Joe Satriani Mega-Quiz

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. Joe Satriani's very first solo recording was a self-titled EP, with a very limited release and consisting of five songs. Four of them were eventually re-released in his "Time Machine" album, except for one, due to its master tape being damaged. Choose it from the options below. Did I leave you speechless? What is the name of that song?

Answer: Talk To Me

Needless to say, the song is very hard to find nowadays. However, there are a couple of unofficial recordings uploaded on the Internet, probably by people who own the EP.

2. Let's get on to Joe Satriani's long solo career, which started with the release of "Not Of This Earth". When was it released?

Answer: 1986

It may not contain many of his most famous songs, but it still achieved some success. One distinctive aspect of this album is that all drum parts were played on an electronic kit, instead of an acoustic.

3. The next year, Satriani released what was to be his most successful work, "Surfing With The Alien". One particular song, which is one of his most famous, later became a nickname for him (part of the song title, actually). What is this song called?

Answer: Satch Boogie

You will often see Satriani being refered to as Satch, because of this song. According to the man himself, this was composed while he was bedridden with a neck injury after a car accident.

4. Satriani's next album, 1989's "Flying in a Blue Dream", was the first in his discography to include a rare feature in some of the songs. What would that be?

Answer: Vocal songs, sung by Satriani himself

Only four of his solo LPs contain vocal songs so far, all of them sung by Satriani. Besides this one, which features six of them, he sings in one track in "Time Machine", one in his self-titled album, and two in "Is There Love in Space?".

5. "The Extremist", Joe Satriani's 1992 effort, was perhaps his most commercially successful album. Part of its success was due to one of the singles being used in a Sony Walkman ad. What song was it? It certainly brings the heat every time it's played.

Answer: Summer Song

It seems that Sony really liked this tune. Besides the Walkman commercial, they used the song in two PlayStation games: "Formula 1", in 1996, and "Gran Turismo 4" in 2004.

Starting from this album, Satriani aimed more towards a melodic style of playing, with not as much shredding as before, which shows in two other singles of this LP, "Friends" and "Cryin'"

6. In 1993, Satriani released "Time Machine", a double CD featuring a set of b-sides, outtakes and rarities in one of them, and live recordings in the second. We'll focus on the first one, especially on "Speed Of Light" This cheerful tune was featured in the soundtrack of a rather loathed film based on a classic NES video game. What was that movie/video game?

Answer: Super Mario Bros

The song was an outtake from the "Extremist" sessions. It is played in a scene where Mario and some girls escape the bad guys by sliding through a frozen pipe.

7. In Joe Satriani's 1995 self-titled release, one song's name references this northern African country, which is also known for being the setting of a famous 1942 movie.

Answer: Morocco

"Moroccan Sunset" is the eight track in the album, and it's a very fine example of Joe's bluesy play, with some Arabic sounding passages.
As for the movie reference, I was talking about "Casablanca", which is the largest city in Morocco. There is no connection between the movie and Satriani's song whatsoever.

8. Which classic band did Satriani join during the 90s for a short time?

Answer: Deep Purple

Deep Purple called Satriani to fill in for Ritchie Blackmore, who quit the band in the middle of their tour. He was offered to join the band permanently, but he declined in order to keep focusing on his solo career. His place was filled in by Steve Morse, who remains in the lineup as of when this quiz was written.

9. 1996 saw the first installment of this world tour founded by the man himself. It features a lineup of three guitarists that jam together after each one plays a solo set. What is it called?

Answer: G3

This tour saw Satriani play with other respected guitarists such as Steve Vai, Steve Morse, Eric Johnson, Yngwie Malmsteen, John Petrucci, and many others.
Some of the concerts were edited on CD.

10. Satriani came back to the studio in 1998, when he released "Crystal Planet". Which of the following songs is NOT featured in the album?

Answer: Back to Shalla-Bal

"Back To Shalla-Bal" is included in "Flying in a Blue Dream"

This album also features collaborations by Joe's son in three songs.

11. Next release, 2000 "Engines of Creation", saw Satriani's most unique experiments by mixing rock music with which other genre?

Answer: Electronic / Techno

This album is the subject of mixed reviews from its listeners. Some of them praise its experimental style, while others criticize its departure from the shredding style of his early releases.
Personally, it's far from the top of my list, but it still contains some interesting moments, such as the title track, "Devil's Slide", and "Champagne"

12. Joe went back to the standard rock beats in the follow up "Strange Beautiful Music". This one has a weird and unique feature compared to most of his other work, not related to the music in itself. What would that be?

Answer: It doesn't contain a song named after the album title

Weird fact, but true: almost all of his albums contain a song that shares its title. Besides this one, the only other exception would be his 1995 self-titled album.
This is also true, albeit partially, in "Professor Satchafunkilus and the Musterion of Rock", which contains the songs "Professor Satchafunkilus" and "Musterion", and in "Black Swans and Wormhole Wizards", which features a track named "Wormhole Wizards".

13. In 2004's "Is There Love In Space?", we can find the song "If I Could Fly", which was the subject of a controversy when Satriani sued a famous British band for plagiarizing "substantial original portions" of it. What was the band that got into such "trouble"?

Answer: Coldplay

Although I hinted the correct answer by the word "Trouble", which is the title for one of their songs, the controversy focused on "Viva la Vida" from their 2008 album of the same name.

However, as much as I'm a fan of Satriani, I always thought this lawsuit was completely uncalled for: both songs sound similar in structure and melody, but not as much as to call it plagiarism. In fact, if you listen to the 2002 song "Frances Limon" by the Argentinian rock band Enanitos Verdes, you'll also notice similarities with the aforementioned tracks, and they never sued anybody!

14. Satriani's next album, "Super Colossal", closes with a fun little number. In this song, he plays a short guitar lick, and the audience is prompted to sing that same melody out loud right after. Quite an interesting moment in the live shows! What's the name of this song?

Answer: Crowd Chant

Even if you haven't heard the song before, the title was pretty self-explanatory :)

The song is not really a favorite amongst Joe's fans, but it's used as a celebration theme by several American sport teams when they score.

On a side note, it was originally going to be called "Party on the Enterprise", and was to include sound samples from "Star Trek", but he never got the legal rights to use such samples.

15. The next album, "Professor Satchafunkilus and the Musterion of Rock" (phew!), features a song inspired by (and I guess dedicated to) Asik Veysel, a poet and songwriter who was a prominent folk figure of this Euro-Asian country.

Answer: Turkey

He was born Veysel Satiroglu, with "Asik" coming from the word "ashik", which refers to a traditional Turkish folk figure of a poet who would recitate his works accompanied by a long necked lute called baglama.
Satriani happened to get in touch with some of his work and therefore wrote a song inspired by him.
In some of the album printings, the name is mispelled as "Asik VAYSEL".

16. And so we get to "Black Swans and Wormhole Wizards". What "colorful" song belongs to this album?

Answer: The Golden Room

"The Golden Room" is one of the most mesmerizing tunes by Satriani. It features tribal percussion in the background and mixes heavy riffs, subtle keyboard lines and several melodic solos. It's my favorite off this album.
Of the other options, "Red House" is by Jimi Hendrix, "Orange Crush" by REM, and "The Green Door" by Jim Lowe.

17. What song did Joe release as a promotional preview of his following album, "Unstoppable Momentum"? Its title somehow evokes one of his previous hits.

Answer: A Door Into Summer

Another of his feelgood songs, "A Door Into Summer" was supposedly the working title for his former hit "Summer Song", as stated in an interview.

18. On Joe Satriani's 2015 album, "Shockwave Supernova", he includes a reworked version of a previous song which was called "Clouds Race Across The Sky". However, he replaced the clouds with which other celestial object?

Answer: Stars

"Clouds..." was originally released in "Engines of Creation". "Stars..." is sort of an updated version, replacing the electronic beats with an acoustic drum and adding some piano sections. On what I consider to be one of his least impressive efforts, this song is one of the highlights.

19. For his 2018 release, "What Happens Next", I'll make you pick the song that does NOT appear in this album. Wake up, we're almost done here!

Answer: Dream Song

"Dream Song" is the second track in "Black Swans and Wormhole Wizards". I think it would fit this album quite nicely though, as it has a slow pace and a straightforward approach, much like the majority of the song in it. As Satriani put it, he wanted to go back to a simpler sound, "pure rock and soul"

20. In April 2020, Satriani released "Shapeshifting". What is the name of the first single released off it? You might want to think back to the beginning of his career.

Answer: Nineteen Eighty

"Shapeshifting", Joe's 18th album, was released on April 10th, 2020. The first single and video premiered on February.
A second song, "Big Distortion", premiered on March 24, 2020.

Source: Author Gispepfu

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

Welcome to my Joe Satriani quiz! I will cover most of his discography in the following questions. Some of the questions might be a little tricky if you don't know the man or his works too much! Hope you enjoy it.

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