Music Jeopardy Puzzle 2: Guess the Clues AND the Mystery Category

(April 17, 2025). The second of this week’s Music Jeopardy puzzles comes with a twist of melancholy and magic. Each of the five Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees in this mystery category topped the Billboard Hot 100, made a lasting impact, and are no longer with us. But beyond those well-known facts, they also share one uncanny detail — which just so happens to be the categorical theme of today’s game.

Your challenge?

Name the five legends based on the clues below, and see if you can guess the Mystery Category to which they all belong.

(Hint: While all five have musical or personal milestones in 1975 and 1983 — as captured in the clues below — that commonality is not the mystery category.)

Let’s play…

I’m not saying he never recorded with groups, he just never charted as the member of one…

That one should be easy. Here’s the next artist…

These background colors are my favorite, btw…

He did sing on two of the band’s later No. 1s though. And finally…

You can provide your responses in the “Your Thoughts” section at the bottom of the blog or in the comments section of any of the social media feeds where the article is posted (or DM me).

Remember, no real prizes — just bragging rights (and maybe a shout-out in a future blog).  And no, you don’t have to phrase your answers in the form of a question… unless you feel compelled to.

As for the answers to the first puzzle (V1), here are the correct responses:

Category: “We Are The World”

1. Who is Lionel Richie? (WATW made 1985 his eighth consecutive year of having written a No. 1 pop hit; “Say You, Say Me” became his ninth when it held on to No. 1 in January 1986.)

2. Who is Madonna? (She wasn’t invited to perform on WATW, so “Crazy For You” knocking it out of No. 1 on the Hot 100 had to be poetic justice.)

3. Who is Michael Jackson? (The three highest Hot 100 debuts during the 1980s were: “Thriller” (No. 20), “We Are the World” (No. 21), and “Say, Say, Say” (No. 26).)

4. Who is Kenny Loggins? (He was the only male soloist on WATW who had his first No. 1 song the year before.)

5. Who is Al Jarreau? (Of the song’s 21 soloists, only Al Jarreau never had a top ten pop hit.)

Of those who dared guess, Newark, NJ’s Luis Ortiz — a Facebook connection — was the only one who guessed all the clues and the category correctly. Congrats to Mr. Ortiz!

DJRob

DJRob (he/him) is a freelance music blogger from the East Coast who covers R&B, hip-hop, disco, pop, rock and country genres – plus lots of music news and current stuff!  You can follow him on Bluesky at @djrobblog.bsky.social, X (formerly Twitter) at @djrobblog, on Facebook or on Meta’s Threads.

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