a lot higher than I though since my answers were about 50/50 complete guesses or slightly educated guesses

Well, here's a BBC quiz that ties in with this thread, so hey its Friday so as the great Hans Keller once said, 'after all, why not?'

fixed. my typing is worse than my score on that test (hey, how could it not be?)

7/10

(I'll admit: I got them all)

8/10

(I should have got the Bowie one right. Manc bands? Who gives a flying one?)

I remember that Bowie one on the show : It threw them too.

9. Was guessing on the Salieri one

9. Unlike Hans, I didn't grow up with string quartets sucka

9, but mostly guesses

Awwww..

I mean, Johnny Cash and June Carter as a wrong guess (actually Nick Cave and Kylie) is fair enough, but the discussion was nearly Kate Bush and Vic Reeves!

First time for a long time, a music round with rock bands that want naming.

So, they got U2, missed Bruce in favour of Jeff Beck, and thought the 'not the best band in the world, they're better than that' review referred to Oasis.

But, hey.

Oh and they did get AC/DC to be fair

"Outkast! Correct. Four more examples of Alabama based rap, name the artist...."

I’ll be honest I got OutKast and Ludo but couldn’t name the other two...

And today, The Who get a play-on.

Team gets it plus all the bonus round thanks to the Rob Newman lookalike.

At which, Paxo goes "not such a wasted youth then!"

I guess he is a Who fan, like Pete s said, upthread.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wi5SJKI6RpU

I think Jeremy Seller deserves better than being written off as a Rob Newman lookalike. Amongst other things he's the guy behind acid brass - https://www.jeremydeller.org/AcidBrass/AcidBrassMusic.php - and got Leftfield like a shot in the last round so he's not just a Who fan either.

Deller, thx autocorrect.

Oh I didn't realise it was he.

Still, though...

(wasn't dismissing him, just noting his stylistic difference)

Ok, so “Stiff Records” I could probably pick as my specialist subject on Mastermind..

I’ll allow the Dead Kennedys as a decent guess..

But, The Overtones is about as far away from “New Rose” by The Damned as you could get!

Plummet Airlines would have foxed me, but probably nothing else.

Nah, no bother even there