1960s Music Quiz

Question 1

The 'British Invasion' of the early 1960s refers to which musical phenomenon?

Accepted Answer

British rock and pop bands dominating American charts, led by The Beatles

Answer

British classical music becoming popular in the US

Answer

American jazz musicians moving to Britain

Answer

British folk music replacing American country in popularity

Question 2

Woodstock (August 1969) was a three-day music festival in upstate New York. How many people approximately attended?

Accepted Answer

Over 400,000

Answer

50,000

Answer

200,000

Answer

Over 1 million

Question 3

Motown Records was founded in Detroit in 1959. Its founder Berry Gordy named it after Detroit's nickname. What is Detroit's nickname?

Accepted Answer

The Motor City

Answer

The Steel City

Answer

The Music City

Answer

The Auto Town

Question 4

Bob Dylan shocked the Newport Folk Festival in 1965 by doing what?

Accepted Answer

Playing electric guitar instead of acoustic, outraging folk purists

Answer

Performing in a costume

Answer

Refusing to perform and giving a political speech

Answer

Inviting The Beatles on stage

Question 5

The 'Summer of Love' (1967) was centred in which San Francisco neighbourhood?

Accepted Answer

Haight-Ashbury

Answer

The Castro

Answer

North Beach

Answer

The Mission

Question 6

Which song, often considered the greatest rock and roll record ever made, opens with the lyric 'One, two, three o'clock, four o'clock rock'?

Accepted Answer

Rock Around the Clock by Bill Haley & His Comets

Answer

Johnny B. Goode by Chuck Berry

Answer

Tutti Frutti by Little Richard

Answer

Hound Dog by Elvis Presley

Question 7

The Rolling Stones were founded in London in 1962. Who are the band's founding members still active today?

Accepted Answer

Mick Jagger and Keith Richards only

Answer

Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, and Ronnie Wood

Answer

Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts, and Bill Wyman

Answer

Mick Jagger and Brian Jones

Question 8

Jimi Hendrix's performance of the US national anthem at Woodstock (1969) is famous for which reason?

Accepted Answer

His distorted, feedback-laden guitar version reimagined it as a sonic depiction of war and social turmoil

Answer

He played it entirely backwards

Answer

He performed it with a full orchestra

Answer

He sang it a cappella without his guitar

Question 9

Which Motown act recorded 'I Heard It Through the Grapevine' (1968)?

Accepted Answer

Marvin Gaye

Answer

The Temptations

Answer

The Four Tops

Answer

Smokey Robinson & the Miracles

Question 10

The Monterey Pop Festival (June 1967) is remembered as which breakthrough event?

Accepted Answer

The first major rock festival, introducing Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin to mainstream American audiences

Answer

The first outdoor rock festival ever held

Answer

The last performance of The Beatles

Answer

The first festival broadcast live on television

Question 11

What was significant about The Beatles' Abbey Road (1969) album cover?

Accepted Answer

The four Beatles crossing Abbey Road became one of music's most iconic and imitated images, also sparking 'Paul is dead' theories

Answer

It was the first album cover photographed in colour

Answer

It was entirely designed by Salvador Dalí

Answer

The cover shows them walking away from EMI Studios for the last time

Question 12

Aretha Franklin became the first woman inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987. She is known by which title?

Accepted Answer

The Queen of Soul

Answer

The Empress of R&B

Answer

The Lady of Soul

Answer

The First Lady of Music

Question 13

Which album, released in June 1967, is frequently cited as the greatest album ever recorded?

Accepted Answer

The Beatles — Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

Answer

The Beatles — Revolver

Answer

Bob Dylan — Blonde on Blonde

Answer

The Beach Boys — Pet Sounds

Question 14

The 'Altamont Free Concert' (December 1969) is remembered as the darker counterpart to Woodstock. What happened?

Accepted Answer

Violence and a murder by Hells Angels (hired as security) cast a shadow over the Rolling Stones concert

Answer

A stage collapsed killing three musicians

Answer

The festival was cancelled mid-way due to riots

Answer

The Grateful Dead refused to perform, causing a crowd stampede

Question 15

What is a 'concept album' and which 1960s band pioneered the format?

Accepted Answer

An album with a unified theme or narrative; The Beatles with Sgt. Pepper's

Answer

An album released in limited edition; The Rolling Stones

Answer

An album where all songs are covers; Bob Dylan

Answer

An album recorded in a single day; The Kinks

Question 16

What was the name of the 1960s soul music genre that emerged from Memphis, Tennessee, produced by Stax Records?

Accepted Answer

Southern Soul / Memphis Soul

Answer

Detroit Soul (Motown Sound)

Answer

Philly Soul

Answer

Chicago Soul

Question 17

The Beach Boys' Pet Sounds (1966) influenced The Beatles to make which album in response?

Accepted Answer

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

Answer

Help!

Answer

Rubber Soul

Answer

Revolver

Question 18

Otis Redding's posthumous hit '(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay' (1968) was released after his death. How did he die?

Accepted Answer

His private plane crashed into Lake Monona, Wisconsin in December 1967

Answer

He died of a drug overdose in Memphis

Answer

He was killed in a car accident

Answer

He died of a heart attack on stage

Question 19

The Velvet Underground, led by Lou Reed, are considered pioneers of which musical movement?

Accepted Answer

Art rock and proto-punk

Answer

Glam rock

Answer

New wave

Answer

Psychedelic rock

Question 20

What did the phrase 'turn on, tune in, drop out' — associated with the 1960s counterculture — mean?

Accepted Answer

A pro-drug slogan coined by Timothy Leary encouraging psychedelic experience, cultural engagement, and rejecting mainstream values

Answer

Turn on a radio, tune into underground stations, drop out of society

Answer

An early slogan for anti-war protests

Answer

A Bob Dylan lyric about leaving the music industry