Band Names and TLAs (Three Letter Acronyms) Online Quiz | Music

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. This band, from the Long Island, NY area, is famous for the songs, "Don't Fear the Reaper", "Godzilla" and "Burnin' for You". Using the name Soft White Underbelly in its early days, this band is now known with which initials?

Answer: BOC

Blue Oyster Cult formed in 1967 in the Stony Brook University area of Long Island. Using the name Soft White Underbelly originally, a bad review of one of their early concerts prompted their manager to urge them to seek out a new name, settling finally, in 1971 on Blue Oyster Cult. They went platinum in 1976 with their album "Agents of Fortune".

The other, incorrect, choices might stand for:
BJT - Bipolar Junction Transistor (a common solid state device)
DOA - Dead on Arrival
DMC - DeLorean Motor Company (famous for their model DMC-12 which was used in the movie "Back to the Future")

2. Formed by a former member of The Guess Who, this Canadian band is well known for its 1970s hits, "Let It Ride", "You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet", and "Takin' Care of Business". Using some of the band members' surnames for naming themselves, by what initials does the band go?

Answer: BTO

Bachman-Turner Overdrive was formed by Randy Bachman (guitar/vocals), his brothers Tim (guitar) and Robbie (drums) along with Fred Turner (bass/vocals) from the remnants of the short-lived band Brave Belt.

BTO broke up and reformed many times over the past 40 years or so. In 2009, members Bachman and Turner linked up in 2010 to release the album "Bachman & Turner".

The other, incorrect, choices might stand for:
ATC - Air Traffic Control
BMI - Body Mass Index (a measure of personal fat content)
HMO - Health Maintenance Organization (a form of medical insurance)

3. A funk/R&B band from Scotland had a series of soul and disco hits between 1974 and 1980. Best known for their number one, and mostly instrumental hit, "Pick Up the Pieces". What abbreviated name would this band use?

Answer: AWB

The Average White Band is a band from Scotland. They were quite popular in the 1970s with a number one US, number ten UK pop song, "Pick Up the Pieces" (1974). They also scored with a number ten US and number 31 UK pop song, "Cut the Cake" (1975).

The other incorrect choices might stand for:
AMG - Mercedes-AMG (a subsidiary of Mercedes-Benz specializing in high-performance luxury cars)
TWA - Trans World Airlines (defunct US airline, operated 1930 - 2001)
KGB - Komitet gosudarstvennoy bezopasnosti (the Russian Commission for State Security)

4. This Birmingham-based music group with an expansive, orchestral sound, formed in 1970 and went on to release dozens of singles including "Evil Woman", "Strange Magic" and "Livin' Thing". With what three-letter name are they best known?

Answer: ELO

The Electric Light Orchestra was an idea by guitarist, vocalist and songwriter Roy Wood who invited Jeff Lynne to join him in the late 1960s to form a new kind of sound to include orchestral instruments such as violins and horns. By the early 1970s, Wood had left the band, leaving it in the capable hands of Lynne. ELO's many hits in the 1970s and early 1980s included "Telephone Line", "Turn to Stone" and "Don't Bring Me Down/Midnight Blue".

The other, incorrect, choices might stand for:
ERP - Effective Radiated Power (a measure of a radio signal's strength)
BLT - "Bacon Lettuce and Tomato" sandwich
NGO - Non-governmental Organization

5. One of the most successful progressive rock bands of all time was formed in the late 1960s from members of The Nice, King Crimson and Atomic Rooster. Known for including lots of classical music in their repertoire and for the hits "Lucky Man" and "From the Beginning", which three-piece band band, with the three-letter name, is this?

Answer: ELP

The band is Emerson, Lake and Palmer, of course. The band consisted of Keith Emerson, keyboards (The Nice), Greg Lake, vocals and bass (King Crimson) and Carl Palmer, drums (Atomic Rooster). When they were first putting the group together, they considered having Jimi Hendrix as part of their lineup, generating the speculation that they'd be known as "HELP", but Jimi died before the hope was realized.

Their classically-inspired works include their debut album's "The Barbarian" (Bela Bartok) and "Knife-Edge" (Leos Janacek & J. S. Bach) and especially their 1977 arrangement of "Fanfare for the Common Man" (Aaron Copland).

The other, incorrect, choices might stand for:
EMF - Electromotive Force (basically a fancy name for electrical voltage)
KLM - Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij (literally, Royal Aviation Company or more commonly, Royal Dutch Airlines)
GDP - Gross Domestic Product (a measure of a country's economic activity)

6. Founded in 1978 in England, this synth-pop group's classic lineup are members Andy McCluskey, Paul Humphreys, Malcolm Holmes and Martin Cooper. Better known in Europe than in the US, the band had several minor hits, such as 1980's "Enola Gay" from the album, "Organisation". What initials below does this band use?

Answer: OMD

Orchestral Manuoevers in the Dark, historically, has done fairly well in Europe (especially the UK and Germany) with several top-ten singles and albums. In the US, the single, "If You Leave" from the soundtrack to "Pretty In Pink" was their biggest hit, reaching number four.

The other, incorrect, choices might stand for:
OSS - Office of Strategic Services (precursor to the American CIA)
EMP - Electromagnetic Pulse (an effect of a - usually nuclear - detonation)
LSD - Lysergic Acid Diethylamide (a hallucinogenic drug)

7. This six-time Grammy Award-winning funk and R&B band from Chicago was formed in 1969 by Verdine and Maurice White. Big hits include 1975's "Shining Star" and "That's the Way of the World" and 1978's "Got to Get You into My Life" and "September". What shortened band name is this?

Answer: EWF

A member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Earth Wind and Fire features a unique horn presence in much of its music, music which is made up of elements of pop, rock, jazz, African, Latin American, funk, and soul.

The other, incorrect, choices might stand for:
EVA - Extra-vehicular Activity (fancy name for a space walk)
GWB - George W. Bush (43rd president of the US)
UHF - Ultra High Frequency (a range of radio waves between 300 MHz and 3 GHz)

8. Reaching peak success in 1969-1970, this swamp (or bayou) rock band featured the songwriting of John Fogerty. With hits such as "Bad Moon Rising" and "Susie Q", what is the abbreviated name of this San Francisco Bay area band?

Answer: CCR

Creedence Clearwater Revival formed in the late 1960s by brothers John Fogerty (guitars, lead vocals, primary songwriter), and Tom Fogerty (guitars and vocals) plus Stu Cook (bass), and Doug Clifford (drums). Other hits included 1969's "Proud Mary" and "Down on the Corner" and 1970's "Travelin' Band", "Up Around the Bend" and "Lookin' out my Back Door".

The other, incorrect, choices might stand for:
CRT - Cathode Ray Tube (a video display)
OCS - Officers Candidate School (institution which train personnel leading to commissions as officers in the armed forces)
IFR - Instrument Flight Rules (regulations and procedures for flying aircraft using only aircraft instruments for navigation)

9. This California band was formed in in the late 1980s and is famous for "Welcome to the Jungle" and their number one hit, "Sweet Child o' Mine". Its controversial lead singer's surname is part of the band's name. What three-letter acronym do they often go by?

Answer: GNR

Axl Rose and Tracii Guns used their names to create the band name, Guns N' Roses, at the band's beginning. Tracii Guns left after only a few sessions, but the band name stuck. GNR's 1987 debut album, "Appetite for Destruction", has sold more than 28 million copies worldwide. It is also the highest selling debut album of all time in the US and worldwide.

The other, incorrect, choices might stand for:
GPS - Global Positioning System
SNL - Saturday Night Live (a long running NBC comedy show)
BER - Bit Error Rate (a measure of the reliability of digital data transfer)

10. This American rock band formed in the late 1980s, releasing their debut album, "Core" in 1992, which featured hits "Plush" and "Sex Type Thing". Their subsequent album, 1994s "Purple", reached number one US and number ten UK and featured "Interstate Love Song" and "Creep". With which initials does this band often get referred?

Answer: STP

The band Stone Temple Pilots had its roots in the 1986 chance meeting between band members Scott Weiland and Robert DeLeo, who originally named their band Mighty Joe Young. After finding out the name was already being used by a blues player, and liking the initials STP, they eventually settled on the name Stone Temple Pilots.

The other, incorrect, choices might stand for:
SDI - Strategic Defense Initiative (aka Star Wars under US President Reagan)
SMS - Short Messaging System (text messages)
SAE - Society of Automotive Engineers (professional organization for engineers in automotive and related fields)

Source: Author mike32768

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor ralzzz before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.

Band Names and TLAs (Three Letter Acronyms) Quiz

Many bands are also known by their initials. The bands in this quiz all commonly use a TLA (three letter acronym) to identify themselves. See if you can figure them out.

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