Q 01/05

Before it named a music genre, what did the word 'funk' originally refer to?

A) A type of dance hall

B) A card game

C) A strong odor

D) A cheap wine

Answer · why

C) A strong odor

A strong odor: 'funk' meant a bad smell in the 1620s and 'funky' a musty cheese by 1784, until jazz players around 1900 turned the insult into praise,...

Q 02/05

James Brown's band built funk by moving the heaviest accent from the backbeat to where?

A) Every beat equally

B) The first beat of every measure

C) The last beat before a bar line

D) Every off-beat eighth note

Answer · why

B) The first beat of every measure

The first beat of every measure, 'the one': his young bassist Bootsy Collins recalled being called in after shows to be told, 'I didn't hear the one. ...

Q 03/05

Which 1964 James Brown single did he later call the real beginning of his move toward funk?

A) Please, Please, Please

B) Try Me

C) Out of Sight

D) Night Train

Answer · why

C) Out of Sight

Out of Sight was 'another beginning', Brown wrote; he cut it for a rival label in the middle of a contract fight, and his old company went to court to...

Q 04/05

Which Dyke and the Blazers single topped the R&B chart when Wilson Pickett covered it in 1967?

A) Funky Broadway

B) Funky Walk

C) So Sharp

D) We Got More Soul

Answer · why

A) Funky Broadway

Funky Broadway began on a tiny Phoenix label and was picked up by a Los Angeles company once it caught on locally; months later Pickett's remake carri...

Q 05/05

What is the title of Tower of Power's 1970 debut album?

A) Back to Oakland

B) East Bay Grease

C) Bump City

D) Urban Renewal

Answer · why

B) East Bay Grease

East Bay Grease named the Oakland side of the bay the band came from: promoter Bill Graham signed them to his own label after an audition night at the...