You know the bands we mean: the ones who play venues so big that all you can see is a tiny speck half a mile away, even though you paid £65 for a ticket. Their popularity is one reason why festivals have become so popular: it’s sometimes better to stand in a field with 20,000 like-minded folk than sit in row Z at Wembley Stadium or Old Trafford, staring enviously at the empty seats in the corporate enclosure. Anyway, these two sections contain five questions each about six of the world’s biggest bands, past and present: Fleetwood Mac, Queen, Muse, the Who, U2 and Led Zeppelin.
Answers: here
1 Fleetwood Mac started as a straight-up blues band under whose leadership? Who replaced him as guitarist and songwriter between 1971 and 1974, a relatively fruitless period in the group’s history?
2 Who stepped into Freddie Mercury’s shoes when Queen reformed in 2004? What’s the title of the only album he recorded with the band?
3 What’s the name of the three-part symphony that concludes Muse’s Resistance album? Which call to arms begins the record, and became the first Muse track to break into the American Top 40?
4 The Who were one of the first bands to play a concert at a football ground. At which London stadium did the group play to 80,000 fans in 1974 and 1976? What was notable about the second show?
5 U2’s Rattle and Hum was both a documentary film and an album, featuring new tracks, live tracks and covers. A live version of which Beatles song opens the album? And which track from the record became the band’s first British number one?
6 Who sued Led Zeppelin and was later given a co-writing credit for ‘Whole Lotta Love’, released on the band’s second album? Which other song by the same blues musician closes the album?
7 Taken from their debut album My Generation, what was the Who’s first UK Top 10 hit? The band never had a number one single but did twice reach number two, with ‘My Generation’ – and which song about a young lad who was dressed as a girl by his mother?
8 The title of Muse’s album Black Holes and Revelations comes from a line in the second track ‘Starlight’, but what kind of black hole lends its title to track three? And which six-minute epic closes the album?
9 Which two artists are credited alongside Queen on the Five Live EP, a British number one recorded at a tribute concert to Freddie Mercury in 1992?
10 Which 1987 album signalled U2’s step up from adored live band to global rock superstars, putting the band at the top of the US albums chart for the first time? Which photographer (and, later, film director) worked with U2 throughout the first half of their career and shot the album’s memorable cover in the California desert?
11 Which eight-minute song on Led Zeppelin’s Physical Graffiti is told by ‘a traveller of both time and space’? And which ten-minute opener to the band’s album Presence is not about the Trojan War, as the title might suggest, but was inspired by the poetry of William Blake and a range of hills in Morocco?
12 Which Queen song reached number one in the UK singles chart twice, in 1975 and 1991? Why was it reissued?
13 What’s the title of the US chart-topping live album recorded during their 1997 tour by the classic mid-seventies line-up of Fleetwood Mac? And what’s the name of the successful 2003 studio follow-up, recorded without Christine McVie?
14 ‘Drowning Man’, ‘Two Hearts Beat as One’ and ‘New Year’s Day’ are all tracks on which 1983 U2 album, their first to top the UK charts? What’s the opening track, a tough observation on the damage caused by the Irish troubles?
15 Which of Led Zeppelin’s albums has sold the most copies? What’s distinctive about its cover?
16 On the album Quadrophenia, each member of the Who has a ‘theme’ song. What are the songs designated as ‘Pete’s Theme’ (for Pete Townshend) and ‘Keith’s Theme’ (for Keith Moon)?
17 What was the first film soundtrack album to be released by Queen? And the songs for which film formed the basis for the group’s number one album A Kind of Magic?
18 Released in 1981, Bella Donna and Law and Order are the debut solo albums by which two members of Fleetwood Mac?
19 What’s the name of the post-traumatic disorder, through which victims of kidnapping develop a bond with their captors, that gave Muse the title of the lead single from their 2003 album Absolution? And what ‘scared the hell’ out of Matt Bellamy on the same album?
20 What are the two UK number one singles taken from U2’s 2004 album How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb?
21 Which track from Led Zeppelin’s 1973 album Houses of the Holy gave its name to a live album and film, released three years later? And which Zeppelin album features a track called ‘Houses of the Holy’, originally recorded for the album of the same name but not featured on it?
22 The name and the heartbeat of Fleetwood Mac comes from the rhythm section, consisting of which two musicians?
23 Which 16th-century composer’s work did Muse adapt into the title track of their 2015 album Drones? Which song, most famously recorded by Nina Simone, did the band cover on their earlier album Origin of Symmetry?
24 What’s the title of the studio album Queen released after Freddie Mercury’s death, using existing songs and vocal tracks the late singer had written and recorded? Where is the statue of Freddie Mercury that features on the cover?
25 The successful use of the Who’s ‘Who Are You’ as the theme tune to the American forensic procedural drama CSI: Crime Scene Investigation led to two more Who tracks, both from the album Who’s Next, being used for the spin-off series, CSI: Miami and CSI: NY. What are they?
26 Under what name did U2 and Brian Eno join forces to release their 1995 album Original Soundtracks 1, a series of songs for mostly imaginary films? Recorded for a documentary produced by Bono, which song from the album features an operatic segment sung by Luciano Pavarotti?
27 Through which door did Led Zeppelin arrive on their 1979 album, the band’s last before John Bonham’s death? What was the title of the aptly named album released three years later, two years after the group had disbanded?
28 What was the contrast between love and lies that gave Fleetwood Mac two hit singles from their 1987 album Tango in the Night?
29 What’s the title of Muse’s 1999 debut album? On which Australian label was the album distributed in the UK?
30 Who replaced Keith Moon as the drummer in the Who? And which son of a famous drummer stepped in when the band started playing live again in 1999?