Letters From A 70s Rock Band Trivia Quiz

Answer: Black Sabbath

Not only touted as the first heavy metal album, Black Sabbath's eponymous 1970 release also contained the track "Black Sabbath", which is considered by many to be the start of the doom metal scene. Aside from this track which opens the album, "Black Sabbath" also contains the track "N.I.B." which continues to be a Sabbath fan favourite well into the 2000s and a cover of Crow's "Evil Woman" (1969) which was also recorded in 1970 by Ike and Tina Turner, although they switched the gender to make the song "Evil Man".

"Paranoid" was also by Black Sabbath and also from 1970, released just seven months after "Black Sabbath" and built on the interest awakened by their debut, reaching number one in UK charts. "Moondance" (1970) was from Van Morrison, while "Fire And Water" (1970), containing the track, "All Right Now" was the album that put Free firmly on the map.

Answer: Long Live Rock 'N' Roll

Following "Long Live Rock 'N' Roll" (1978), Dio left the band and was replaced by Graham Bonnet, with whom Rainbow tasted chart success in USA and had their first top ten hits in UK. Stand out tracks on the album apart from the title track were "Kill The King", "Gates Of Babylon" and "L.A. Connection".

"Difficult To Cure" was a Rainbow album from 1981, which apart from Ritchie Blackmore saw none of the same musicians as "Long Live Rock 'N' Roll". "Excitable Boy" (1978) was from the great Warren Zevon and contained the track, "Werewolves Of London", while "Nightflight To Venus" was from the very non rocking, Boney M.

Answer: Fireball

Although vocalist, Ian Gillan is the only member of the band that felt "Fireball" (1971) was a good album, fans of the band rushed to buy it, after hearing its predecessor, "Deep Purple In Rock" (1970), giving the boys their first UK number one as well as hitting the top spot in Germany and Austria. It also spawned a coupe of UK top 20 hits on the singles charts with the title track reaching number 15 and "Strange Kind Of Woman" (1971) going all the way to number eight.

"Who Do We Think We Are" (1973) was also a Deep Purple album, and was the last album by the band to feature Ian Gillan and bass player Roger Glover until their 1984 reunion with the band.
"Argus" (1972) was the Wishbone Ash classic that featured tracks such as "The King Will Come", while T-Rex released "The Slider" in 1973, complete with the hit singles "Telegram Sam" and "Metal Guru".

Answer: Phenomenon

"Doctor Doctor" was released as a single from the 1974 album "Phenomenon" but failed to make any impact on the charts. However, when a live version, from the 1979 album, "Strangers In The Night" was released, the band had a UK top 40 hit on their hands.
"Phenomenon" is notable for the appearance of Michael Schenker, the incredibly talented German guitarist who was just 19 when this album came out and co wrote almost all of the tracks on the album, as well as playing some blistering guitar.

"Secret Treaties" was a 1974 album from Blue Oyster Cult and "Propaganda" (1974) was from the wonderful and often under rated Sparks

Answer: Damn The Torpedoes

"Damn The Torpedoes" (1979) was met with huge critical acclaim when it was released, and the high regard it was held in by the music press was matched by fans as the album climbed album charts, giving the band their biggest hit in both USA and Australia at that time, as well as going to number one in New Zealand. Apart from "Don't Do Me Like That" (1979), the album also provided the band with a further top 20 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 in USA, when "Refugee" (1980) climbed to number 15.

"Full Moon Fever" was Tom Petty's solo album from 1989 that spawned the hit single, "Free Fallin'" (1989) while "In Through The Out Door" (1979) was the final studio album from the mighty Led Zeppelin. "Labour Of Lust" was Nick Lowe's 1979 album that featured his hit single, "Cruel To Be Kind".

Answer: Billion Dollar Babies

"Billion Dollar Babies" (1973) with its subject matter of sexual harassment, on the track "Raped and Freezin'", dental phobia on "Unfinished Sweet" and necrophilia on "I Love The Dead" was far from the usual 70s rock album, but was bizarrely a typical Alice Cooper album. Quality musicianship, couple with controversy surrounding the band guaranteed sales and the album went to number one on album charts on both sides of the Atlantic, as well as in the Netherlands.

"Welcome To My Nightmare" was the Alice Cooper album from 1975 which featured the ballad, "Only Women Bleed" and "Cold Ethyl" which continued the necrophilia theme. "Brain Salad Surgery" was Emerson, Lake and Palmer's 1973 album that contained the track "Jerusalem" while "Flying Teapot" (1973) from prog rock band Gong was the second release from the newly formed Virgin record company, and was released on the same day as the first, "Tubular Bells" (1973) from Mike Oldfield, although it didn't sell anywhere near as well.

Answer: Let There Be Rock

"Let There Be Rock" (1977) was the final AC/DC album to feature bass player Mark Evans, who was replaced by Cliff Williams for 1978s "Powerage", but not before recording the aforementioned "Whole Lotta Rosie", as well as "Bad Boy Boogie" and "Hell Ain't A Bad Place To Be" all of which appear on this album.

"High Voltage" was also by AC/DC, being released in 1976 and featured the bagpipe rock of "It's a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll)", while "Street Survivors" (1977) was the album from Lynyrd Skynyrd that was released just three days before the terrible plane crash in which three of the band members died. "New Boots and Panties!!" was Ian Dury's 1977 debut album, containing tracks such as "Wake Up and Make Love with Me" and "I'm Partial to Your Abracadabra".

Answer: Road To Ruin

"Road To Ruin" (1978) also featured a great cover of "Needles And Pins", co written by Sonny Bono and a 1964 UK number one for the Searchers. The album didn't fare as well in the charts as its 1977 predecessor "Rocket To Russia" on the Billboard 200 in USA, although it was a top 40 hit on UK albums charts.

"Halfway To Sanity" was a 1987 album release from the Ramones, and the last to feature drummer Richie Ramone (Richard Reinhardt) who was replaced for the "Brain Drain" (1989) album by the returning Marky Ramone (Marc Bell) who had previously been the band's drummer between 1978 and 1983.
"Heavy Horses" was a 1978 album from Jethro Tull and "Easter" was also from 1978, released by the Patti Smith Group and containing "Because The Night", the song Smith co-wrote with Bruce Springsteen.

Answer: Tyranny and Mutation

Although not especially well received at the time, "Tyranny And Mutation" (1973) is now quite rightly seen as a classic. There are two distinct moods to the album, with side one, "the black" being full of swaggering rock such as "7 Screaming Diz-Busters" and "Hot Rails To Hell", while side two, "the red" showcases a more emotive side, especially evident in the piano melody of the side opener, "Baby Ice Dog".

"Agents Of Fortune" was the Blue Oyster Cult album of 1976 that featured their best known song, "(Don't Fear) The Reaper", while "A Wizard, A True Star" was Todd Rundgren's 1973 album, which continues to attract mixed reviews and "Vagabonds Of The Western World" (1973) was from Thin Lizzy and featured the future live show favourite, "The Rocker".

Answer: Born To Run

"Born To Run" (1975) may have only been Springsteen's third album, but what a body of work it is. From the album's iconic sleeve depicting Bruce leaning against saxophonist Clarence Clemons, to track after track of pure brilliance, this album has it all.

Although only the title track and "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out" (1975) were released as singles, there can't be many people who are not familiar with works such as "Thunder Road", "She's The One" or "Jungleland". "Born To Run" reached number three on the Billboard 200 on its release, and re-entered the charts again in 1980 and 1985, while in UK it originally peaked at number 36, but re-entered in 1985, climbing to number 17.