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Music Appreciation

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 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.






2. 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






3. A style of soft rock - lightly tinged with country music influences: John Denver - Olivia Newton-John - Kenny Rogers.






4. 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.






5. A style of soft rock - lightly tinged with country music influences: John Denver - Olivia Newton-John - Kenny Rogers.






6. '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.






7. Acrobatic solo dancing improvised by the young 'B-boys' who attended hip-hop dances.






8. Known as the 'Genius of Soul'; songwriter - arranger - keyboard player - and vocalist fluent in R&B - jazz - and mainstream pop.






9. 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.






10. 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






11. 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






12. 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.






13. Sophisticated approach to the vocal presentation and instrumental arrangement of country music; a fusion of 'country' and 'cosmopolitan.'






14. 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.






15. 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






16. 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.






17. 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.






18. 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.






19. 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.






20. African American musical style rooted in R&B and gospel that became popular during the 1960s.






21. 'Glam rock' pioneer who established the character of Ziggy Stardust.






22. 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






23. Variant of MPEG; MP3 enables sound files to be compressed to as little as one-twelfth of their original size.






24. Acrobatic solo dancing improvised by the young 'B-boys' who attended hip-hop dances.






25. 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.






26. 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.






27. 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






28. Variant of MPEG; MP3 enables sound files to be compressed to as little as one-twelfth of their original size.






29. 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






30. One of the main venues for techno. Semipublic event modeled partly on the be-ins of the 1960s counterculture.






31. 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.






32. 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.






33. One of the main venues for techno. Semipublic event modeled partly on the be-ins of the 1960s counterculture.






34. 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






35. 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.






36. 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).






37. Heterogeneous category that includes artists from Africa - the Near East - and Asia—the ultimate margins of the American music industry.






38. 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






39. 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






40. Regional style of alternative rock from Seattle that blended heavy metal guitar textures with hardcore punk. Bands from Seattle included Green River - Mudhoney - Pearl Jam - Nirvana - and Soundgarden.






41. 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.






42. Style modeled on that of the early acoustic string bands; probably the original 'alternative country' music.






43. 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






44. 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).






45. 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.






46. Kurt KObain's band - Nevermind album






47. 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.






48. 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).






49. 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






50. Country vocalist who scored crossover hits with songs such as 'I Fall to Pieces -' and 'Crazy -' both recorded in 1961.







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