Quiz: ZX Spectrum game or a song by The Fall?

[PeteProdge]

This is a very niche thing I've created, but should appeal to ZX Spectrum gamers AND fans of The Fall. Even if you don't like The Fall, I still recommend it.
https://forms.gle/SRjjef7SVHwcSvyy5

You don't need to leave your details, it's a simple 20-question quiz that'll take a couple of minutes to complete.

[PeteProdge]

A frankly disappointing 15/20.

You're the highest so far.

Out of the 16 responses I've had, the average is 13 points.

[PeteProdge]

Oh, now we have an almost perfect score here...

https://twitter.com/23Daves/status/1457343036665569280

[Juan F. Ramirez]

14/20... not bad taking into acount I've never heard of The Fall...

[R-Tape]

Heh cool idea. A shocking 14/20. Dr No was one I got right!

[PeteProdge]

Rob Manuel's retweeted this, and now the responses are really flooding in. This has gone mental!

[Nick]

Well, my knowledge of The Fall can be summed up in three sentences: I know the title of one of their songs is featured in the charts section of The Biz. I can remember a song called Free Range scraped into the top 40. Mark E. Smith recorded a song with the Inspiral Carpets.

But...I scored a very respectable 15/20.

[PeteProdge]

Well, my knowledge of The Fall can be summed up in three sentences: I know the title of one of their songs is featured in the charts section of The Biz. I can remember a song called Free Range scraped into the top 40.

Not heard of that one, I always thought Hit The North was their biggest hit (certainly deserved to be), and yet it only got to #57. Having looked at their official chart placings in the UK top 100, I'm stunned to see their two highest songs are both covers - There's A Ghost In My House (R Dean Taylor) at #30 and Victoria (The Kinks) at #35. Free Range got to literally #40 and no higher! It's pretty strange for such an influential band that's heavily cited, but I suppose it's down to the record-buying behaviour of their fanbase, who probably prefer albums. (When it comes to electronic dance music, singles tended to do well, as ravers don't tend to buy albums.)

Mark E. Smith recorded a song with the Inspiral Carpets.

That's how I first came across Mark E Smith.

But...I scored a very respectable 15/20.

That's pretty damned good!

I've had 76 response so far. Average score is now 11.65. Four people have scored 19 points, but nobody has got a perfect 20!

[Evil Genius]

14/20, and I know nothing about The Fall except the hapless boy Lard used to play bass for them

[Daren]

Oh dear, 11.

[PeteProdge]

For a bit of light entertainment, here is the definitive link between the ZX Spectrum and The Fall.

It's The Biz programmer Chris Sievey as his alter-ego Frank Sidebottom, performing a cover of The Fall's Hit The North.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0elCZT8yN0

Mark E Smith must have loved it, because...

https://twitter.com/neil_taylor_/status ... 34?lang=en
(Context: Posted on the day the news of Mark E Smith's passing was announced.)

Incidentally, I have to point out I'm not like a hardcore fan of The Fall. I think they're alright. I just like their very crazy song titles and the bizarre lyrics, it's like no other band.

[R-Tape]

I don't know much about The Fall, but I've got to know them a tiny bit via my elder brothers and their peers. (Some loved them, others said they sound like a bag of clanking spanners). I never realised they were known for the weird song titles. Just browsing them now is brilliant: "Mexican Wax Solvent" surely belongs to Captain Beefheart!

Coming from the other angle, these Fall songs not mentioned in the quiz are great starting points for new Speccy software!

No Xmas for John Quays
Spectre Vs Rector
Hex Enduction Hour
Bug Day
Disney's Dream Debased
The Aphid
Bonkers in Phoenix
Touch Sensitive
Crop Dust
Latch Key Kid

[PeteProdge]

I don't know much about The Fall, but I've got to know them a tiny bit via my elder brothers and their peers. (Some loved them, others said they sound like a bag of clanking spanners).

Some love them because they sound like a bag of clanking spanners!

I never realised they were known for the weird song titles. Just browsing them now is brilliant: "Mexican Wax Solvent" surely belongs to Captain Beefheart!

Oh, absolutely. There's a kind of connection there. I think the closest we have to The Fall's penchant for odd song titles right now would be Sleaford Mods.

Coming from the other angle, these Fall songs not mentioned in the quiz are great starting points for new Speccy software!

No Xmas for John Quays
Spectre Vs Rector
Hex Enduction Hour
Bug Day
Disney's Dream Debased
The Aphid
Bonkers in Phoenix
Touch Sensitive
Crop Dust
Latch Key Kid

Oh yes, I could have made the quiz five times as long, there's so much out there (particularly in homebrew games of the past decade) that blur the lines.

I do think that for any questions you get wrong, where you reckoned a Fall song is a Spectrum game, that you should be punished by being forced to make a Spectrum game using that song title.

And vice versa of course, you have to sing in the style of Mark E Smith for any Spectrum game that you reckoned was a Fall song.

But unfortunately Google Forms doesn't let me do that.

[TMD2003]

I managed an absolutely marvellous 7/20, and only recognised two Spectrum games.

If it'd been between Spectrum games and a band who only write in a not-even-that-obscure foreign language...

[R-Tape]

Oh, absolutely. There's a kind of connection there. I think the closest we have to The Fall's penchant for odd song titles right now would be Sleaford Mods.

Quite like that.

And vice versa of course, you have to sing in the style of Mark E Smith for any Spectrum game that you reckoned was a Fall song.

This has form. The 2013 CGC entry, "Monkey Doo's Fruit Salad" sounds could easily be a Fall song title, and includes a song by the author (in additonal file downloads).

[Morkin]

12/20 though in my defence most were guesses (and I couldn't name a single Fall song)...

[blucey]

I got 11 which is pretty low given that I quite like The Fall.

[equinox]

14/20. Er, a lot of CSSCGC entries in there, aren't there...? And White Lightning is a utility, not a game.

[PeteProdge]

14/20. Er, a lot of CSSCGC entries in there, aren't there...? And White Lightning is a utility, not a game.

All the Spectrum titles listed in the quiz are games, I've not used a utility.

[Andre Leao]

14/20

Always prefered Adult Net, anyway...

[PeteProdge]

14/20

Always prefered Adult Net, anyway...

Look out for my next quiz, based on their songs and fictional Breakout clones. It will be titled "Brix Smith or Bricks myth"?

I'll get me coat.

[equinox]

P.S. What Spectrum game titles are also band names? "Frankie Goes to Hollywood" and "Crystal Castles" are the ones that immediately come to mind.

[PeteProdge]

P.S. What Spectrum game titles are also band names? "Frankie Goes to Hollywood" and "Crystal Castles" are the ones that immediately come to mind.

Well...

[RWAC]

P.S. What Spectrum game titles are also band names? "Frankie Goes to Hollywood" and "Crystal Castles" are the ones that immediately come to mind.

[Evil Genius]

Close enough?