Rolling Stone's 500 "Greatest Albums" Part 3 Quiz

Answer: Wings

The double CD by Lambert came in 2016 in the aftermath of her divorce from Blake Shelton. Several of the tracks, in this context, appear taken from that traumatic period.

Born and raised in Texas, Lambert was exposed to country music in childhood - she was taken to a Garth Brooks concert at the age of nine, and began her singing career in a high school band.

In 2003, she finished third in "Nashville Star", a country music version of "American Idol." Her debut album "Kerosene", was number one with a bullet on the Billboard country chart in 2005. The next five albums also topped the country charts. In 2010, "The House That Built Me", a Blake Shelton song, became her first country number one single. It was also a Grammy winner.

Answer: Amor

Selena Quintanilla-Pérez died tragically young in 1995 at the age of 23 when she was shot dead by the president of her own fan club. "Amor Prohibido" ("Forbidden Love") was released in 1994 and became one of the best selling Latin albums ever.

Selena was born in Texas, where her father had a family band. Though raised to speak English, her father taught her to sing in Spanish. By the age of 10, she was the lead singer in the band.

As her commercial career took off, she was known as the "Queen of Tejano"; some people also named her the 'Mexican Madonna' after the costumes she wore. Her music took her from playing weddings with the family band to concerts in New York and throughout Latin America.

Released posthumously, her fourth album "Dreaming Of You", topped the Billboard 200 album chart. in 1995,. the first predominantly Spanish-language album to do so.

Answer: Else

In the 1960s, The Kinks were one of the many Beatles rivals around and Ray Davies was a much-lauded songwriter. Despite tracks such as "Waterloo Sunset", in 1967 "Something Else By The Kinks" (aka "Something Else") was a commercial failure and almost broke the band. "Waterloo Sunset" was a UK number two single.

The Kinks were built around the brothers Ray and Dave Davies but despite the longevity of the band - 30 years - they did not get on. In 2014, Gavin Edwards wrote in "Rolling Stone" that the brothers "spent decades at war, getting on about as well as Cain and Abel." It was not the only internal tension in the band

In 1965 they were part of the 'British Invasion' of the USA, but had a spectacular falling out with the Musicians' Union, which blacklisted them. By 1997 the band had quit, although there was some hesitant talk of getting together and a new album. (By that time two key members had died, in any case).

Over the years from 1964, The Kinks had 12 UK top ten singles, three at number one.

Answer: Moanin'

"Moanin' In The Moonlight" was released in 1959 and featured the trademark vocal sound of Wolf. This debut album also had "some of the meanest electric blues ever heard", in the view of "Rolling Stone".

Born in Mississippi in 1910, Chester Arthur Burnett became a leader of what was known as 'the urban blues style' coming out of Chicago. His music was steeped in the traditions he had heard growing up on a cotton plantation.

While he was accomplished on harmonica and guitar, Wolf was noted for a guttural and emotionally suggestive singing style. His music was steeped in the blues, and might have stayed in that tight circle had it not been taken on as an influence by bands that followed, including The Rolling Stones.

Answer: Kimono

Once heard and seen, never forgotten: Sparks was the duo of brothers Russell and Ron Mael. Russell, with his clipped delivery, had a voice to be remembered, while the expressionless face of Ron, initially with its Chaplin-esque moustache, lorded it over the keyboards.

Hailing out of Los Angeles, as Halfnelson their first album flopped, and a new identity was suggested by Albert Grossman, Bob Dylan's manager. So, they became Sparks.

Early performances in LA were not encouraging but it was during a UK tour in 1973 that the brothers attracted the attention of Island Records and "Kimono My House", their third album, was to provide a breakthrough. Ron Mael told the "Irish Times" in 2020: "It was bizarre that we were playing the same songs in the UK venues as we were in the US, but it was a 180-degree turn from what we were experiencing."

The band's best chart performances have been in the UK, where "This Town Ain't Big Enough for Both of Us" reached number two on the single charts in 1974. It was taken from the 1974 album "Kimono My House".

Forty years after the first performances, Sparks were still going strong, and, no, Ron Mael told the "Irish Times", unlike some band-mate siblings, they had never fallen out.

(This quiz author was a big fan of this album, which tragically went missing in action during a house move.)

Answer: Sheryl

The trouble with eponymous albums is that they are so easy to guess in missing words quizzes.

A degree in classical music, singing jingles for a fast-food franchise and back up to the likes of Michael Jackson, George Harrison and Joe Cocker were steps along the way for Missouri-born Crow before she started her own solo singing carer. She was 31 then and an early experience was opening for The Eagles (aka Eagles) in 1994.

Self-produced, "Sheryl Crow" was her second album. Released in 1996, it reached number six on the Billboard 200. It won her one of her eight Grammys. Ten of her albums reached the top 30.

Answer: #1

Number 1 record" in the studio but 474 on this chart for Big Star. Hailing out of Memphis, Tennessee, the band was built around the duo of Alex Chilton and Chris Bell, who brought together British influences with the American rock they had grown up with.

Bell left the band in 1972 and died in a car crash at the age of 27. By 1974, their first incarnation was over and the band members split up. It reformed in 1993, but Chilton died in 2010. Another member, Andy Hummel, died that same year.
"#1 Record" was the first of four studio albums and the band also released seven live albums.

Answer: Barrio

In 2004, "Barrio Fino" became the first international hit of Daddy Yankee, a Puerto Rican rapper and songwriter. Born Ramon Ayala, he started to make up his own songs at the age of 11. It is claimed he was behind the term "reggaetón" to describe the mixture of styles that were fusing in Puerto Rico in the 1990s.

"Barrio Fino" reached number 26 on the Billboard 200 and topped the Billboard Latin charts

Answer: Ctrl

As a debut album, the 2017 outing "Ctrl" by SZA had some adult themes. Writing in the "Guardian" newspaper, Rebecca Nicholson called it "one of the most inventive and intimate records of the year". It shot into the Billboard 200 at number three.

Solána Imani Rowe was born in Missouri but raised in New Jersey. She started recording in 2011 and also wrote songs for Beyoncé, Nicki Minaj and Rihanna.

However, after "Ctrl", things became muddy for SZA. She was unhappy with her record label, which she felt was holding up releases of new trials.

Answer: Surrealistic

In 1967, Jefferson Airplane released "Surrealistic Pillow", a record that got people talking. Formed in 1965 in San Francisco, by 1967 Jefferson Airship comprised the band members Paul Kantner, Grace Slick, Marty Balin, Jorma Kaukonen, Jack Casady, and Spencer Dryden. Others were to come and go before the Airship touched and closed down their engines in 1984 - they had become Jefferson Starship somewhere along the route.

"Surrealistic Pillow" was their second LP. It was, according to "Rolling Stone", an "artful compound of modal folk minstrelsy and electric acid beat."

Grace Slick had not been the first lead singer, that was Signe Anderson, but it was her voice that came to be associated with the Airship sound. The album created a stir and reached number three on the Billboard 200. The best known singles from the track listing, "Somebody To Love" and "White Rabbit", reached the top ten of the Hot 100.