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Test your basic knowledge |
Music Appreciation
Start Test
Study First
Subjects
:
performing-arts
,
music
Instructions:
Answer 50 questions in 15 minutes.
If you are not ready to take this test, you can
study here
.
Match each statement with the correct term.
Don't refresh. All questions and answers are randomly picked and ordered every time you load a test.
This is a study tool. The 3 wrong answers for each question are randomly chosen from answers to other questions. So, you might find at times the answers obvious, but you will see it re-enforces your understanding as you take the test each time.
1. The term 'alternative'—like the broadly equivalent terms 'underground' and 'independent'—is used across a wide range of popular genres - including rock - rap - adult contemporary - dance - folk - and country music. It is used to describe music that c
Peter Gabriel
Def Jam
alternative music
Sonic Youth
2. Variant of hip-hop music; its emergence was heralded nationwide by the release of the album Straight Outta Compton by N.W.A. (Niggaz with Attitude). It included artists such as Snoop Doggy Dogg - 2Pac Shakur - and the Notorious B.I.G.
disco
Run-D.M.C.
gangsta rap
Grateful Dead
3. Style modeled on that of the early acoustic string bands; probably the original 'alternative country' music.
Nirvana
nashville sound
bluegrass
hardcore
4. Singer-songwriter Who wrote many hits in the 1960s with Gerry Goffin. In 1971 - the success of her album Tapestry made her a major recording star.
James Brown
Jimi Hendrix
Janis Joplin
Carole King
5. Publicly traded corporation that owns more than 1 -200 radio stations - 39 television stations - 100000 advertising billboards - and 100 live performance venues - ranging from huge amphitheaters to dance clubs - enabling them to present more than 70
rave
Tupac Shakur
Clear channel
alternative rock
6. Country music style involving polished arrangements and a sophisticated approach to vocal presentation. The recordings of Patsy Cline were among the most important manifestations of the Nashville sound.
Michael Jackson
urban folk
nashville sound
funk music
7. Born in Texas - Nelson was one of the most influential figures in the progressive country movement. Nelson's rise to national fame came in the mid-1970s - through his association with a group of musicians collectively known as 'the Outlaws.'
Aretha Franklin
Willie Nelson
alternative rock
alternative music
8. Form of rock music that blended elements of rock and European classical music. It included bands such as King Crimson; Emerson - Lake - and Palmer; and Pink Floyd.
Carlos Santana
art rock
M.C. Hammer
techno
9. 'The Queen of Soul -' she began singing gospel music at an early age and had several hit records with Atlantic - including 'Respect' in 1967 and 'Think' in 1968.
Janis Joplin
nashville sound
grunge rock
Aretha Franklin
10. Form of rock music that blended elements of rock and European classical music. It included bands such as King Crimson; Emerson - Lake - and Palmer; and Pink Floyd.
M.C. Hammer
soft soul
heavy metal
art rock
11. Hip-hop culture - forged by African American and Caribbean American youth in New York City - included distinctive styles of visual art (graffiti) - dance (an acrobatic solo style called breakdancing and an energetic couple dance called the freak) - m
Grandmaster Flash
Prince
James Brown
hip-hop
12. Veteran of folk pop groups such as the New Christy Minstrels and the First Edition - star of made-for-TV movies. One of the main beneficiaries of country pop's increasing mainstream appeal.
art rock
Michael Jackson
Kenny Rogers
breakdancing
13. Genre that developed out of hard rock in the 1970s and achieved mainstream success in the 1980s.
punk rock
nashville sound
heavy metal
synthesizer
14. The first punk rock band. Formed in 1974 in New York City - the Ramones' high-speed - energetic - and extremely loud sound influenced English punk groups such as the Sex Pistols and the Clash and also became a blueprint for 1980s L.A. hardcore bands.
The Ramones
Def Jam
hip-hop
Def Jam
15. Heterogeneous category that includes artists from Africa - the Near East - and Asia—the ultimate margins of the American music industry.
world music
Nirvana
RIAA
Kenny Rogers
16. Marketing category that emerged around 1990; it is most often used to describe bands like are.E.M. - Sonic Youth - the Dead Kennedys - and Nirvana.
Vanilla Ice
world music
alternative rock
Tupac Shakur
17. Internet-based software program that enabled computer users to share and swap files - specifically music - through a centralized file server. A federal court injunction forced Napster to shut down operations in February 2001.
hardcore
grunge rock
Sean 'Puffy' Combs
Napster
18. Began his performing career as a member of the Jackson Five. He achieved unprecedented success with his 1982 album Thriller - and his elaborately produced music videos helped boost the new medium of music videos. Jackson became the first African Amer
rave
analog recording
Michael Jackson
Kenny Rogers
19. Variant of MPEG; MP3 enables sound files to be compressed to as little as one-twelfth of their original size.
rap
Prince
urban folk
MP3
20. Device that standardized digital technologies - enabling devices produced by different manufacturers to 'communicate' with one another.
MIDI
Paul Simon
house music
reggae
21. Singer and guitarist who founded the alternative rock band Nirvana. His recordings broke through to the commercial mainstream and popularized grunge rock. He shot himself in Seattle in 1994.
RIAA
Kurt Cobain
Lauryn Hill
Janis Joplin
22. British hard rock band that formed in London in 1968. Zeppelin's sledgehammer style of guitar-focused rock music drew on various influences - including urban blues - San Francisco psychedelia - and the virtuoso guitar playing of Jimi Hendrix.
disco
Def Jam
Jimi Hendrix
Led Zeppelin
23. Singer and guitarist who founded the alternative rock band Nirvana. His recordings broke through to the commercial mainstream and popularized grunge rock. He shot himself in Seattle in 1994.
analog recording
M.C. Hammer
Kurt Cobain
Bruce Springsteen
24. Ice's first album - To the Extreme (1990) - monopolized the Number One position for sixteen weeks in early 1991 - selling seven million copies. When it was discovered that Van Winkle - raised in reasonably comfortable circumstances in a middle-class
Aretha Franklin
Dolly Parton
art rock
Vanilla Ice
25. Parton was born in the hill country of Tennessee and began her recording career at age eleven. She moved to Nashville in 1964 and built her career with regular appearances on country music radio and television.
Def Jam
alternative music
Dolly Parton
reggae
26. Device that records musical data rather than musical sound and enables the creation of repeated sound sequences (loops) - the manipulation of rhythmic grooves - and the transmission of recorded data from one program or device to another.
Beastie Boys
sequencer
soul music
alternative music
27. Rapper from Oakland - California; hit the charts in 1990 with Please Hammer Don't Hurt 'Em - which held the Number One position for twenty-one weeks and sold over ten million copies - becoming the bestselling rap album of all time.
Carlos Santana
analog recording
rap
M.C. Hammer
28. Device that enables musicians to create or 'synthesize' musical sounds. Began to appear on rock records during the early 1970s.
synthesizer
Prince
punk rock
rave
29. Pioneered West Coast gangsta rap with the release of the album Straight Outta Compton. Their recordings expressed the gangsta lifestyle - saturated with images of sex and violence. The nucleus of the group was formed in 1986 - when O'Shea ;Ice C
hip-hop
N.W.A.
analog recording
bluegrass
30. Veteran of folk pop groups such as the New Christy Minstrels and the First Edition - star of made-for-TV movies. One of the main beneficiaries of country pop's increasing mainstream appeal.
James Brown
N.W.A.
techno
Kenny Rogers
31. The first commercially successful white act in hip-hop. Their early recordings represent a fusion of the youth-oriented rebelliousness of hardcore punk rock—the style they began playing in 1981—with the sensibility and techniques of hip-hop.
M.C. Hammer
Beastie Boys
David Bowie
rap
32. Extreme variation of punk - pioneered during the early 1980s by bands in San Francisco (the Dead Kennedys) and Los Angeles (the Germs - Black Flag - X - and the Circle Jerks).
MP3
Willie Nelson
hardcore
Prince
33. From the late 1980s through the 1990s - Madonna's popularity was second only to Michael Jackson's. She created controversial songs and music videos - including 'Papa Don't Preach' (1986) - 'Express Yourself' (1989) - and 'Like a Prayer' (1989).
Madonna
alternative rock
pop rock
Andre (Dr. Dre) Young
34. Device that standardized digital technologies - enabling devices produced by different manufacturers to 'communicate' with one another.
MIDI
soul music
Vanilla Ice
Peter Gabriel
35. DJ and leader of the furious five - he developed many of the turntable techniques that characterized early hip-hop music.
Nirvana
funk music
Grandmaster Flash
urban folk
36. Publicly traded corporation that owns more than 1 -200 radio stations - 39 television stations - 100000 advertising billboards - and 100 live performance venues - ranging from huge amphitheaters to dance clubs - enabling them to present more than 70
Prince
Run-D.M.C.
Clear channel
Donna Summer
37. Style of electronic dance music that originated in the Detroit area during the 1980s.
The Ramones
techno
M.C. Hammer
bluegrass
38. Acrobatic solo dancing improvised by the young 'B-boys' who attended hip-hop dances.
breakdancing
The Sex Pistols
RIAA
gangsta rap
39. Acrobatic solo dancing improvised by the young 'B-boys' who attended hip-hop dances.
breakdancing
Peter Gabriel
Ray Charles
N.W.A.
40. Achieved celebrity as a member of the art rock group Genesis before embarking on a solo career. Gabriel's best-selling single 'Sledgehammer' became Number One pop and Number Sixty-one R&B in 1986. The award-winning video version of 'Sledgehammer' was
Bruce Springsteen
Peter Gabriel
MIDI
M.C. Hammer
41. A style of soft rock - lightly tinged with country music influences: John Denver - Olivia Newton-John - Kenny Rogers.
country pop
Donna Summer
Kurt Cobain
RIAA
42. The most successful white blues singer of the 1960s. Born in Port Arthur - Texas - Joplin came to San Francisco in the mid-1960s and joined a band called Big Brother and the Holding Company.
Janis Joplin
Michael Jackson
world music
sequencer
43. In progressive country - performers wrote songs that were more intellectual and liberal in outlook than their contemporaries and were more concerned with testing the limits of the country music tradition than with scoring hits. The key artists includ
Peter Gabriel
Patsy Cline
progressive country
country pop
44. Born in Texas - Nelson was one of the most influential figures in the progressive country movement. Nelson's rise to national fame came in the mid-1970s - through his association with a group of musicians collectively known as 'the Outlaws.'
techno
hardcore
Willie Nelson
hardcore
45. A style of soft rock - lightly tinged with country music influences: John Denver - Olivia Newton-John - Kenny Rogers.
country pop
Sonic Youth
punk rock
Carole King
46. Got his start in the 1960s as a member of the famous folk rock duo Simon and Garfunkel. His album Graceland (1986) was a global collaboration recorded in South Africa - England - and the United States. It is the album responsible - more than any othe
reggae
Paul Simon
house music
techno
47. Trade association whose member companies—Universal - Sony - Warner Brothers - Arista - Atlantic - BMG - RCA - Capitol - Elektra - Interscope - and Sire Records—control the sale and distribution of approximately 90 percent of the offline music in the
RIAA
Def Jam
Run-D.M.C.
rap
48. Gangsta rapper born in Long Beach - CA - He was a protaga of Andre 'Dr. Dre' Young and collaborated on Dr. Dre's 1992 album The Chronic. Snoop's soft drawl and laid-back-but-lethal gangster persona were featured on Doggystyle - which debuted at the t
Grandmaster Flash
house music
Snoop Doggy Dogg (Calvin Broadus)
alternative music
49. Kurt KObain's band - Nevermind album
Grandmaster Flash
soft soul
Def Jam
Nirvana
50. A digital recording process wherein a sound source is recorded with a microphone - converted to a digital stream of binary numbers - and stored in a computer. The sampled sounds may be retrieved in a number of ways.
sampling
N.W.A.
synthesizer
Lauryn Hill