Just What I DIDN’T need.

I don’t know about y’all, but yesterday and today I find myself mildly aggravated.

A friend of mine Bill from a prior job will play trivia on each other, usually about music and sports. This includes things like on February 9 “It was 58 years ago today…” referring to the Beatles appearance on Ed Sullivan, or what Cheap Trick’s lone Number 1 Billboard Hot 100 song was (The Flame).

So it was this past Thursday when Bill asked me “Name the only one of the four major Boston bands who has not had a Billboard Hot 100 №1 song. Right off the bat I knew Aerosmith, Boston and J. Geils each had one. But I couldn’t figure out who the fourth band was! And here I am racking my brain, looking for a clue. So I asked Bill for one.

“They were just what music needed in the late 1970s”

Still a blank. I’m going through the alphabet. A? B? C? I guessed Foghat, to my embarassment. Still clueless I asked for another hint.

“You might think they’re active, but they’re not.”

And STILL nothing. Here I am, trying to set up my new office, dealing with whatever crisis of the moment has at the moment, thinking and thinking. We have an honor system where we do not Google; and I won’t even go on Spotify or anything. I know it or I don’t. Finally I threw in the towel.

“The Cars!” Bill said. “Hell, I even gave you the song titles to help you along!”

And then I knew. He’s stumped me on several questions, but I didn’t know (who sang Have a Cigar by Pink Floyd, for instance), and I nailed him on a few sports questions. But this one was an embarassment. I’ve been a fan of The Cars for over 40 years, I have a 45 somewhere that is translucent red of “Just What I Needed,” I had conversations at work with someone who was personal friends with the late Benjamin Orr.

So basically, I’m aggravated.

But in the words of Tony Kornheiser, “We’ll try to do better next time.”

And I will.