Q 01/05

On behalf of which absent Nobel literature laureate did Patti Smith sing at the 2016 prize ceremony in Stockholm?

A) Alice Munro

B) Harold Pinter

C) Bob Dylan

D) Doris Lessing

Answer · why

C) Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan had other commitments, so Smith sang one of his early protest songs for him. Nerves made her stumble over a verse; she apologised, started a...

Q 02/05

Which rock star's unfinished 1977 studio outtake became Patti Smith's biggest hit after she wrote the words for it?

A) Jackson Browne

B) Lindsey Buckingham

C) Warren Zevon

D) Bruce Springsteen

Answer · why

D) Bruce Springsteen

Bruce Springsteen had recorded little more than a title and some mumbling when the tape reached Smith. She wrote the words, and his own version stayed...

Q 03/05

Which 1975 debut album by Patti Smith was added to the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2021?

A) Horses

B) Banga

C) Trampin'

D) Gone Again

Answer · why

A) Horses

Horses fused punk rock with spoken poetry, and in 2009 the Library of Congress chose it for preservation in the National Recording Registry.

Q 04/05

Which photographer, Patti Smith's former partner and lifelong friend, shot the cover portrait for her debut album?

A) Annie Leibovitz

B) Robert Mapplethorpe

C) Patrick Demarchelier

D) Richard Avedon

Answer · why

B) Robert Mapplethorpe

Robert Mapplethorpe took the picture at a Greenwich Village penthouse, and Smith recalled him announcing that he had the shot after about eight frames...

Q 05/05

Which 2010 memoir by Patti Smith tells of her struggling early years in New York with a young photographer?

A) M Train

B) Devotion

C) Woolgathering

D) Just Kids

Answer · why

D) Just Kids

Just Kids kept a vow: at her friend's deathbed in 1989 she promised to write their story, and she said that finishing it felt like the promise fulfill...