A few posts ago, I wrote about a class that I am teaching called United States History: 1941 to the Present and how I am spending some time on the history of Rock n’ Roll. We talked about the beginnings of the genre when we covered the 1950s, but the students received most of their information from Rock: Music, Culture and Business, a book that I thought would be interesting.
I wrote about the test that I was going to give them, and Dying Note, who you guys should check out, wanted to take the test, as well. So, here it is. Take the test, and see how well you know the history of Rock. However, I should explain something on the front end. All of the questions came from the book, which was divided into twelve chapters. Simply, I asked two questions from each chapter and added one other to make twenty-five. After all, twenty-five question is easier to calculate than twenty-four.
With that being said, feel free to take the Test of Rock.
1. What was Napster?
2. Kurt Cobain was lead singer for what group?
A. Green Day
B. Hootie & the Blowfish
C. Nirvana
D. Pearl Jam
3. What band, led by Ozzy Osbourne, is generally considered to be the first real metal group?
A. Black Sabbath
B. Juda Priest
C. Led Zeppelin
D. Metallica
4. Debuting in 1981, how did MTV change the way the music industry operated?
5. Reggae was:
A. associated with the Rastafarian movement, which was inspired by the work of Marcus Garvey.
B. named from a slang term meaning “everyday stuff”.
C. the first musical style in the Rock era to originate in the Third World.
D. All of the Above
6. Which did novelist Thomas Wolfe call “the Me Decade”?
A. 1960s
B. 1970s
C. 1980s
D. 1990s
7. Who was known as the “Godfather of Soul”?
A. James Brown
B. Marvin Gaye
C. Isaac Hayes
D. Otis Redding
8. Name two bands that were part of the “British Invasion”.
9. What made Motown different from other production companies?
A. It was headquartered in Montgomery, Alabama, far from Los Angeles, center of the 1960s music scene.
B. It was owned by white entrepreneurs and produced music for African-American audiences.
C. It was under African-American control and produced music not directed primarily at African-American audiences.
D. Both A and C
10. What did the Boogie-Woogie piano style spring from?
11. What is a cover version?
12. What was payola?
13. Which of the following had a pre-Rock n’ Roll hit with “Love and Marriage”?
A. Nat “King” Cole
B. Perry Como
C. Frank Sinatra
D. Hank Williams
14. Alan Freed:
A. first used the term “Rock n’ Roll” for commercial purposes.
B. promoted concert tours featuring African-American artists who played for racially mixed audiences.
C. was arrested for anarchy and incitement to riot when a fight broke out at one of his concerts.
D. All of the Above
15. Which early Rock n’ Roll piano player was known as “The Killer”?
A. Fats Domino
B. Buddy Holly
C. Jerry Lee Lewis
D. Little Richard
16. What band personified the “California Sound” with songs about surfing and became the best-selling American group of the 1960s?
17. In a few sentences, what is the importance of Bob Dylan in the history of American music?
18. What was the counterculture of the 1960s?
19. Name two bands that fit in the “Southern Rock” genre.
20. The term “Disco” is derived from:
A. “compact disc”, which replaced 8-Track tapes in the 1970s.
B. “discotheque”, which was a European term for a dance club.
C. “record disc”, which could hold lengthy songs that intricate dance moves could be coordinated to.
D. None of the Above
21. Who recorded Thriller, the top-selling album in history?
22. What Hip-Hop group popularized the term “rapper” with the song Rapper’s Delight?
A. Beastie Boys
B. Public Enemy
C. Run-D.M.C.
D. Sugarhill Gang
23. What is digital sampling?
24. What is MP3?
25. At this time, who is your favorite artist?
SBI: A Thinning Crowd 