Another quiz about the dinosaurs, the bands who now sell out the football stadiums that not even their football teams can fill. That said, most of these behemoth bands started from small acorns: Green Day were an indie punk band and REM were the darlings of the American alternative scene, and it took them years to take the jump to 50,000-capacity outdoor summer shows. The quiz is in three quick parts: one on the Rolling Stones and one on a number of other big acts, ending with a name-the-album quickfire round.
Answers: here
1 Which Rolling Stones album had a large cake on the cover? And which featured a rampant silver lion?
2 The original cover of which Stones album featured a real zip? What was inscribed on the belt buckle on the version released in the Soviet Union?
3 Since Goat’s Head Soup in 1983, only two Stones albums have topped the UK charts. Which two?
4 Billy Preston, Nicky Hopkins and Ian McLagan all provided which type of support to the Stones? And what’s the name of the singer, a fan favourite, who’s toured with the band since 1989?
5 What were the first solo albums by Mick Jagger (1985) and Keith Richards (1988)?
6 A cover of which Chuck Berry song was the Stones’ first single, released in 1963? On the band’s first album, what was the significance of the song ‘Tell Me’?
7 Taken from Emotional Rescue and released in 1981, what was the Stones’ most recent UK Top 10 single? Featuring a gorilla on the cover, what’s the title of the career retrospective released in 2012 to celebrate 50 years in the business?
8 Which song written by Bobby and Shirley Womack gave the band their first British number one in 1964? And which was the most recent of their singles to hit number one in the UK, back in the summer of 1969?
9 Released in 1978, which was the first Stones album to feature Ronnie Wood as a full band member? Which Temptations song did they cover on it?
10 What was the title of the Stones’ classic 1970 live album that went straight to number one in the UK, a first for a live LP? At which famous New York venue were most of the takes recorded over two nights in November 1969?
11 Which Green Day album from 2004 was their first to top the US and UK charts? What’s the second track on the album, a nine-minute suite in five sections?
12 Which single from Document gave REM their big commercial breakthrough? And what’s the title of the 1991 album that topped the charts in both the US and the UK?
13 Released in 2005, what was the first Coldplay album to top the albums chart in the UK and the US? All of the band’s albums since have emulated this feat except A Head Full of Dreams in 2015, which only made number two in the US. Which British artist kept the album from number one?
14 The title of Mumford & Sons’ debut album, and some lyrics on the title track, reference which playwright? How many weeks had it been on the UK albums chart before it reached its peak position of number two? (Get within ten weeks to score one point.)
15 What was the first album released by Manic Street Preachers after the disappearance of guitarist and lyricist Richey Edwards in 1995? Who took over responsibility for the band’s lyrics?
16 Which Coldplay album is a concept album set in the world of Silencia? ‘Ghost Stories’ is believed to chart Chris Martin’s split from his actress wife: who is she?
17 Alongside the rhythm section of Mike Mills and Bill Berry, who were the other two founding members of REM?
18 Whose love did Manic Street Preachers sing about on a single from their Lifeblood album? And what were we told about love on the 2007 follow-up, Send Away the Tigers?
19 What was the first single to be taken from Green Day’s 1995 album Insomniac, telling of the metabolistic effects of methamphetamine? What was the rather mellower acoustic song that the band released as a single from Nimrod in 1997?
20 What’s the title of the final REM album, released in 2011? And what’s the career retrospective that the band released after announcing their retirement?
In the following lists of four tracks, three are from the same album, while the fourth is from a different record by the same band. Name the album and spot the odd one out.
21 ‘Crush with Eyeliner’, ‘Everybody Hurts’, ‘Nightswimming’ and ‘The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonight’ (REM, 1992).
22 ‘Enter Sandman’, ‘Eye of the Beholder’, ‘Harvester of Sorrow’ and ‘One’ (Metallica, 1988).
23 ‘Clocks’, ‘God Put a Smile upon Your Face’, ‘The Scientist’ and ‘Yellow’ (Coldplay, 2002).
24 ‘Kicked in the Teeth’, ‘Riff Raff’, ‘Rock ’n’ Roll Damnation’ and ‘Touch Too Much’ (AC/DC, 1978).
25 ‘Broken Crown’, ‘Dust Bowl Dance’, ‘I Will Wait’ and ‘Lover of the Light’ (Mumford & Sons, 2012).
26 ‘Angie’, ‘Rocks Off’, ‘Shine a Light’ and ‘Tumbling Dice’ (The Rolling Stones, 1972).
27 ‘Charlie’, ‘Dosed’, ‘Slow Cheetah’ and ‘Snow (Hey Oh)’ (Red Hot Chili Peppers, 2006).
28 ‘The Doberman’, ‘Goodbye Kiss’, ‘Me Plus One’ and ‘Shoot the Runner’ (Kasabian, 2006).
29 ‘Basket Case’, ‘Longview’, ‘Nice Guys Finish Last’ and ‘When I Come Around’ (Green Day, 1994).
30 ‘Intense Humming of Evil’, ‘Motorcycle Emptiness’, ‘Revol’ and ‘She Is Suffering’ (Manic Street Preachers, 1994).