Oxford University Press's
Academic Insights for the Thinking World

Encyclopedia of Popular Music Quiz
Part Two

We are back with the second installment of the Popular Music quiz, if you haven’t taken part one yet check it out here. If you think you are ready to go up against Colin Larkin, editor of the Encyclopedia of Popular Music then check out the questions below, write your answers down, and then click continue reading to find out if you were correct. Don’t worry, you will have one last chance to prove your musical prowess this afternoon when we post part three of the popular music quiz.

  1. These are the real names of which music stars?
    1. Richard Starkey
    2. Shawn Carter
    3. Vincent Craddock
    4. Eilleen Edwards
    5. William Broad
  2. What is the biggest-selling album of all time by a female artist?
  3. Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, Kurt Cobain, Brian Jones, Robert Johnson. What strange fact connects them?
  4. ‘Highway Star’, ‘Smoke on the Water’, and ‘Space Truckin’ are tracks on which classic Deep Purple album?
  5. What US record label is the most successful in terms of chart hits?

    1. Ringo Starr
    2. Jay-Z
    3. Gene Vincent
    4. Shania Twain
    5. Billy Idol
  1. Come on Over by Shania Twain
  2. All died at the age of 27
  3. Machine Head
  4. Columbia Records

Want to read more by Larkin? Check out his list of the worst music albums of all time and come back on Monday, November 6th to read Larkin’s essay “Shoot The Designer.”

Recent Comments

  1. Mindy

    My friends and I have all taken the pop music quizzes. We found them very challenging. Thanks for introducing us to this encyclopedia!!!

Comments are closed.