Rock and Roll Begins

Choose an answer from the three choices offered after each question and then "Check Your Answers" at the end of the quiz.

1. Early rock and roll of the late 1940s and early 1950s, used either a piano or saxophone as the lead instrument.  By the mid to late 1950s, what replaced these two instruments?

• Violin

• Harp

• Guitar

2. The accentuated backbeat of Rock and Roll was provided by what instrument?

• Lead Guitar

• Bass

• Snare drum

3. What is NOT a classic Rock and Roll instrument?

• Lead Guitar

• Drum Kit

• Harmonica

4. The first mention of rock and roll as a musical style was in 1951 by disc jockey Alan Freed.  What music term did it refer to?

• Rhythm and Blues

• Big Band

• Classical Opera

5. The term Rock and Roll has a sub textual meaning, what is it?

• Dancing and sex

• Drag racing

• Stock car racing

6. In 1954, what is the first Rock and Roll song to hit #1 in the Billboard charts?

• Bill Haley’s “Rock Around the Clock”

• Elvis Presley’s “That’s All Right (Mama)”

• Big Joe Turner's “Shake, Rattle & Roll”

7. While working as a disc jockey at radio station WJW in Cleveland, Alan Freed also organized the first rock and roll concert on March 21, 1952.  What did he name the concert?

• “The Moondog Coronation Ball”

• “Rock and Roll Heaven Ball”

• “Get Down and Dirty Ball”

8. Bill Haley’s “Rock Around the Clock” was played in the opening scenes of what movie?

• Rock Around the Clock

• Blackboard Jungle

• The High and the Mighty

9. Because many white stations would not play black musicians, many record companies began to cover these songs with white artists.  Little Richard once called this person from the audience and introduced him as "the man who made me a millionaire."  Who was this artist?

• Bob Crosby

• Pat Boone

• Frank Sinatra

10. A teen idol was a recording artist who attracted a very large following of (mostly) female "teenagers", because of their good looks and "sex appeal" as much as their musical qualities, was probably Frank Sinatra in the 1940s, although a case can be made for Rudy Vallee even earlier.  With the birth of rock and roll, who became one of the greatest teen idols of them all?

• Frankie Avalon

• Rickie Nelson

• Elvis Presley

Check Your Answers

1. Guitar

2. Snare drum

3. Harmonica

4. Rhythm and Blues

5. Dancing and sex

6. Bill Haley’s “Rock Around the Clock”

7. “The Moondog Coronation Ball”

8. Blackboard Jungle

9. Pat Boone

10. Elvis Presley

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