The Pop 'N Rocker Game is a syndicated weekly game show from Ron Greenberg

Ron Greenberg

Ron Greenberg is an American television game show producer who worked on numerous successful network and syndicated programs of that genre from the 1960s through the 1990s...

 Productions and Alan Landsburg Productions

Alan Landsburg Productions

Alan Landsburg Productions was an independent TV production company founded by Alan Landsburg in 1971. The company had huge successes with In Search of... and That's Incredible!, which were two early examples of reality television long before the name even existed...

, premiering on September 17, 1983, and running for a full year. It combined musical trivia with in-studio performances; two bands were featured on each episode.

Jon Bauman

Jon Bauman

Jon "Bowzer" Bauman is an American musician, best known as a member of the band Sha Na Na, and game show host. Bauman's popular Sha Na Na character, "Bowzer" Jon "Bowzer" Bauman (born September 14, 1947 in Brooklyn, New York) is an American musician, best known as a member of the band Sha Na Na,...

, better known as Bowzer from the band Sha Na Na

Sha Na Na

Sha Na Na is an American rock and roll group. The name is taken from a part of the long series of nonsense syllables in the doo-wop hit song "Get a Job", originally recorded in 1957 by the Silhouettes....

, hosted without the Bowzer persona. This was the first of two game shows that he hosted; the second, Match Game-Hollywood Squares Hour

Match Game-Hollywood Squares Hour

The Match Game-Hollywood Squares Hour is an American television game show that combined two long-running game shows of the 1960s and 1970s – Match Game and Hollywood Squares – into an hour-long format....

, would premiere just a few weeks after Pop 'N Rocker Game. Future SNL alumnus and comic Phil Hartman

Phil Hartman

Philip Edward "Phil" Hartman was a Canadian-American actor, comedian, screenwriter, and graphic artist. Born in Brantford, Ontario, Hartman and his family moved to the United States when he was 10...

 and radio D.J. M.G. Kelly

M.G. Kelly

Michael Gary Kelly , known professionally as M. G. Kelly and Machine Gun Kelly, is an actor, disc jockey and radio personality...

 served as announcers.

Gameplay

Three teenagers competed. Five music trivia questions were asked; some of them having to deal with visual clues (such as pictures or clips from music videos). Each question was worth $50. After the final question was asked, the performer mentioned in the question would come out and perform a song.

After this performance, the Countdown Round was played. The questions started at $50, and increased by $10 for each question. This continued for 60 seconds. Unlike most other game shows, if Jon was in the middle of reading a question when time runs out, he would finish it and it could still be answered, similar to the BBC

BBC

The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

 game show Mastermind

Mastermind (TV series)

Mastermind is a British quiz show, well known for its challenging questions, intimidating setting and air of seriousness.Devised by Bill Wright, the basic format of Mastermind has never changed — four and in later contests five contestants face two rounds, one on a specialised subject of the...

. The contestant in the lead won the game and moved on to the Superstar Round. If the game ended in a two-way tie for first place, or if all three tied, Bauman read one last question, with the person ringing in and answering correctly winning the game.

In the Superstar Round, the contestant had to unscramble the names of bands. Jon would read a clue to each one. If they could unscramble three in 30 seconds, they won a prize package worth over $2,000. After the bonus round, one of the bands mentioned in the bonus round would come out and perform a song.

The show would end with one final song by the first performer.