Musical Milestones Quiz / Test | Other Music

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. In 1984 Bob Geldof from the group "Boomtown Rats" and Midge Ure from "Ultravox" spearheaded a musical first. Aware of the desperation in Ethiopia, they co-authored a song to raise money for famine relief in that country. Apart from themselves, they recruited many willing artists including Bono, Sting, Phil Collins, Simon Le Bon, David Bowie and Paul McCartney to form the group Band Aid. What was the name of the song they sang?

Answer: Do They Know It's Christmas?

The song was a huge hit and Geldof went further and organised Live Aid - a massive charity concert that raised even more money. Concerned with the tax that was being levied on the profits of the song and the concert, Bob Geldof publicly challenged Margaret Thatcher - the British Prime Minister. He asked her to waive the VAT, which she eventually did - and even returned the money that had already been collected to help "feed the world".

[Question composed by Nannanut]

2. Thomas Edison invented the phonograph in 1877. What was the first recording to have the distinction of being #1 on the "charts" of the day?

Answer: Semper Fidelis - The U.S. Marine Band

"Semper Fidelis", recorded by the U.S. Marine Band conducted by John Phillip Sousa, is accorded the honor of being the first recognized #1 song on August 2, 1890. None of the others ever reached #1 status and they were all recorded after the turn of the 20th century.

[Question composed by Maddogrick]

3. In 1913, Igor Stravinsky's monumental ballet "Le Sacre du Printemps (The Rite of Spring)", choreographed by Vladimir Nijinsky, premiered in Paris. Since then, it has gone on to garner accolades as one of the cornerstone pieces of modern music and dance, challenging all previous conventions of both disciplines and upsetting the mannered decorum that characterized its predecessors. What was the initial public reaction to this work?

Answer: A full-scale riot between those who liked and did not like the piece

A great disturbance began almost at the opening curtain. The piece began with a bassoon solo pitched so high that few could believe that a bass instrument was playing; Camillle Saint-Saens, the then-78-year-old author of "Danse Macabre", walked out at that point. As the evening progressed, the staid ballet crowd became increasingly offended, loudly booing and hissing. The more Bohemian avant-garde fans, however, loudly proclaimed their support for Stravinsky and Nijinsky, leading to physical altercations all about the Th��tre des Champs-Elys�es, including challenges to duels. Stravinsky was despondent over this unruly reception, but Sergei Diaghilev, the director of the Ballets Russes and the commissioner of the piece, was quoted as saying: "It was just what I wanted." Many of today's scholars speculate that Diaghilev had instigated the riot either to gain publicity or to make an artistic statement.

[Question composed by Stuthehistoryguy]

4. In 1938 Benny Goodman scored a major success, bringing jazz to the upper crust with a breakthrough concert at Carnegie Hall. The highlight of the show was a drum solo by legendary drummer Gene Krupa to the tune "Sing Sing Sing". The song was not, in fact, a Goodman tune, but was written by what other famous jazz legend?

Answer: Louis Prima

Prima had a decades long career and his compositions were performed by many of the leading jazz groups. His song "Just A Gigolo" was given a rock flavor and made a hit in the 1980s by former Van Halen singer David Lee Roth. Louis Prima, also known as "The Lip" toured and recorded with his wife and lead singer Keeley Smith.

[Question composed by Justawful]

5. Which revolutionary song was written by Eug�ne Pottier, a Parisian transport worker, in 1871 and set to music by Pierre Degeyter, a woodworker from Lille, in 1888?

Answer: The Internationale

Pottier was a veteran of the 1848 uprisings in France and a member of the First International and of the council of the Paris Commune. He wrote the words of the Internationale shortly after the Commune was overthrown in 1871. Degeyter set his poem to music in 1888 for a workers' choir in Lille. It rapidly gained popularity among French socialists, and in time became well known outside France as well and was translated into many languages. It was the anthem of the Soviet Union until 1944.

[Question composed by TabbyTom]

6. When England is taking part in an event in which national teams from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are also competing, what anthem is played for an English victory?

Answer: Land of Hope and Glory

"Land of Hope and Glory" is played, rather than the usual national anthem "God Save the Queen", as England does not have an anthem of its own. "God Save the Queen" is used for British or UK victories. Sir Edward Elgar wrote the "Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1", the music to which the words are set.

The words by poet A.C. Benson were added at the suggestion of King Edward VII. This stirring patriotic song is traditionally sung at many major events including the English Football Association Cup-final (F.A. Cup) and the Last Night of the Proms (Promenade Concerts). [Question composed by Musicmonkeyman]

7. Many people credit The Who with creating the first rock opera, the famous and classic "Tommy." Actually, another group had released a full-blown opera called "Mass in F Minor" a full year before "Tommy" hit the record stores. Who were these true innovators of rock?

Answer: The Electric Prunes

The Electric Prunes are best remembered for their psychedelic, "I Had Too Much To Dream Last Night." On Spetember 7, 1968, The Prunes performed their only public rendition of "Mass in F Minor" on the steps of St. Peter's Cathedral in LA. "Tommy," the better-known work, was released in 1969. True fans will enjoy The Prunes' "Mass" which is still available today. And it's still totally groovy, man. Peace.

[Question composed by Nutmeglad]

8. The Gregorian chant "Ut queant laxis" for the feast of St. John the Baptist was used by the 11th century Benedictine monk Guido d'Arezzo to teach which of the following?

Answer: The notes of the scale

Nearly a thousand years before Sister Julie Andrews taught the world to sing on top of the Austrian Alps, there was Brother Guido d'Arezzo. D'Arezzo noted that each phrase of "Ut Queant Laxis" began on a successively higher note of the scale, starting with C. He used the first Latin syllable of each phrase to assign a name to each note of the scale:

UT queant laxis
REsonare fibris
MIra gesto-rum
FAmuli tuorum
SOLve polluti
LAbiireatum. Sancte Johannes.

Thus the notes of the scale were christened, as it were, "ut, re, mi, fa, sol, la" ("Ti" was eventually added to complete the scale and "ut" eventually became "do" which, no doubt, saved Oscar Hammerstein no end of trouble). This system is known as "solmisation". D'Arezzo also taught his students to identify the syllables by pointing to the fingers of his hand; this method, known as the "Guidonian Hand" is still used by some teachers today. D'Arezzo's innovative methods won him an audience with Pope John XIX in 1028, at which he demonstrated his methods to the pontiff. It is not known whether d'Arezzo and the pope created their own song together and went traipsing through Rome singing it, with the College of Cardinals in tow (I rather doubt it).

[Question composed by Jouen58]

9. In 1961, session guitarist Grady Martin performed a guitar solo on Marty Robbins' song "Don't Worry". The distorted sound of Martin's guitar became known as "fuzz-tone". Hardware devices now produce this sound on demand. How did Grady Martin produce fuzz-tone in his 1961 recording session?

Answer: He produced it unintentionally because of a blown amplifier tube.

Grady Martin and Chet Atkins were the only two guitarists to work with both Elvis Presley and Hank Williams. Martin's achievements included the intricate clear-toned nylon guitar work in Marty Robbins' "El Paso" and the famous riff in Roy Orbison's "Pretty Woman". In the 1961, Martin launched into his guitar solo for the song "Don't Worry". When the song was played back it became apparent that a blown tube in an amplifier had produced a heavily distorted sound. The producer liked the sound and left the solo in the record. Martin had unintentionally played the first "fuzz-tone" guitar solo. A variety of electrical devices have since been used to reproduce the sound, a sound that has been widely used by rock musicians and groups including Jimi Hendrix and the Rolling Stones.

[Question composed by Uglybird]

10. "Southern trees bear strange fruit Blood on the leaves and blood at the roots Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze Strange fruit hangin' from the poplar trees". Leonard Feather called "Strange Fruit", "the first significant protest in words and music, the first unmuted cry against racism." With which singer is the song most associated?

Answer: Billie Holiday

Lady Day first performed the song in 1939, at the nightclub "Cafe Society". Columbia, her record company at the time, refused to record it, and she eventually recorded it on a specialty label. An interesting note about the songwriter Abel Meeropol is that he and his wife adopted the children of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg, after the Rosenberg's execution for espionage.

[Question composed by Agony]

Source: Author uglybird

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor Dalgleish before going online.
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Musical Milestones Trivia Quiz

From music that earned a monk a Papal audience to music that earned money for the world's starving people, from firsts for music celebrating revolution to revolutionary musical firsts - enjoy the Quiz Makers Guild's initial musical offering.

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