Music History & Milestones Quiz

1. Woodstock (1969) is legendary as a music festival. Approximately how many people attended?

1. 1 million
2. 150,000
3. 400,000
4. 50,000

2. The 'British Invasion' of 1964 refers to what cultural phenomenon?

1. American musicians moving to Britain to record
2. British record companies buying American music labels
3. British troops stationed in America during WWII listening to American music
4. The explosion of British rock and pop music in America, led by The Beatles' February 1964 arrival

3. Which American city is considered the birthplace of the blues?

1. Chicago
2. Memphis
3. New York
4. The Mississippi Delta region

4. Sam Phillips founded Sun Records in Memphis and recorded early rock and roll. Which artist did he famously sign in 1954?

1. Chuck Berry
2. Elvis Presley
3. Jerry Lee Lewis
4. Little Richard

5. Live Aid (1985) was a dual-venue benefit concert held in London and Philadelphia. What was it raising money for?

1. AIDS research
2. Ethiopian famine relief
3. Nuclear disarmament
4. Rainforest conservation

6. What was the significance of Robert Johnson's 'Crossroads' legend?

1. He invented the guitar slide technique
2. He pioneered the 12-bar blues structure
3. He was the first blues musician to record commercially
4. The legend that he sold his soul to the devil at a crossroads in exchange for his guitar skills

7. Which country do the 'Five Black Presidents' — Fela Kuti, Miriam Makeba, Hugh Masekela, etc. — come from, and what musical form emerged from the continent's diverse cultures?

1. Ghana only — highlife music
2. Multiple African countries — Fela from Nigeria, Makeba from South Africa, Masekela from South Africa — all representing distinct regional traditions
3. Nigeria only — Afrobeats
4. South Africa only — township jazz

8. Motown Records, founded in Detroit in 1959, was built around what kind of artists and sound?

1. Black artists making polished, crossover soul and pop — The Supremes, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, Four Tops
2. Country music artists from the American South
3. Jazz musicians
4. White rock and roll artists

9. The first music video ever played on MTV when it launched on August 1, 1981 was:

1. Duran Duran's 'Rio'
2. Michael Jackson's 'Billie Jean'
3. Pat Benatar's 'You Better Run'
4. The Buggles' 'Video Killed the Radio Star'

10. The '27 Club' refers to musicians who died at age 27. Who are the most famous members?

1. Amy Winehouse, Buddy Holly, and Marc Bolan
2. Elvis Presley, John Lennon, and Freddie Mercury
3. Robert Johnson, Brian Jones, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, and Kurt Cobain
4. Sid Vicious, Keith Moon, and John Bonham

11. Hip-hop was born in the Bronx, New York in the 1970s. DJ Kool Herc is credited with a key innovation — what was it?

1. Creating the first rap album
2. Introducing rap vocals over instrumentals
3. Isolating and extending the 'break' section of records by switching between two copies of the same record
4. Organising the first rap battle

12. The Monterey Pop Festival (1967) is remembered for a notorious performance by which guitarist?

1. Eric Clapton setting fire to his guitar
2. Jerry Garcia crowd-surfing from the stage
3. Jimi Hendrix setting fire to his guitar at the climax of 'Wild Thing'
4. Pete Townshend smashing his guitar

13. Which decade saw the rise of 'payola' scandals in American radio?

1. 1930s
2. 1950s
3. 1970s
4. 1990s

14. The phrase 'rock and roll' was popularised as a music genre term in the early 1950s by which influential radio DJ?

1. Alan Freed
2. Dick Clark
3. Murray the K
4. Wolfman Jack

15. Napster (1999–2001) changed the music industry dramatically. What was it and what effect did it have?

1. A digital music download store that legitimised MP3 sales
2. A music streaming service predating Spotify
3. A music video platform that replaced MTV
4. A peer-to-peer file sharing service that enabled free music downloading, devastating CD sales and forcing the industry to confront the digital future

16. The 'Summer of Love' (1967) was centred on which San Francisco neighbourhood?

1. Castro
2. Haight-Ashbury
3. North Beach
4. The Mission

17. What was 'Beatlemania' and when did it begin?

1. A 1960s fashion trend inspired by the Beatles' haircuts
2. A 1980s revival of Beatles music on radio
3. The intense fan hysteria surrounding The Beatles, beginning in the UK in 1963 and the US in 1964
4. The phenomenon of bands covering Beatles songs in the 1970s

18. Which event in 1991 is often cited as the moment hip-hop overtook rock as America's dominant pop music genre?

1. Ice Cube's 'AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted' selling more than any rock album
2. N.W.A's Straight Outta Compton going platinum
3. Public Enemy's 'Fight the Power' topping the charts
4. SoundScan showing rap/R&B outselling rock for the first time

19. What is the 'Rock and Roll Hall of Fame' and where is it located?

1. A museum and hall of fame in Cleveland, Ohio, inducting artists who shaped rock and popular music
2. A museum in New York City inducting artists who shaped rock music
3. A travelling exhibition that visits different US cities each year
4. A virtual museum at rockandrollhalloffame.org

20. Michael Jackson's 'Thriller' (1982) set records for music videos. What made its production unprecedented?

1. It was a 14-minute short film with a full narrative, professional make-up effects, and choreography by Michael Peters — a $500,000 production
2. It was the first colour music video ever made
3. It was the first music video broadcast on MTV
4. It was the first music video to feature special effects