Q 01/05

Which composer wrote the Heiligenstadt Testament in 1802, a despairing letter to his brothers that he never sent?

A) Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

B) Ludwig van Beethoven

C) Johann Sebastian Bach

D) Franz Schubert

Answer · why

B) Ludwig van Beethoven

Ludwig van Beethoven wrote it in despair at his growing deafness, then hid it; the letter was found among his papers after his death in 1827, after 25...

Q 02/05

What city is widely considered the birthplace of jazz music?

A) New Orleans

B) Memphis

C) Chicago

D) New York City

Answer · why

A) New Orleans

New Orleans is the birthplace of jazz partly because enslaved Africans there were allowed to gather on Sundays in Congo Square, where they kept their ...

Q 03/05

Which 1950s star told reporters in 1969 that Fats Domino was the real king of rock and roll?

A) Chuck Berry

B) Little Richard

C) Jerry Lee Lewis

D) Elvis Presley

Answer · why

D) Elvis Presley

Elvis Presley, called 'The King' by a journalist at a Las Vegas press conference, gestured to Fats Domino in the room and said 'that's the real king o...

Q 04/05

Which August 1969 festival became a defining moment of the counterculture era?

A) Monterey Pop Festival

B) Woodstock

C) Newport Folk Festival

D) Altamont Free Concert

Answer · why

B) Woodstock

Woodstock was not held in Woodstock: after the town of Wallkill blocked it a month before, it moved to Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, an...

Q 05/05

Which Detroit label, founded in 1959, launched The Supremes, Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye?

A) Atlantic Records

B) Stax Records

C) Chess Records

D) Motown Records

Answer · why

D) Motown Records

Motown Records began in 1959 with $800 that Berry Gordy borrowed from his family's savings fund; he ran the label with the quality control he had lear...