TouchéGet the appMusic trivia questions
Ten questions to try. Pick an answer to see why.
01Which singer starred in the 1984 film Purple Rain?Try itHide
Answer: Prince
WhyPrince was named after his father's stage name. John Nelson, a pianist, performed as Prince Rogers with a group called the Prince Rogers Trio. As a boy Prince disliked the name and called himself Skipper.
02Which singer had a 1999 hit with "Livin' la Vida Loca"?Try itHide
Answer: Ricky Martin
WhyMartin's first English-language album nearly came out without this song. He has said it was finished only three days before he went into the studio with Madonna.
03What is a conductor's stick called?Try itHide
Answer: Baton
WhyJean-Baptiste Lully died in 1687 after striking his own foot with his long conducting staff during a Te Deum. He refused to have the toe amputated, and the gangrene spread through his body.
04Who recorded "Imagine" in 1971?Try itHide
Answer: John Lennon
WhyLennon admitted the credit line should have read Lennon/Ono, since much of the idea came from Yoko Ono's 1964 book Grapefruit. She was added as a co-writer in 2017.
05A sousaphone is a marching version of which instrument?Try itHide
Answer: Tuba
WhyJohn Philip Sousa was unhappy with the helicons the Marine Band used, so in 1893 James Pepper built him a tuba-like horn with the bell pointing straight up. People nicknamed it the rain-catcher.
06Who had a 1983 hit with "Girls Just Want to Have Fun"?Try itHide
Answer: Cyndi Lauper
WhyRobert Hazard wrote it in 1979 as a rock song from a man's point of view. Producer Rick Chertoff brought it to Lauper, who changed some of the lyrics and turned it into a synth-backed feminist anthem.
07Rihanna was born in which Caribbean country?Try itHide
Answer: Barbados
WhyAfter her 2005 audition, L.A. Reid told Jay-Z not to let her leave the building without a deal. She waited in Jay-Z's office while the lawyers drew up a six-album contract with Def Jam.
08Which band released the 1969 rock opera Tommy?Try itHide
Answer: The Who
WhyPete Townshend wrote "Pinball Wizard" to win over a critic. Nik Cohn, a pinball fan, was going to review the album for The New York Times, and Townshend wanted him to like it.
09The octobass is a giant version of which instrument?Try itHide
Answer: Double bass
WhyThe octobass is about eleven feet long, so no player can reach the top of its fingerboard. Instead, levers and pedals clamp the strings at set points. Only one known work calls for it: a Gounod mass from 1855.
10Which Backstreet Boys album includes "I Want It That Way"?Try itHide
Answer: Millennium
WhyThe guitar riff that opens the song was added at the very end of the recording sessions. Co-writer Andreas Carlsson has said it was inspired by Metallica's "Nothing Else Matters."
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