Rock and Write Trivia Quiz

Answer: Hallowed Be Thy Name

English heavy metal band Iron Maiden have been around since 1975, though their debut album was released in 1980. "Hallowed Be Thy Name", from their 1982 album "The Number of the Beast" (the first with vocalist Bruce Dickinson), relates the last thoughts of a man sentenced to die. "Brave New World" is based on the novel by Aldous Huxley, "Murders in the Rue Morgue" on the short story by Edgar Allan Poe, and "To Tame a Land" on Frank Herbert' seminal sci-fi novel "Dune".

Answer: H.P. Lovecraft

Published in 1919, "Beyond the Wall of Sleep" is one of the many short stories written by American cult author H.P. Lovecraft, one of the most influential writers of horror and science fiction of the past century. Black Sabbath's eponymous debut album, released in 1970, is widely considered the first heavy metal album.

Edgar Allan Poe, Ambrose Bierce and Stephen King are all American writers well known for their work in the field of weird fiction. Poe and Bierce lived in the 19th century, while King is still living.

Answer: Mastodon

Hailing from Atlanta (Georgia), Mastodon have won critical acclaim for the originality of their sound. Their second album, "Leviathan" (2004), is loosely based on Melville's novel, with songs such as "Iron Tusk", "Seabeast" and "I Am Ahab", and stunning cover artwork depicting the mythical white whale. "Moby-Dick", published in 1851, is considered one of the masterpieces of American literature.

The remaining three choices are also US-based metal bands.

Answer: Ulysses

"The Sensual World" was inspired by Molly Bloom's stream-of-consciousness soliloquy in the final 40 pages of James Joyce's monumental retelling of Homer's "Odyssey". The novel, published in 1922 and set in Joyce's home town of Dublin, describes the events of a day (June 16, 1904) in the life of advertising agent Leopold Bloom. Its 18 episodes are all named after places and characters in Homer's epic poem.

The other three choices are all important English novels written in the early 20th century: "Sons and Lovers" by D.H. Lawrence, "Nostromo" by Joseph Conrad, and "To the Lighthouse" by Virginia Woolf.

Answer: The Cure

Set in North Africa (where the author himself was born), Albert Camus's existentialist novel "The Stranger", was published in 1942. "Killing an Arab" was released as a single at the end of 1978, and later included in the US edition of The Cure's debut album, "Three Imaginary Boys".

The remaining three choices are all English post-punk/new wave bands, formed towards the end of the Seventies.

Answer: King Crimson and The Police

Both songs date back from the early 1980s. King Crimson's sublime instrumental "The Sheltering Sky" was included on their 1981 comeback album, "Discipline", while The Police's "Tea in the Sahara" appeared on their final album, "Synchronicity" (1983). In 1990, Bowles's novel was adapted by Italian director Bernardo Bertolucci, and won several awards.

The other choices are all successful English bands of the Seventies and Eighties.

Answer: Camel

Camel were formed in 1971 in Guildford (UK), and are still active. Though not as commercially successful as the likes of Genesis, Yes or ELP, their elegant, melodic sound has won them a loyal following. The nine-minute "Nimrodel/The White Rider" appeared on Camel's second album, "Mirage", released in 1974.

Caravan and Gentle Giant are also first-generation progressive rock bands, while Marillion, who belong to the movement's second wave (also known as neo-prog), took their name from Tolkien's posthumous book "The Silmarillion".

Answer: Michael Moorcock

British author Michael Moorcock wrote most of the Elric stories in the Seventies. A very untypical fantasy hero, Elric is an albino, drug-addicted prince and sorcerer whose black sword, Stormbringer, steals the souls of the people it kills. "Black Blade" opens BOC's 1980 album "Cultosaurus Erectus". Moorcock wrote the lyrics to two more BOC songs, "The Great Sun Jester" and "Veteran of the Psychic Wars"; he also collaborated with English space rock outfit Hawkwind.

The other three choices are also contemporary British fantasy authors.

Answer: The Cinema Show

Featured on Genesis' fifth studio album, "Selling England by the Pound" (1974), "The Cinema Show" was based on the the episode of the typist and the clerk (narrated by the blind prophet Tyresias) in "The Fire Sermon", the third part of Eliot's influential 1921 poem.

The remaining choices are all famous Genesis songs from the band's Peter Gabriel years.

Answer: Kubla Khan

Rush's "Xanadu" appeared on their 1977 album "A Farewell to Kings", while Frankie Goes to Hollywood's "Welcome to the Pleasuredome" is the title-track of their 1985 album. "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" was put into music by Iron Maiden, and can be found on their 1984 album "Powerslave".

"Christabel" and "Frost at Midnight" were also written by Coleridge, who, together with William Wordsworth, published "Lyrical Ballads" in 1798.