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Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye

Got it right? Give yourself 10 points.



This is a replay of the Surfaris and "Wipe Out" and so many other groups who had their mind made up on their "hit" they were gonna record to the degree that a "flip" side or "b" side was an afterthought.

For those of you who don't remember, a hit record used to come on a 45 RPM (revolutions per minute) disc. It had two sides. The "A" side was the side the group or company was promoting as the hit and the "B" side was often a throwaway - just something to fill up the other side of the 45.

Such was the case with Steam. They had completed their recording, we happy with the results, and were gonna come back the next day to remix it. The producer caught them on the way out and reminded them they had to have a "B" side.

Reluctantly, they headed back into the studio and, minus their drummer who had already split, they contemplated another song.

The producer went into the storage vault and brought out a reel to reel of tape containing a drum track. Nothing but drums.

Steam was pretty steamed at this whole idea (their song was already gonna be a hit as far as they were concered and they didn't need another side). So, rather than take this track seriously, they just made up some silly words to go along with the drum track. What is actually a lot sillier than "Na na na na, hey hey, kiss him goodbye?"

A few months later their 45 was released. Their A side flopped but the B side caught on bigtime. "Na Na Hey Hey (Kiss Him Goodbye) - with the old drum track that had been dug out of a closet - went into the top ten and has become a rock and roll standard.

Brian Wilson had a "nervous breakdown" while on tour with the Beach Boys in 1964. When was his last performance for many years with the Beach Boys?

A) He had the breakdown on the flight into Houston and did not perform on stage that night.
B) He performed in Houston and had the breakdown from Houston to L.A.

For the answer and bonus points Click here.