More Songs About Crime Trivia Quiz

Answer: Maxwell

"Bang bang Maxwell's silver hammer came down on his head. Bang bang Maxwell's silver hammer made sure he was dead."

"Maxwell's Silver Hammer" has a catchy beat and happy sounding music, but the lyrics are, well, not too happy. Paul McCartney wrote it and wanted it on the "White Album." The rest of the Beatles decided it was even worse than "Revolution 9" and "Wild Honey Pie," so they kept it off the album. However, it ended up their album "Abbey Road," which has sold over 30 million copies worldwide.

Answer: Blaze of Glory

"I'm what Cain was to Abel, Mr. Catch-Me-If-You-Can."

Cain was Abel's murderer, therefore if you're what Cain was to Abel, you'd be a murderer.

Bon Jovi wrote this song because Emilio Estevez asked him if he could use "Wanted Dead or Alive" for the movie "Young Guns 2." Bon Jovi refused, because "Wanted Dead or Alive" is really about life as a touring band, not really a song about crime. Instead, Bon Jovi wrote "Blaze of Glory" specifically for the movie.

"Blaze of Glory" was a number one hit in the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, and it charted in the top 20 in several other places.

Answer: I Shot the Sheriff

"I Shot the Sheriff" is about a man who's been accused of murdering a deputy. The man insists the he shot the sheriff, but it was only in self-defense and he didn't kill the deputy. We never find out whether or not the narrator was telling the truth.

"I Shot the Sheriff" was written by Bob Marley, who released it in 1973. Eric Clapton then covered in in 1974. Clapton's version went to the top of the charts in the United States, Canada, and New Zealand, and it charted in the top five in Germany, the Netherlands, and Norway.

Answer: Another One Bites The Dust

Despite the catchy bass riff and the upbeat-sounding music, "Another One Bites the Dust" is not a happy song.

In the first verse, the narrator kills a man named Steve because he doesn't like the way he wears his hat. In the second verse, he kills his ex-girlfriend because she was a gold digger. The third verse mentions beating a man then killing him. "Biting the dust" is a synonym for dying.

"Another One Bites the Dust" was a number one hit in the United States, Spain, Israel, and Canada, and it charted in many other places as well.

Answer: Bank robber

The narrator of "Bankrobber" doesn't believe his father was a bad man. After all, he never hurt anybody. All he did was steal money; that's not so bad says the narrator. One of the more interesting lyrics I've ever heard is "A lifetime serving one machine is ten times worse than prison." So the "old man" who the narrator overheard thinks working a job your whole life, just serving people and fueling capitalism and not doing what you really want, is worse than spending a small amount of time in prison.

The Clash are one of the few bands to mix punk music with other styles of music (such as reggae and jazz); most punk bands just did punk music. CBS once called them "The only band that matters," a slogan that has been embraced by many fans of the band (but not the band itself). They were inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2003.

Answer: Psycho Killer

The Talking Heads barely made it onto "Rolling Stone's" 2011 list of 100 greatest artists of all-time (they are number 100 on that list). They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2002 and three of their songs are on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame;s list of 500 songs that shaped rock and roll. "Psycho Killer" is one of them. The other two are "Life During Wartime" and "Once in a Lifetime."

Answer: Disarm

This popular song by the Smashing Pumpkins is controversial and was banned in some places because of lyrics like "Cut that little child" and "The killer in me is the killer in you." Despite the bans, it was a top 20 hit in the UK, Canada, and New Zealand. Billy Corgan said in an interview:

"It's about chopping off somebody's arms. The reason I wrote Disarm was because, I didn't have the guts to kill my parents, so I thought I'd get back at them through song. And rather then have an angry, angry, angry violent song I'd thought I'd write something beautiful and make them realize what tender feelings I have in my heart, and make them feel really bad for treating me (badly)."

Answer: Hide Your Heart

"Hide Your Heart" is a story about a man named Johnny who sees a woman named Rosa and he starts talking to her. What Johnny doesn't know is that Rosa not only already had a boyfriend named Tito, but also that boyfriend was a bad man who was easily jealous. People saw Rosa and Johnny together and "The word went out that Rosa was messing with someone." Then Tito decided to seek and kill Johnny. Even though Rosa looked Johnny in the eye and said they couldn't meet again, apparently she didn't mean that, because in the final verse, Johnny and Rosa are together on a rooftop. Tito finds them there, they don't hear him coming until it's too late, and Tito shoots and kills Johnny.

The song's title and chorus is the moral of the story. If you're a man who desires a beautiful woman but she tells you that they can't meet again, or if you're a woman and you see a handsome man but you already have a boyfriend, keep your desires to yourself or bad things will happen.

"Hide Your Heart" was written by Paul Stanley and Desmond Child. It was actually recorded and released by several other artists before KISS released their version on "Hot in the Shade." These artists include Bonnie Tyler, Robin Beck, Molly Hatchet, and even former KISS guitarist Ace Frehley, who released it on his solo album "Trouble Walkin'" one week before KISS released "Hot in the Shade."

Answer: Ramones

The Ramones released their first album in 1976, which had a song called "Beat on the Brat." The Ramones have influenced many bands, including Pearl Jam, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, the Foo Fighters, the Offspring, Green Day, and Rancid. They were inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2002.

Answer: Ezekiel 7 and the Permanent Efficacy of Grace

In 2009, the Mountain Goats released the album "Life of the World to Come," on which all of the song titles are Bible verses. However, none of the songs are really about the Bible; they are all stories, some true and some fictional, that are similar to the Bible verse in the title. For the album's final song, excluding bonus tracks on some versions of the album, one might not guess it from the lyrics, but the Mountain Goats played it live often in 2012, and John Darnielle usually says before the song that it's a song about a man torturing another man to death.

Actually, the biggest hint of murder in the song is not in the lyrics, it's at the very end of the song, when after all the other music has stopped, drummer Jon Wurster continues playing drums like a heartbeat that gets slower and slower and then finally stops.