Another two-part quiz. Part one takes on a variety of topics relating to musicians, their equipment and the process of making a record. Part two, by contrast, is a quick quiz about transient, pointless but often commercially lucrative music awards. As usual, there are 15 questions in each section.
Answers: here
1 Who was the drummer in the Beatles from 1960 to 1962, leaving before Beatlemania? With which band did Chad Channing have a similar experience, vacating the drummer’s seat before his bandmates made it big?
2 Which session drummer, briefly a member of the Joe Meek-produced band the Tornados, played on no fewer than 44 UK number one singles? Which up-and-coming-at-the-time actor-presenter, now a huge star, played him in Telstar, a film about Meek’s career?
3 Which fashion designer pioneered the punk look in the seventies? Which band was apparently ‘invented’ in 1980 by Malcolm McLaren partly to promote her fashions?
4 A mix tape was the term originally given to a home-made cassette (or, later, a CD) that one might make for a friend. What does the term represent in today’s hip hop world?
5 Designed to promote independent music shops, which event takes place in mid-April every year? Which band served as the event’s ambassador in 2016, releasing a live LP recorded in Paris in aid of the victims of the 2015 terrorist attacks?
6 ‘I Heard It through the Grapevine’ (Marvin Gaye, 1985), ‘Wonderful World’ (Sam Cooke, 1985), ‘Stand by Me’ (Ben E King, 1987), ‘When a Man Loves a Woman’ (Percy Sledge, 1987), ‘C’mon Everybody’ (Eddie Cochran, 1988), ‘Mannish Boy’ (Muddy Waters, 1988), ‘Be My Baby’ (the Ronettes, 1989) and ‘Nobody Home’ (BB King, 1989). What’s the connection?
7 What brand and model of guitar did Jimi Hendrix favour? Developed in the sixties, which effects pedal favoured by Hendrix also defines the opening of Isaac Hayes’ ‘Theme from Shaft’?
8 Which album by which artist was described as follows in Mojo magazine upon its release in 2005: ‘[It] finds her at very best, where daring conceits . . . emotional nudism and neoclassical sonics culminated in a mood-altering crypto-Balearic tranceathon.’
9 Who hosted a rock show every Friday on BBC 6 Music from 2002 to 2010? His last show was a tribute to which former Rainbow vocalist, who died in 2010?
10 Led by Storm Thorgerson, which design company created the sleeves for such albums as Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon, 10cc’s Sheet Music, Led Zeppelin’s Houses of the Holy and Genesis’s The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway? The company’s album cover for Force It was particularly controversial – but for which band was it designed?
11 Which two of these guitarists does not or did not play left-handed: Ritchie Blackmore, Kurt Cobain, Jimi Hendrix, Tony Iommi, Paul McCartney and Jack White?
12 Which singer learned to dance from modern artiste Lindsay Kemp and appeared in a Lyons Maid commercial while trying to make his way as a recording artist? Originally released in 1967, which novelty song of his found its way to number six after he’d had his first number one hit?
13 The Korg PS-3300, the ARP Odyssey and the Yamaha GX-1 are all early examples of what type of instrument? Which smaller version from the same family was produced between 1970 and 1981 and was widely used in live performances?
14 What are Blackie, Brownie, the Fool and Lucy? Who was given Lucy as a gift in 1968?
15 What’s the name of the small pair of cymbals that sit one above the other on a stand, and are operated by a foot pedal? Whose use of the Ludwig drum kit on an American TV show helped make it make the most popular type of drum kit in the sixties?
16 The Brit Awards were broadcast live for the first time in 1989. Which presenters, a rock star and a Page 3 model, had a nightmare with the autocue and presided over what became a laughing stock both within and outside the industry?
17 In the 21st century, two artists have won the Brit Award for Best British Female Solo on two occasions. Who won in 2002 and 2004? And who followed suit in 2012 and 2016?
18 Who hijacked the Brits in 1992, firing a machine gun (loaded with blanks) into the audience, announcing their retirement from the music industry, dispatching a motorcycle courier to collect their award and sending a dead sheep to the after-show party? Which hardcore band did they persuade to open the show with them?
19 Which annual entertainment was invented by Marcel Bezençon in 1956? And who described it as a ‘monument to magnificent foolishness’?
20 Which politician was soaked by a member of Chumbawamba at the Brits in 1998? Ten years later, which comedian and presenter was shoved out of the way and accused of being drunk by Sharon Osbourne when he struggled with a faulty autocue?
21 Which pop star hit the headlines when he wiggled his bum behind Michael Jackson while the King of Pop was performing at the 1996 Brits? Which song was Jackson singing at the time?
22 What piece of iconic clothing, which later sold at auction for nearly £50,000, did Geri Halliwell first wear at the Brits in 1997? And who used the ceremony in 2014 to send a message, read by Kate Moss, that encouraged Scotland to vote to stay in the UK?
23 Who is the only one of these four acts to have won a Grammy Award: Guns n’ Roses, Led Zeppelin, REM and Sting? And who is the only member of this quartet never to have won a Grammy: Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, David Bowie and George Michael?
24 Chuck Berry, James Brown and Ray Charles were among the first members inducted into which new ‘society’ on 23 January 1986? In which US state are the organisation’s headquarters?
25 Who won the NME’s Dickhead of the Year award between 1997 and 1999 (in 1997, it was awarded to the Arse of the Year)? To which more wholesome title was it changed over the next few years, when Robbie Williams was a regular winner?
26-30 For these last five questions, we’ll list five nominees for the Mercury Music Prize from a particular year. Tell us the year – and tell us which of these acts won the award.
26 19 by Adele, Do You Like Rock Music? by British Sea Power, The Seldom Seen Kid by Elbow, Stainless Style by Neon Neon and In Rainbows by Radiohead.
27 A Rush of Blood to the Head by Coldplay, Permission to Land by the Darkness, Boy in da Corner by Dizzee Rascal, So Much for the City by the Thrills and Quixotic by Martina Topley-Bird.
28 Rafi’s Revenge by Asian Dub Foundation, International Velvet by Catatonia, Bring It On by Gomez, This Is Hardcore by Pulp and Life thru a Lens by Robbie Williams.
29 The Sea by Corinne Bailey Rae, Tongue n’ Cheek by Dizzee Rascal, Sky At Night by I Am Kloot, Sigh No More by Mumford & Sons and xx by The xx.
30 Wake Up! by the Boo Radleys, Leftism by Leftfield, Days Like This by Van Morrison, Dummy by Portishead and Maxinquaye by Tricky.