Jazz
What city is considered the birthplace of jazz?
A) Chicago
B) New Orleans
C) Kansas City
New Orleans
Jazz originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
What is widely regarded as the first hip hop record?
A) Go-Go Crankin'
B) 8th Wonder
C) Rapper's Delight
Rapper's Delight
The Sugarhill Gang's, "Rapper's Delight," is credited for introducing hip hop music to a wide audience, reaching the top 40 in the United States, as well as the top 3 in the UK and number-one in Canada.
Which singer recorded the first country song to sell one million copies?
A) Jimmie Rodgers
B) Vernon Dalhart's
C) Hank Williams
Vernon Dalhart
Vernon Dalhart's 1924 recording of, "The Wreck of the Old 97," a classic American ballad about the derailment of Fast Mail train No. 97 near Danville, Virginia in 1903, sold a staggering 7 million copies, alerting national record companies to the existence of a sizable market for country-music vocals.
Which classic rock album is sometimes said to be a soundtrack to The Wizard of Oz?
A) Houses of the Holy
B) The Dark Side of the Moon
C) Exile on Main St.
The Dark Side of the Moon
Some fans insist that Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon lines up perfectly with the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz, producing moments where the film and the album appear to correspond with each other. Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason told MTV in 1997, "It's absolute nonsense. It has nothing to do with The Wizard of Oz. It was all based on The Sound of Music."
What was Ludwig van Beethoven's final complete symphony?
A) Symphony No. 9
B) Symphony No. 11
C) Symphony No. 6
Symphony No. 9
Symphony No. 9 in D minor is regarded by many critics as one of Beethoven's greatest works and one of the supreme achievements in the history of western music.
Who coined the term, "Jazz?"
A) A baseball player
B) An ornithologist
C) A music critic
A baseball player
The earliest written record of the word is in a 1912 article in the Los Angeles Times in which a minor league baseball pitcher described a pitch which he called a, "Jazz ball," "Because it wobbles and you simply can't do anything with it."
How many albums did The Notorious B.I.G. release before his death?
A) 2
B) 4
C) 1
1
He released only one album, Ready to Die (1994), before his death. Sixteen days after his death, Biggie's double-disc second album was released as planned with the shortened title of Life After Death and hit No. 1 on the Billboard 200 charts.
Which country singer was known as "The Singing Brakeman?"
A) Jimmie Rodgers
B) Hank Williams
C) Ernest Tubb
Jimmie Rodgers
Before rising to fame in the late 1920s, Jimmie Rodgers worked as a brakeman on the New Orleans and Northeastern Railroad, a position formerly held by his oldest brother, Walter, who had been promoted to conductor.
What did Queen vocalist Freddie Mercury attribute his enhanced vocal range to?
A) Extra teeth
B) Larger lungs
C) Genetics
Extra teeth
Mercury was born with four extra teeth and attributed his enhanced vocal range to this. He refused to have his teeth fixed, fearing it would affect his vocal ability.
What game did Mozart like to play while he composed symphonies?
A) Chess
B) Solitaire
C) Billiards
Billiards
Mozart loved to play Billiards, and would sometimes play all night, composing symphonies as he played.
What was the first jazz record that was commercially released?
A) Cleopatra Had a Jazz Band
B) King of the Bungaloos
C) Livery Stable Blues
Livery Stable Blues
Livery Stable Blues, recorded by the Original Dixieland Jass Band on February 26, 1917, established jazz as popular music and spawned demand for small jazz bands in New York and Chicago at a time when it was getting harder and harder for musicians to find employment in New Orleans.
What name did Lil Wayne go by originally?
A) Shrimp Daddy
B) Lil Daddy
C) Baby Daddy
Shrimp Daddy
Yup. Before Dwayne Michael Carter Jr. was known as Lil Wayne, Weezy, or Tunechi, he called himself Shrimp Daddy, with inspiration for the pseudonym coming from former Cash Money artist Pimp Daddy.
Who recorded two of his best-selling albums in prison?
A) Randy Travis
B) Merle Haggard
C) Johnny Cash
Johnny Cash
Cash's most popular and best-selling albums were the live albums he recorded in prisons: namely, Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison in 1968 and Johnny Cash at San Quentin in 1969. Throughout his career, he performed in prisons, sympathetic to the plight of inmates who ran afoul of society. Although he himself was arrested seven times on a variety of charges, he only spent a few nights in jail.
What band's lead singer is credited with popularizing stage diving?
A) The Who
B) The Clash
C) The Stooges
The Stooges
There are earlier cases of performers throwing themselves into the crowd, but in the early 1970s, stage diving became a regular occurrence for Iggy Pop of the Stooges, and he is often credited with popularizing the practice.
Which of Bach's organ pieces is often associated with Halloween?
A) Toccata and Fugue in D Minor
B) Fantasia and Fugue in C Minor
C) Prelude and Fugue in A Minor
Toccata and Fugue in D Minor
It wasn't until the 20th century that Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor eclipsed all of his other organ compositions in popularity, thanks in large part to Hollywood producers who began using its thundering organ sounds as a ghoulish shorthand for cinematic terror.
Who is sometimes referred to as the Queen of Jazz?
A) Ella Fitzgerald
B) Billie Holiday
C) Lena Horne
Ella Fitzgerald
Ella Fitzgerald was an American singer noted for her purity of tone, impeccable diction, phrasing, intonation, and a "horn-like" improvisational ability.
How many copies of Eminem's debut album Infinite did he sell?
A) 10,000
B) 100,000
C) 1,000
1,000
Sales for the album, which he recorded for the independent Web Entertainment label, were not ... Infinite. In fact, he only sold about 1,000 copies. But poor sales and indifferent reviews led him to craft the angrier, moodier tracks for which he would become famous.
Which Loretta Lynn song inspired a 1980 biographical film of the same name?
A) Honky Tonk Heroes
B) Coal Miner's Daughter
C) Fist City
Coal Miner's Daughter
"Coal Miner's Daughter," tells the true story of Lynn's life growing up in rural Kentucky "in a cabin on a hill in Butcher Holler", while her father, Melvin "Ted" Webb, worked all night in the Van Lear coal mine.
Who is the only member of ZZ Top who doesn't have a beard?
A) Dusty Hill
B) Frank Beard
C) They all have beards
Frank Beard
Ironically, the only member of ZZ Top who doesn't have a beard is drummer Frank Beard.
Why was Renaissance composer Orlande de Lassus kidnapped three times as a child?
A) His rich uncle
B) His beautiful singing voice
C) His father's gambling debts
His beautiful singing voice
Little is known of Orlande de Lassus' childhood, except that he was kidnapped three times because of the singular beauty of his singing voice. By the end of the 16th century, he had become one of the most famous and influential musicians in Europe.
What instrument did Miles Davis play?
A) Saxophone
B) Trumpet
C) Piano
Trumpet
Rolling Stone described him as, "The most revered jazz trumpeter of all time."
Who did Jay-Z diss in his song "Takeover?"
A) Nas
B) Meek Mill
C) Drake
Nas
Nas responded with, "Ether," in which he compared Jay-Z to such characters as J.J. Evans from the sitcom Good Times and cigarette company mascot Joe Camel.
Which Hank Williams song was released posthumously?
A) Hey, Good Lookin'
B) Honky Tonk Blues
C) Your Cheatin' Heart
Your Cheatin' Heart
"Your Cheatin' Heart," was released in January 1953, about a month after Williams' driver found him dead in the back seat of his car during a stop on the way to a New Year's show in Canton, Ohio. The song became an instant hit, reaching number one on Billboard's Country & Western chart, where it remained for six weeks.
Which Beatle crossed Abbey Road barefoot?
A) Paul
B) Ringo
C) George
Paul
In the late 1960s, the rumor started circulating among Beatles fans that Paul had died in a fiery car crash. Because they didn't want to impact the popularity of the band, naturally the other Beatles hired a McCartney look-alike to replace him. But the band felt bad lying to their fans, so they started leaving clues in the album artwork to tip them off. One such, "Clue," was the cover of the Abbey Road album, in which Paul crosses the street barefoot. Because, of course, the dead need no shoes.
What French instrument is the clarinet descended from?
A) Oboe D'Amore
B) Chalumeau
C) Psalterium
Chalumeau
Johann Christoph Denner is generally credited with inventing the clarinet in Germany around the year 1700 by adding a register key to the chalumeau, a French instrument with a cylindrical bore and eight tone holes. Over time, additional keywork and airtight pads were added to improve the tone and playability.