Q 01/05

The bass-like riff of which White Stripes song is really a guitar fed through a pitch-shifting pedal?

A) The Denial Twist

B) We're Going to Be Friends

C) Seven Nation Army

D) Fell in Love with a Girl

Answer · why

C) Seven Nation Army

Seven Nation Army has no bass on it at all: Jack White played a semi-acoustic guitar through a DigiTech Whammy pedal to drop its pitch.

Q 02/05

Which musician's Höfner violin bass, stolen from a van in 1972, was finally returned to him in 2024?

A) Bill Wyman

B) Paul McCartney

C) Roger Waters

D) John Deacon

Answer · why

B) Paul McCartney

Paul McCartney got the bass back after a volunteer search called the Lost Bass Project traced it to an attic on the south coast of England.

Q 03/05

Vanilla Ice's Ice Ice Baby is built on the sampled bassline of which earlier hit single?

A) Super Freak

B) Every Breath You Take

C) Start Me Up

D) Under Pressure

Answer · why

D) Under Pressure

Under Pressure, by Queen and David Bowie, earned its writers no credit or royalties for the sample until the rap single had already become a hit.

Q 04/05

Composer Jonathan Wolff built the theme tune of which NBC sitcom from edited samples of slap bass?

A) Seinfeld

B) Friends

C) Frasier

D) Cheers

Answer · why

A) Seinfeld

Seinfeld's theme was never one fixed recording: Wolff reworked the sampled bass for each episode so it fitted around the timing of the dialogue.

Q 05/05

Which Nirvana member threw his bass in the air at the 1992 MTV Video Music Awards and failed to catch it?

A) Dave Grohl

B) Kurt Cobain

C) Krist Novoselic

D) Chad Channing

Answer · why

C) Krist Novoselic

Krist Novoselic misjudged the height of his bass toss at the end of Lithium, and Queen guitarist Brian May ran over to check he was unhurt.