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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. 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
hip-hop
art rock
Andre (Dr. Dre) Young
RIAA
2. 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.
Led Zeppelin
rap
Beastie Boys
MP3
3. Device that standardized digital technologies - enabling devices produced by different manufacturers to 'communicate' with one another.
grunge rock
urban folk
MIDI
alternative rock
4. 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).
Nirvana
art rock
hardcore
disco
5. Upbeat variety of rock music represented by artists such as Elton John - Paul McCartney - Rod Stewart - Chicago - and Peter Frampton.
disco
Carole King
Jimi Hendrix
pop rock
6. 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
country pop
grunge rock
Carlos Santana
7. A style of soft rock - lightly tinged with country music influences: John Denver - Olivia Newton-John - Kenny Rogers.
Janis Joplin
Carlos Santana
country pop
soul music
8. Sophisticated approach to the vocal presentation and instrumental arrangement of country music; a fusion of 'country' and 'cosmopolitan.'
countrypolitan
Janis Joplin
Bob Marley
rap
9. DJ and leader of the furious five - he developed many of the turntable techniques that characterized early hip-hop music.
Clear channel
Paul Simon
Grandmaster Flash
gangsta rap
10. 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.
soul music
gangsta rap
The Ramones
countrypolitan
11. 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
Bruce Springsteen
sequencer
Snoop Doggy Dogg (Calvin Broadus)
RIAA
12. 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
James Brown
Vanilla Ice
punk rock
Ray Charles
13. 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
country pop
rave
alternative music
Prince
14. 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
Grandmaster Flash
Willie Nelson
Michael Jackson
heavy metal
15. 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
Kurt Cobain
alternative rock
Sonic Youth
16. 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.'
Led Zeppelin
Willie Nelson
funk music
Sonic Youth
17. 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
sequencer
reggae
Dolly Parton
18. Kurt KObain's band - Nevermind album
Carlos Santana
Nirvana
Aretha Franklin
disco
19. 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.
art rock
Peter Gabriel
Run-D.M.C.
Napster
20. 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
hardcore
Bob Marley
gangsta rap
Ray Charles
21. 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.
Carole King
Sean 'Puffy' Combs
Sonic Youth
funk music
22. 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.
Clear channel
Vanilla Ice
nashville sound
Prince
23. 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
Bob Marley
Grateful Dead
Snoop Doggy Dogg (Calvin Broadus)
Bruce Springsteen
24. 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
Grandmaster Flash
Dolly Parton
Public Enemy
hardcore
25. One of the main venues for techno. Semipublic event modeled partly on the be-ins of the 1960s counterculture.
Queen Latifah
Andre (Dr. Dre) Young
rave
Snoop Doggy Dogg (Calvin Broadus)
26. Form of dance music popular in the late 1970s - characterized by elaborate studio production and an insistent beat: Donna Summer - Chic - the Village People - the Bee Gees.
disco
art rock
Carlos Santana
Led Zeppelin
27. 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.
Paul Simon
nashville sound
Kurt Cobain
Carlos Santana
28. 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
N.W.A.
Lauryn Hill
alternative music
Michael Jackson
29. Style modeled on that of the early acoustic string bands; probably the original 'alternative country' music.
Kurt Cobain
gangsta rap
MP3
bluegrass
30. Style of electronic dance music that originated in the Detroit area during the 1980s.
Grandmaster Flash
heavy metal
techno
Clear channel
31. 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.
hip-hop
Patsy Cline
Dolly Parton
Madonna
32. 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
Grandmaster Flash
Clear channel
Paul Simon
Led Zeppelin
33. 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).
progressive country
hardcore
analog recording
Napster
34. Variant of MPEG; MP3 enables sound files to be compressed to as little as one-twelfth of their original size.
Clear channel
MP3
breakdancing
Clear channel
35. 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
analog recording
Lauryn Hill
Kurt Cobain
Snoop Doggy Dogg (Calvin Broadus)
36. 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.
sampling
M.C. Hammer
Paul Simon
urban folk
37. 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
reggae
The Sex Pistols
Bruce Springsteen
progressive country
38. 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
The Ramones
Nirvana
Public Enemy
house music
39. 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
synthesizer
Ray Charles
sampling
40. 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.
house music
Michael Jackson
techno
41. 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
soul music
Clear channel
The Sex Pistols
Madonna
42. Device that standardized digital technologies - enabling devices produced by different manufacturers to 'communicate' with one another.
countrypolitan
MIDI
Paul Simon
Grateful Dead
43. 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
bluegrass
reggae
Public Enemy
Jimi Hendrix
44. Born in Mexico - he began his musical career playing guitar in Tijuana. He formed his band in San Francisco in the late 1960s. Their 1971 album Abraxas established a Latin American substream within rock.
alternative rock
world music
hip-hop
Carlos Santana
45. 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.
Donna Summer
Beastie Boys
soft soul
Janis Joplin
46. 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
Carole King
The Sex Pistols
Andre (Dr. Dre) Young
Led Zeppelin
47. Acrobatic solo dancing improvised by the young 'B-boys' who attended hip-hop dances.
punk rock
sampling
breakdancing
punk rock
48. 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.
Sonic Youth
urban folk
Dolly Parton
Kenny Rogers
49. 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.
alternative music
disco
rave
Queen Latifah
50. African American musical style rooted in R&B and gospel that became popular during the 1960s.
soul music
David Bowie
hip-hop
alternative music