50 free Reggae trivia questions with answers — music quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This reggae trivia quiz covers the music of Jamaica from the sound systems of 1950s Kingston to the digital riddims of dancehall. The easy questions are the ones any fan can answer: which island the genre comes from, the band that first sang the word 'reggay', the religion the music is bound up with, and the film that carried it to the world in 1972. Then it gets deeper: the two genres that came before reggae and why the tempo slowed, the guitar chop called the skank, the label known as the Motown of Jamaica, the truck that named Trojan Records, the first reggae songs to top the US charts, the producer who built and burned the Black Ark, the melodica master of dub, the unicycle-riding Wailer, the 1985 hit that made rhythms digital, and the year UNESCO listed reggae as intangible cultural heritage. Every answer was checked against encyclopaedia entries on reggae, ska, rocksteady, dub, dancehall and the artists themselves before publishing, and the supporting sentence is stored with each question. If you enjoy this one, try our Bob Marley, Jamaica and Caribbean quizzes next.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01In which decade did reggae emerge as a distinct genre?
The 1960s
The first bona fide reggae records, 'Nanny Goat' and 'No More Heartaches', came out in early 1968.
Q 02Which 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals was the first popular song to use the word 'reggae'?
Do the Reggay
The Oxford English Dictionary credits the group in the etymology of the word.
Q 03Which genre came immediately before reggae in Jamaica, slower than ska and with more romantic lyrics?
Rocksteady
It dominated Jamaican music for barely two years from about 1966 before reggae took over.
Q 04What is the name for the short, scratchy offbeat guitar chop that defines reggae?
The skank
It is also called the 'bang'; the intro to the Wailers' 'Stir It Up' uses a double chop.
Q 05Reggae is closely associated with which Afrocentric religion that emerged in Jamaica in the 1930s?
Rastafari
From the 1970s reggae's global success helped spread Rastafarian beliefs worldwide.
Q 06Reggae historian Steve Barrow credits which artist with turning the patois word 'streggae' into 'reggae'?
Clancy Eccles
Toots Hibbert insisted 'reggay' simply came out of his mouth one morning while jamming with two friends.
Q 07Bob Marley claimed the word reggae came from a Spanish term meaning what?
The king's music
The 1967 Dictionary of Jamaican English instead links it to rege-rege, meaning rags or a quarrel.
Q 08Ska became the music of choice for young Jamaicans when the island gained independence in which year?
1962
Ska also became popular among mods in Britain.
Q 09One theory says ska slowed down because which singer couldn't perform 'Take It Easy' at ska tempo?
Hopeton Lewis
The name rocksteady was codified after Alton Ellis's single of that name.
Q 10The genre between ska and reggae was named after a song by which soulful singer?
Alton Ellis
The song's subject was a popular slower dance style that matched the new sound.
Q 11Which two 1968 records are counted as the first bona fide reggae releases?
'Nanny Goat' and 'No More Heartaches'
Larry Marshall sang the first; the Beltones the second.
Q 12Which 1968 Lee 'Scratch' Perry single is cited as a transitional record into reggae?
People Funny Boy
The organ shuffle by players like Jackie Mittoo and Winston Wright marked the shift.
Q 13Improvised rhythmic vocals over records by deejays such as U-Roy and Big Youth are known as what?
Toasting
Dubplates and instrumental versions gave deejays room to perform live on sound systems.
Q 21Which ska instrumental group served as Coxsone Dodd's house band in 1964-65?
The Skatalites
Roland Alphonso, Don Drummond, Tommy McCook and Jackie Mittoo were recruited from Kingston's jazz scene.
Q 22Which 1972 film starring Jimmy Cliff introduced Jamaican music to cinema audiences abroad?
The Harder They Come
Its soundtrack was the best-selling reggae album until Bob Marley's Legend in 1984.
Q 23Ivanhoe Martin, hero of the 1972 reggae film, was based on which real 1940s Jamaican outlaw?
Rhyging
Rhygin was the film's working title before shooting.
Q 14Which American artist's 1968 hit 'Hold Me Tight' is credited with first putting reggae on the US charts?
Johnny Nash
He returned to No. 1 for four weeks in 1972 with 'I Can See Clearly Now'.
Q 15Which 1968 Beatles song is cited as an early example of reggae influence in rock and pop?
Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
By late 1972 reggae-based records had reached the very top of the Billboard Hot 100.
Q 16Which trio founded the Wailers in 1963?
Bob Marley, Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer
Over a dozen Wailers songs borrow from Jamaican mento songs.
Q 17Millie Small's 1964 international smash was a bluebeat/ska cover of which song?
My Boy Lollipop
Small was among the ska stars, with Prince Buster, Desmond Dekker and Ken Boothe, who later moved into reggae.
Q 18Which label, founded by Chris Blackwell in Jamaica in 1960, partnered with Trojan on UK reggae?
Island Records
Between 1968 and 1972 reggae sold more in the UK than in Jamaica.
Q 19Trojan Records took its name from what?
A truck used as Duke Reid's sound system
The Croydon-built lorry had 'Duke Reid - The Trojan King of Sounds' painted on its sides.
Q 20Which Jamaican label founded by Clement 'Coxsone' Dodd has been called the Motown of Jamaica?
Studio One
Its first recordings were cut in 1963 on Brentford Road, with the Skatalites as house band.
Q 24Which album finally overtook the 1972 film soundtrack as the best-selling reggae album, in 1984?
Bob Marley's Legend
The film soundtrack has been described as having 'brought reggae to the world'.
Q 25Which rock guitarist's 1974 cover of 'I Shot the Sheriff' brought Marley to a wider audience?
Eric Clapton
The recording used modern rock production while keeping most of the original's reggae elements.
Q 26Paul Simon recorded 'Mother and Child Reunion' with Jimmy Cliff's backing group in which Jamaican city?
Kingston
Billboard ranked it the No. 57 song of 1972.
Q 27Which US band hit No. 1 in September 1972 with a cover of the Maytones' version of 'Black and White'?
Three Dog Night
Two months later Johnny Nash spent four weeks at No. 1 with 'I Can See Clearly Now'.
Q 28Which British DJ played reggae alongside punk at clubs like The Roxy in the late 1970s?
Don Letts
The Clash, the Ruts, the Police and the Slits all recorded reggae-influenced songs.
Q 29Which softer, female-led reggae subgenre grew up in South London, exemplified by Janet Kay?
Lovers rock
Unlike its male-dominated Jamaican namesake led by Gregory Isaacs, the UK version had a more commercial sound.
Q 30In which year did the Grammys introduce the award for Best Reggae Album?
1985
Toots and the Maytals won it for True Love; UK bands like Steel Pulse and Aswad also flourished in the 1980s.