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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. Named after the Warehouse - a popular gay dance club in Chicago - it was a style of techno dance music. Many house recordings were purely instrumental - with elements of European synth-pop - Latin soul - reggae - rap - and jazz grafted over an insist
Michael Jackson
Nirvana
Sonic Youth
house music
2. 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.
Grandmaster Flash
Napster
Madonna
alternative rock
3. The most important woman in the history of hip-hop - in terms of both her commercial success and her effectiveness in establishing a feminist beachhead on the male-dominated field of rap music.
Queen Latifah
Kenny Rogers
analog recording
Sonic Youth
4. Known as the 'Genius of Soul'; songwriter - arranger - keyboard player - and vocalist fluent in R&B - jazz - and mainstream pop.
Jimi Hendrix
house music
Carole King
Ray Charles
5. Prince is one of the most talented musicians ever to achieve mass commercial success in the field of popular music. He has sold almost forty million recordings. Between 1982 and 1992 - he placed nine albums in the Top 10 - reaching the top of the cha
Prince
Sonic Youth
Grandmaster Flash
heavy metal
6. Trio consisting of the MCs Run (Joseph Simmons - b. 1964) and D.M.C. (Darryl McDaniels - b. 1964) - and the DJ Jam Master Jay (Jason Mizell - b. 1965). Perhaps the most influential act in the history of rap music - they established a hard-edged - roc
analog recording
Lauryn Hill
sampling
Run-D.M.C.
7. Born in the impoverished shantytowns of Kingston - Jamaica - reggae first became popular in the United States in 1973 - after the release of the Jamaican film The Harder They Come and its soundtrack album. The heart of reggae music consists of 'riddi
Def Jam
breakdancing
reggae
James Brown
8. 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
progressive country
heavy metal
punk rock
rap
9. Style modeled on that of the early acoustic string bands; probably the original 'alternative country' music.
Napster
bluegrass
sequencer
The Ramones
10. Hip-hop artist whose work is a self-conscious alternative to the violence and sexism in the work of rap stars such as Dr. Dre - the Notorious B.I.G. - and 2Pac Shakur. Her commitment to female empowerment builds on the ground-breaking example of Quee
Lauryn Hill
soul music
M.C. Hammer
Bruce Springsteen
11. Springsteen's music and personal image evoked the rebellious rock 'n' rollers of the 1950s and the socially conscious folk rockers of the 1960s. His songs reflected his working-class origins and sympathies.
country pop
The Sex Pistols
sampling
Bruce Springsteen
12. Rock style that emerged in the late 1970s. It was a 'back to basics' rebellion against the perceived artifice and pretension of corporate rock music—a stripped-down and often purposefully 'nonmusical' version of rock music.
punk rock
Snoop Doggy Dogg (Calvin Broadus)
Carole King
Sean 'Puffy' Combs
13. Variant of MPEG; MP3 enables sound files to be compressed to as little as one-twelfth of their original size.
N.W.A.
MP3
Ray Charles
art rock
14. Born in the impoverished shantytowns of Kingston - Jamaica - reggae first became popular in the United States in 1973 - after the release of the Jamaican film The Harder They Come and its soundtrack album. The heart of reggae music consists of 'riddi
Madonna
Tupac Shakur
reggae
Jimi Hendrix
15. 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.'
Lauryn Hill
N.W.A.
Willie Nelson
Prince
16. 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
Willie Nelson
Clear channel
Madonna
sampling
17. 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.
art rock
bluegrass
Grandmaster Flash
funk music
18. Prince is one of the most talented musicians ever to achieve mass commercial success in the field of popular music. He has sold almost forty million recordings. Between 1982 and 1992 - he placed nine albums in the Top 10 - reaching the top of the cha
MP3
Prince
world music
urban folk
19. Emerged during the 1970s as one part of the cultural complex of hip-hop. It consisted of rhymed speech accompanied by funk-derived rhythmic grooves.
psychedelic rock
soul music
progressive country
rap
20. 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.
Grateful Dead
Kurt Cobain
Kenny Rogers
sequencer
21. African American musical style rooted in R&B and gospel that became popular during the 1960s.
soul music
Clear channel
Snoop Doggy Dogg (Calvin Broadus)
Dolly Parton
22. Genre that developed out of hard rock in the 1970s and achieved mainstream success in the 1980s.
urban folk
Queen Latifah
heavy metal
bluegrass
23. Slick variety of rhythm & blues - often with lush orchestral accompaniment: the O'Jays - the Spinners - Al Green - Barry White.
soft soul
Dolly Parton
punk rock
Beastie Boys
24. 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
N.W.A.
hip-hop
Ray Charles
bluegrass
25. 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
alternative music
sequencer
hardcore
Kenny Rogers
26. The most outrageous—and therefore famous—punk band - formed in 1975 in London. They were the creation of Malcolm McAllen - owner of a London boutique called Sex - which specialized in leather and rubber clothing.
reggae
The Sex Pistols
rave
MIDI
27. 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.
soul music
N.W.A.
Napster
Dolly Parton
28. 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
house music
Kenny Rogers
Carole King
Snoop Doggy Dogg (Calvin Broadus)
29. Acrobatic solo dancing improvised by the young 'B-boys' who attended hip-hop dances.
breakdancing
gangsta rap
Aretha Franklin
alternative rock
30. 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
Grandmaster Flash
Madonna
countrypolitan
31. 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).
Paul Simon
Madonna
N.W.A.
synthesizer
32. Sophisticated approach to the vocal presentation and instrumental arrangement of country music; a fusion of 'country' and 'cosmopolitan.'
Madonna
Ray Charles
hardcore
countrypolitan
33. Tragic victim of conflicts between East and West Coast factions within the hip-hop business. He was an up-and-coming star with Los Angeles-based Death Row Records when He was shot and killed in Las Vegas in 1996.
Tupac Shakur
sampling
punk rock
Clear channel
34. DJ and leader of the furious five - he developed many of the turntable techniques that characterized early hip-hop music.
Grandmaster Flash
Janis Joplin
Jimi Hendrix
M.C. Hammer
35. Founded in 1982 - Public Enemy was organized around a core set of members who met as college students - drawn together by their interest in hip-hop culture and political activism. The group included the standard hip-hop configuration of two MCs—Chuck
Clear channel
Public Enemy
pop rock
sequencer
36. 'Glam rock' pioneer who established the character of Ziggy Stardust.
art rock
Public Enemy
David Bowie
Vanilla Ice
37. Slick variety of rhythm & blues - often with lush orchestral accompaniment: the O'Jays - the Spinners - Al Green - Barry White.
hardcore
Willie Nelson
Janis Joplin
soft soul
38. 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
hardcore
Snoop Doggy Dogg (Calvin Broadus)
synthesizer
39. Named after the Warehouse - a popular gay dance club in Chicago - it was a style of techno dance music. Many house recordings were purely instrumental - with elements of European synth-pop - Latin soul - reggae - rap - and jazz grafted over an insist
house music
M.C. Hammer
Janis Joplin
Jimi Hendrix
40. Sophisticated approach to the vocal presentation and instrumental arrangement of country music; a fusion of 'country' and 'cosmopolitan.'
countrypolitan
Vanilla Ice
rap
world music
41. 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.
N.W.A.
synthesizer
Kurt Cobain
Beastie Boys
42. The 'Godfather of Soul.' He was known for his acrobatic physicality and remarkable charisma on stage. No other single musician has proven to be as influential on the sound and style of black music as James Brown.
Queen Latifah
disco
James Brown
gangsta rap
43. African American musical style rooted in R&B and gospel that became popular during the 1960s.
house music
soul music
Public Enemy
pop rock
44. One of the biggest stars to emerge from disco in the 1970s. She sang on several disco classics - including 'Love to Love You Baby' (1976) and 'Good Times' (1979).
techno
Grateful Dead
world music
Donna Summer
45. The most influential and economically successful member of N.W.A. He founded an independent record label (Death Row/Interscope) - cultivated a number of younger rappers - and continued to develop a distinctive hip-hop production style - christened 'G
Janis Joplin
Andre (Dr. Dre) Young
David Bowie
country pop
46. 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).
Snoop Doggy Dogg (Calvin Broadus)
Janis Joplin
Madonna
Tupac Shakur
47. The most important woman in the history of hip-hop - in terms of both her commercial success and her effectiveness in establishing a feminist beachhead on the male-dominated field of rap music.
Queen Latifah
soul music
N.W.A.
art rock
48. 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
Bruce Springsteen
alternative music
Dolly Parton
sampling
49. The leader of the Wailers and a national hero in his native Jamaica - Marley was reggae's most effective international ambassador. His songs of determination - rebellion - and faith - rooted in the Rastafarian belief system - found a worldwide audien
Bob Marley
Public Enemy
The Sex Pistols
Carole King
50. 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
Kenny Rogers
rave
analog recording
Vanilla Ice