As a bunch of people with more records than sense (a quick count puts the office total at about 15,000 between five of us) we love a good music quiz. And I Predict A Pop Quiz is a hell of a quiz. Ditching the standard fare like “Who is the youngest person to enter the UK chart at No.1?”* IPPQ instead goes a little bit further. For this Champion Of Champions final the rounds included drawing an album cover for others to guess, judging the value of bizarre memorabilia and recognising copyright infringements.
But perhaps the most fun – and hardest round – saw one third of Fujiya & Miyagi produce a bunch of stunningly authentic rave cover versions for the teams to decode. Previously bagpipe players have performed the same role. It’s all the work of Pete, a man who knows music from the inside out as former singer with 90s Creation band Adorable. While everyone take the quiz very seriously, there’s the raucous atmosphere that all good pub-based quizzes need. If the quizmaster isn’t pulled up on accuracy at least once then the contestants don’t want to win enough.
This time the winners were Spunk Backpack but when I Predict A Pop Quiz returns this month the slate will wiped clean letting everybody have the chance to aim for the cup in the next Champions final. We’ll be there, aiming for glory, but we don’t rate our chances.
*Billie Piper
Iron Duke, Mondays