Author Topic: University Challenge  (Read 20147 times)

border-rider

Re: University Challenge
« Reply #25 on: 11 October, 2010, 08:51:31 pm »
I tried googling but am none the wiser

It came up as the second hit when I just googled it.

Wowbagger

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Re: University Challenge
« Reply #26 on: 11 October, 2010, 08:52:34 pm »
I tried googling but am none the wiser

It came up as the second hit when I just googled it.

Is it by a group called Heaven 17? I'd never heard of them either.

Edit: I found more than one song with that title, dating from as long ago as the 1930s.

Dez seems to think it was in the film "Trainspotting", which I've never watched.
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rogerzilla

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Re: University Challenge
« Reply #27 on: 11 October, 2010, 08:57:44 pm »
Temptation is the song that starts "WUUUUUH!", at least in certain mixes.
Hard work sometimes pays off in the end, but laziness ALWAYS pays off NOW.

Re: University Challenge
« Reply #28 on: 11 October, 2010, 08:59:05 pm »
How can they not know Barnes Wallis though? Is he not general knowledge? Fair enough, I have ex-air force parents who like war films, but still.

One of my favourite bits of trivia is that Barnes Wallis didn't design the Wellington Bomber. The founders of Heaven 17 were in the Human League though.

border-rider

Re: University Challenge
« Reply #29 on: 11 October, 2010, 09:00:55 pm »
Temptation is the song that starts "WUUUUUH!", at least in certain mixes.

HUUH !

Shurely ?

Wowbagger

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Re: University Challenge
« Reply #30 on: 11 October, 2010, 09:02:07 pm »
Temptation is the song that starts "WUUUUUH!", at least in certain mixes.

HUUH !

Shurely ?

So clearly the youth of today are not alone in not knowing this song. :thumbsup:
Quote from: Dez
It doesn’t matter where you start. Just start.

citoyen

  • Occasionally rides a bike
Re: University Challenge
« Reply #31 on: 11 October, 2010, 09:20:38 pm »
It is, sadly, tuneless and unmemorable.

Wow, you've been quite vocal recently about your lack of familiarity with popular culture. I'm beginning to think this must be a smokescreen. You like us to think you spend your evenings working out Difficult Chess Problems, but I'm beginning to suspect you actually pass your time playing your extensive collection of Stock, Aitken & Waterman records while singing along into a hairbrush in front of a mirror, wearing deely boppers and leg warmers.  ;)

I'm completely with Kirst on this one. Knowledge of popular culture is a vital part of a well-rounded personality. Like junk food, it just needs to be balanced with more nourishing fare.

d.
"The future's all yours, you lousy bicycles."

Re: University Challenge
« Reply #32 on: 11 October, 2010, 09:28:01 pm »
How can they not know Barnes Wallis though? Is he not general knowledge? Fair enough, I have ex-air force parents who like war films, but still.

One of my favourite bits of trivia is that Barnes Wallis didn't design the Wellington Bomber.

Although he did design the R100.

The gas bags of which were made of cow's stomachs.

If I had a baby elephant, it could help me wash the car. If I had a car.

See my recycled crafts at www.wastenotwantit.co.uk

Wowbagger

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Re: University Challenge
« Reply #33 on: 11 October, 2010, 09:38:21 pm »
It is, sadly, tuneless and unmemorable.

Wow, you've been quite vocal recently about your lack of familiarity with popular culture. I'm beginning to think this must be a smokescreen. You like us to think you spend your evenings working out Difficult Chess Problems, but I'm beginning to suspect you actually pass your time playing your extensive collection of Stock, Aitken & Waterman records while singing along into a hairbrush in front of a mirror, wearing deely boppers and leg warmers.  ;)

I'm completely with Kirst on this one. Knowledge of popular culture is a vital part of a well-rounded personality. Like junk food, it just needs to be balanced with more nourishing fare.

d.


I think this probably deserves a thread of its own, but I can't be arsed to start one.

You see, I've never been particularly familiar with "popular culture", even when I was of an age when such things seemed to be de rigueur, and it changes so frequently that I don't see how anyone can keep abreast of what's going on and still have time for stuff that's important. That was the point I exchanged with Mike yesterday. If it isn't part of your everyday diet of experiences, no amount of looking it up on Google will make it so. I don't actually know what you have to do to become aware of so much totally unimportant stuff. I can only assume that you have to watch a lot of television (I can't remember when I last turned ours on and it's in a room which seems to be used as extra storage anyway), read trashy papers or listen to radio stations that I never would. I don't buy a paper and if I listen to the radio it's mostly R3 with a bit of R4 and World Service thrown in. My internet tastes are basically this place and a few other cycling related sites, the Grauniad & BBC websites and one or two other current affairs sites.

As I said, life's too short for that sort of stuff. If this song "Temptation" dates from 1980 (I think that's what Dez discovered) and was re-recorded in 1991, then I can quite easily see why someone my age, and presumably students aged about 20, would never have heard of it whereas 30-somethings who no doubt grew up when it was popular are quite familiar with it.
Quote from: Dez
It doesn’t matter where you start. Just start.

border-rider

Re: University Challenge
« Reply #34 on: 11 October, 2010, 09:43:30 pm »
It's one of the classic songs of the last half-century.  General knowledge - UC asks questions about popular music from much of the 20th century and before, often from decades before the students would have been born.  There was a set of questions tonight about which Beatles albums various tracks were from - and they got them.

Wowbagger

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Re: University Challenge
« Reply #35 on: 11 October, 2010, 09:47:13 pm »
Well, it successfully passed me by.

The Beatles were a household name. I've had to look back in the thread to remember the name of the band we're talking about. Heaven 17. Not exactly the same league.
Quote from: Dez
It doesn’t matter where you start. Just start.

Re: University Challenge
« Reply #36 on: 11 October, 2010, 09:49:31 pm »
How can they not know Barnes Wallis though? Is he not general knowledge? Fair enough, I have ex-air force parents who like war films, but still.

One of my favourite bits of trivia is that Barnes Wallis didn't design the Wellington Bomber.

Although he did design the R100.

The gas bags of which were made of cow's stomachs.



Built in Howden in Yorkshire of course, which is why there is a pub called the Barnes Wallis next to the railway crossing passed on the LEL. The novelist Nevil Shute also worked on the R100.
Google Maps

Human League appeared on Granada TV in 1978, featuring the members who would go on to form Heaven 17.
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/myzrnWbyz1s&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/myzrnWbyz1s&rel=1</a>

border-rider

Re: University Challenge
« Reply #37 on: 11 October, 2010, 09:50:52 pm »
Heaven 17. Not exactly the same league.

Nice pun :)

Not as big as the Beatles, maybe, but the song itself is one of the classics of it's decade.  hell, it even defines that decade.

Their album - Penthouse & Pavement - is a trenchant critique of 80s corporate greed


Wowbagger

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Re: University Challenge
« Reply #38 on: 11 October, 2010, 09:58:07 pm »
I had heard of the Human League, but I wouldn't have been able to tell you anything about them beyond the fact that they were a pop group. We had a television in 1978 but it was before the kids came along. I'd imagine I would have been out at the pub most nights.
Heaven 17. Not exactly the same league.

Nice pun :)

Not as big as the Beatles, maybe, but the song itself is one of the classics of it's decade.  hell, it even defines that decade.

Their album - Penthouse & Pavement - is a trenchant critique of 80s corporate greed

Pun unintended. :)

But it's almost as though we occupy different planets. It's impossible for me to accept that something defines a decade in which I was very active and aware and of which I've never heard. I was 26 in 1980.

I've just asked Jan. She's never heard of the album "Penthouse & Pavement" either.
Quote from: Dez
It doesn’t matter where you start. Just start.

clarion

  • Tyke
Re: University Challenge
« Reply #39 on: 11 October, 2010, 09:59:26 pm »
Not the same League, though they were in the Human League ;D

Popular culture is part of a rounded general knowledge.  Lack of familiarity puts you at risk of sounding like the stereotype of the High Court Judge.

There is much to value and cherish in our popular cultures - cinematic, musical, literary and televisual.  I admit that I was living in the very centre of new British music of the early 80s, but it seems inconceivable for someone with even the briefest of access (via, say, the reviews in the Guardian) not to have even heard of Heaven 17.

They should be known beyond the realm of electropop, of course.  Firstly, the name is a direct reference to A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess, and secondly (and shame on you for not knowing this, Wow) their single (We Don't Need This) Fascist Groove Thing was banned by the BBC (well, by some DJs, but it barely got any airplay to speak of) for its overt left-wing lyrics and political nature - a distinction it shares with, for example, Ireland for the Irish by Paul McCartney.
Getting there...

Wowbagger

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Re: University Challenge
« Reply #40 on: 11 October, 2010, 10:06:22 pm »
I just read your last paragraph on Wikipedia.  ;)

Given the sentiments of Heaven 17 and their location, perhaps they were just more prominent where you lived than here? I'm sure that if I'd known about them I'd have been sympathetic.

I don't see why it should be inconceivable to you that I've not heard of them until today. But I still don't see how it's possible to keep up with this sort of stuff and keep abreast of stuff which (I think) is important. I just don't know how people do it.
Quote from: Dez
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Adam

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Re: University Challenge
« Reply #41 on: 11 October, 2010, 10:08:58 pm »
I'd say Heaven 17 were one of the defining bands of the 1980's.   And I'm a southerner.

Penthouse and Pavement is a brilliant album, and is just about the only bit of vinyl I've got left (not that I've got anything to play it on though).




Edit:  I had Luxury Gap on tape and wore it out by playing it too much.   :-[
“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving.” -Albert Einstein

border-rider

Re: University Challenge
« Reply #42 on: 11 October, 2010, 10:11:54 pm »
I just don't know how people do it.

Osmosis


Quote
Given the sentiments of Heaven 17 and their location, perhaps they were just more prominent where you lived than here?

They were (inter)nationally-famous.  And still are.

edit: cross-post with Adam

I got Penthouse & Pavement on CD this year because I only had it on vinyl

It holds up very well indeed

clarion

  • Tyke
Re: University Challenge
« Reply #43 on: 11 October, 2010, 10:17:17 pm »
I just read your last paragraph on Wikipedia.  ;)

Did you?  I din't.

Quote
Given the sentiments of Heaven 17 and their location, perhaps they were just more prominent where you lived than here? I'm sure that if I'd known about them I'd have been sympathetic.

Well yes, that may be the case.  I was in the biz.  But I wouldn't expect you to know about The Mousing Association or They Must Be Russians, or The Enzymes.

On the other hand, I would expect you to know about Ewan MacColl & Kirsty, or Billy Bragg..



Quote
I don't see why it should be inconceivable to you that I've not heard of them until today. But I still don't see how it's possible to keep up with this sort of stuff and keep abreast of stuff which (I think) is important. I just don't know how people do it.

Just keeping eyes, ears & mind open seems to cover it.  I may not like the music, but I am aware of Lady Gaga, Paloma Faith, and Vampire Weekend.  And I'm aware that Robbie Williams and Gary Barlow have got together to make a pretty shoddy record.
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Wowbagger

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Re: University Challenge
« Reply #44 on: 11 October, 2010, 10:19:15 pm »
I just don't know how people do it.

Osmosis

Well, I suppose that could account for a certain amount. From 1981-1986 I was the only bloke teaching in a primary school where my contact with colleagues, most of whom I didn't get on with and most of whom would never have been interested in that sort of music either, was limited to school time and a one evening a week session in which three of us would get together to sing mostly ancient music. I may not have heard of Heaven 17 but I did a pretty mean William Byrd!
Quote from: Dez
It doesn’t matter where you start. Just start.

Re: University Challenge
« Reply #45 on: 11 October, 2010, 10:20:30 pm »
I tried googling but am none the wiser

It came up as the second hit when I just googled it.

Is it by a group called Heaven 17? I'd never heard of them either.

Edit: I found more than one song with that title, dating from as long ago as the 1930s.

Dez seems to think it was in the film "Trainspotting", which I've never watched.

That was the theme of the question - songs which appeared in the movie Trainspotting.  Heaven 17 wasn't my era, but I picked it up through that movie, through my elder sisters' musical tastes, etc.

ISTR John Peel insisting that any band who came in for a session during that era insisted that they covered We Don;t Need That Fascist Groove Thing - so I've never heard the original, but I've heard umpteen cover versions by modish early eighties bands.

clarion

  • Tyke
Re: University Challenge
« Reply #46 on: 11 October, 2010, 10:23:02 pm »
I didn't know it was in trainspotting, which I didn't watch all of - I thought it was a bit crap (pun intended).

Yet I do know a number of the actors in the film, the name of the author, and a couple of the characters.  And the advertising campaign.

It's all there around us.
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Tim Hall

  • Victoria is my queen
Re: University Challenge
« Reply #47 on: 11 October, 2010, 10:25:35 pm »
Popular culture, yadda, yadda, Barnes Wallis, yadda, yadda.

Cut to the chase. That young lady in the off the shoulder number. Hmm?
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Wowbagger

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Re: University Challenge
« Reply #48 on: 11 October, 2010, 10:30:39 pm »

On the other hand, I would expect you to know about Ewan MacColl & Kirsty, or Billy Bragg..
Yes, heard of them (well, 2 out of 3).


Quote
Quote
I don't see why it should be inconceivable to you that I've not heard of them until today. But I still don't see how it's possible to keep up with this sort of stuff and keep abreast of stuff which (I think) is important. I just don't know how people do it.

Just keeping eyes, ears & mind open seems to cover it.
Sorry, C, that's a dig too far. I object.
Quote
I may not like the music, but I am aware of Lady Gaga, Paloma Faith, and Vampire Weekend.  And I'm aware that Robbie Williams and Gary Barlow have got together to make a pretty shoddy record.

I've heard of the highlighted pair, but could tell you nothing about them other than that they croon.

I'm quite sure I could cite loads of stuff the facts of which I have instantly at my fingertips and of which you, and probably a lot of other people on the forum, know nothing, but I don't claim that your ignorance of what I know is indicative of a lack of a rounded general knowledge. I merely pointed out in response to Kirst's point above that knowledge of one particular song out of the hundreds, if not thousands, which were produced in the 1980s is perhaps not terribly surprising for a group of kids who weren't even born then.
Quote from: Dez
It doesn’t matter where you start. Just start.

Re: University Challenge
« Reply #49 on: 11 October, 2010, 10:36:01 pm »
...
As I said, life's too short for that sort of stuff.
....

I'm afraid I have to take issue with you on that - I reckon life is EXACTLY the right length. Sure, lets enjoy the wealth of knowledge, experience, enjoyment and artistic endeavour that has built up before we arrived on the scene, but dismissing things that are happening while you are still living is to miss out.

At the end of the day, there is no reason that you have to like any particular manifestation, but to wilfully ignore is to miss the lessons of history. We're having the best of all times we are ever going to have right now.