Thursday the 12th Trivia Quiz

Answer: John The Revelator

"John The Revelator" is a traditional Gospel/Blues song that is performed in a call and response format:
(Call) "Well who's that writin' (Response) John the Revelator
(Call) who's that writin' (Response) John the Revelator
(Call) who's that writin' (Response) John the Revelator
A book of the Seven Seals".

It was first recorded by Blind Willie Johnson in 1930 and has since been covered on numerous occasions. Some notable versions include those by Nick Cave, R.E.M and the Dave Matthews Band. An excellent rendition was put together by James Brown in collaboration with Taj Mahal and Sam Moore for the soundtrack of the 1998 film "Blues Brothers 2000".

St. John of Patmos is the traditionally accepted author of the Book of Revelation. Apart from the moniker "John the Revelator" he is also referred to as "John the Divine", "John the Seer" and "The Eagle of Patmos".

Answer: Fozzy

Fozzy is an American hard rock band, heavily influenced by the likes of Judas Priest and Iron Maiden. "Chasing the Grail" is their fourth album, one in which they confirm their status as a band to reckoned with. Despite the fire breathing ferocity that relentlessly paves its way through the album the last track, "Wormwood", changes tack by producing a fourteen minute progressive rock epic, very reminiscent of the early 1970's.
Hopefully the hint helped you. Fozzie is the name of the wise cracking bear from the Muppets.

Answer: Four Winds

Bright Eyes is an American indie rock band founded and fronted by Conor Oberst who, in 2008, was voted Songwriter of the Year by Rolling Stone Magazine. "Four Winds" appeared as an EP (extended play) a month before the release of the album "Cassadaga" and represents one of Conor's early attempts at a protest song.

It proved to be a success for him and the band. Filled with an anthemic refrain of "Na, na na, na na na na" the song was voted number five in Rolling Stone's Top 100 songs for that year.

Answer: Iron Maiden

The Beast of the Earth is the second beast described in Revelation and it primarily appears in chapter thirteen. The only description that is evident is that it is lamb-horned and speaks like a dragon. The number of the beast is 666.

"The Number of the Beast" is the title track and second single released from Iron Maiden's third studio album. The song was inspired by a nightmare that the songwriter, Steve Harris, had endured and it opens with a spoken passage directly from the Book of Revelation followed by a blood curdling scream from lead singer Bruce Dickinson. The band was labelled satanic by religious groups upon the single's release in the USA and they endured a series of protests and organised burnings of their albums when they toured the same country that year.

Answer: Anyway

"Anyway" is a track on the second disc of the band's highly acclaimed double concept album "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway". The album tells the story of Rael, a Puerto Rican delinquent living in New York, drawn into a world of nightmares and strange creatures as he searches for his brother John.

This was Peter Gabriel's final album before splitting with the band. He contributed the lyrics which were reportedly drawn from within his dreams. The album is held in high esteem, described as one of the richest works to come out of the 1970's and regarded as one of the best concept albums to be recorded.

Answer: Tom Waits

Tom Waits' voice is certainly one of the most distinctive in contemporary music. So much so that it was described by music critic Daniel Durchholz as being "like it was soaked in a vat of bourbon, left hanging in the smokehouse for a few months, and then taken outside and run over with a car." With his rock songs covered by luminaries such as Springsteen, The Eagles and Rod Stewart, Waits also proves his versatility by writing and performing blues, jazz and vaudeville.

In addition he was nominated for an Academy Award for his work on the soundtrack to Francis Ford Coppola's 1982 movie "One From the Heart".

In 2011 he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The play, "The Black Rider" is the story of a young man who makes a deal with the devil so that he can marry his one true love.

Answer: Possessed

"The Exorcist" is a 1973 horror film directed by William Friedkin that deals with the demonic possession of a young girl named Regan.
Possessed are a death metal band that formed in California in 1983. "Seven Churches" is their debut album, released in 1985, which met with many meritorious reviews. Allmusic called it the missing link between trash and death metal, Metal Storm proclaimed it a masterpiece and About.com placed it at the top of their list of "Essential Death Metal Albums".
The title of the album is a direct reference to the Seven Churches of Asia, revealed in the Book of Revelation, to which St John of Patmos had to deliver seven separate messages. The churches; Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamon, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea are detailed in the second and third chapters of the Book of Revelation.

Answer: Meat Puppets

The Meat Puppets are a versatile band that hails from Phoenix, Arizona whose music has had labels such alternative, cow punk and psychedelic attached to it. Formed in 1980 their impact was such that it served to influence bands such as Pavement and Nirvana.

Their second album, the originally titled "Meat Puppets II" produced songs that ranged from slow acoustic ("Plateau") to country rock ("Lost") to psychedelic ("Aurora Borealis") to the hard rock fury of "Lake of Fire". The latter number employs various Biblical references as it takes aim at the Christian church, accusing it of using the fear of Hell to convert followers to its beliefs. The Lake of Fire in Revelation is seen as a place of after-life punishment.

The reference, in the question above, points to it being the "second death".

Answer: Special K

In Revelation 8: 1-5 we are introduced to the seven trumpets that are to be sounded, one at a time, to queue the events of the apocalypse. The song "Special K" appears on the 2000 album "Black Market Music" and delves into a hallucination fuelled by the drug ketamine, which has the street name "Special K". Placebo was formed in 1994 by their lead singer guitarist Brian Molko who has cultivated an androgynous on-stage persona and a lyrical style that is full of angst. Embraced by their mother England they have struggled to gain acceptance in the US.

Despite this they have sold in excess of ten million albums worldwide.

Answer: Def Leppard

Def Leppard spent three years putting "Hysteria" together. Despite the trials and tribulations they endured it proved to be worthwhile with the album reaching number one on the UK Top Forty charts and the US Billboard 200 charts. Produced by "Mutt" Lange and released in 1987 the album has sold in excess of twenty million copies for the band.
"Armageddon It" was the final track recorded for the album and the sixth single they released from it. It would go on to reach number three on Billboard's Hot 100. The B-Side (US release) is a cover of the Engelbert Humperdink song "Release Me".
The final battle between good and evil is the Battle of Armageddon. Revelation 16:16 is the only place in the New Testament that makes mention of the city of Armageddon.