Punk & Alternative Music Quiz

1. The Ramones are widely considered the first punk rock band. They formed in which New York borough in 1974?

1. Brooklyn
2. Manhattan
3. Queens
4. The Bronx

2. The Sex Pistols' 'Never Mind the Bollocks' was released in 1977. Their manager was a key architect of British punk. What was his name?

1. Bernie Rhodes
2. Jake Riviera
3. Malcolm McLaren
4. Tony Wilson

3. Nirvana's 'Nevermind' (1991) famously displaced which artist from #1 on the Billboard 200?

1. Guns N' Roses
2. Madonna
3. MC Hammer
4. Michael Jackson

4. What distinguishes 'post-punk' from punk rock?

1. Post-punk has fewer guitar solos
2. Post-punk is punk played slower
3. Post-punk is simply older punk from the 1960s
4. Post-punk took punk's energy and DIY ethic but explored darker, more experimental sounds using synthesisers, funk rhythms, and art influences — bands like Joy Division, Gang of Four, Wire

5. Kurt Cobain was the frontman of Nirvana. He died in April 1994, aged 27. What was the official cause of death?

1. A car accident
2. Drug overdose
3. Heart attack
4. Suicide by gunshot

6. The Clash are often called 'The Only Band That Matters'. Their 1979 double album incorporated punk, reggae, rockabilly and more. What was it called?

1. Combat Rock
2. Give 'Em Enough Rope
3. London Calling
4. Sandinista!

7. What is 'straight edge' in punk culture?

1. A subculture within hardcore punk advocating abstinence from alcohol, tobacco, and recreational drugs
2. A type of hardcore punk with especially aggressive guitar tone
3. A UK punk movement with political themes
4. Playing guitar with a very precise, technical style

8. Radiohead's 'OK Computer' (1997) is frequently voted the greatest album of the 1990s. What themes does it explore?

1. Alienation, technology, globalisation, and the dehumanising aspects of modern life
2. Environmental destruction and climate change specifically
3. Political corruption in UK government
4. Teenage romance and coming of age

9. Green Day's 'American Idiot' (2004) was a concept album and later a Broadway musical. What was it a critique of?

1. The American Dream and its failure
2. The American school system
3. The George W. Bush era, the Iraq War, post-9/11 paranoia, and American media
4. The music industry's commercialisation of punk

10. Ian Curtis was the iconic frontman of Joy Division, whose distinctive epileptic-influenced dance style became legendary. He died in 1980 aged 23. How did he die?

1. Drug overdose on tour in the USA
2. He collapsed on stage during a seizure
3. He died in a car accident near Manchester
4. He hanged himself the night before Joy Division's first US tour

11. What is 'shoegaze' — a subgenre that emerged in the UK in the late 1980s–90s?

1. A genre characterised by heavily distorted, layered guitars, ethereal vocals, and 'washed-out' sound — bands like My Bloody Valentine, Slowdive, Ride
2. A punk subgenre with lyrics about footwear
3. Music performed by guitarists who stare at their shoes while playing
4. Post-punk music with extremely slow tempos

12. Patti Smith is known as the 'Punk Poet Laureate'. Her 1975 debut album opened with a provocative reinterpretation of which Van Morrison song?

1. Brown Eyed Girl
2. Gloria
3. Moondance
4. Tupelo Honey

13. Sonic Youth, a pioneering noise rock and alternative band, are known for using unusual guitar tunings. Their 1988 major breakthrough album was:

1. Bad Moon Rising
2. Daydream Nation
3. EVOL
4. Sister

14. What was the significance of the DIY (Do It Yourself) ethos in punk?

1. Bands self-released records, booked their own tours, designed their own artwork, and bypassed the mainstream music industry entirely
2. Punk bands built their own instruments
3. Punk bands lived off-grid without commercial support of any kind
4. The ethos referred to physical crafts at punk events only

15. The Smiths, one of the most influential British bands of the 1980s, featured the song-writing partnership of which two members?

1. Johnny Marr and Andy Rourke
2. Morrissey and Andy Rourke
3. Morrissey and Johnny Marr
4. Morrissey and Mike Joyce

16. What is the 'second wave' of ska that brought the genre back in the UK in the late 1970s, associated with bands like The Specials and Madness?

1. 2 Tone movement
2. New Ska
3. Rudeboy Revival
4. Ska Revival

17. Fugazi, one of the most respected post-hardcore bands, became known not just for music but for their ethics. What made them unusual in the music industry?

1. They donated all music profits to anti-war charities
2. They kept ticket prices at $5 regardless of venue, refused to sign to major labels, and released records on their own label at low prices
3. They never performed outside Washington DC
4. They refused to record for any label

18. Grunge emerged from Seattle in the late 1980s. Which record label signed Nirvana, Soundgarden, and Mudhoney and put Seattle on the map?

1. DGC Records
2. Geffen Records
3. SST Records
4. Sub Pop Records

19. PJ Harvey, one of alternative rock's most acclaimed artists, is from which English county?

1. Cornwall
2. Dorset
3. Kent
4. Yorkshire

20. Bikini Kill, fronted by Kathleen Hanna, were pioneers of which feminist punk movement that emerged in the early 1990s?

1. Punk Sisters
2. Riot Grrrl
3. Third Wave Feminism in Music
4. Women in Rock