Music Trivia – Four for the Fourth

Let’s press the trivia button and embark on a musical journey through thought-provoking music trivia questions. The first edition of music trivia was a success, garnering a good amount of attention from everyone. There is one rule, though, that I want to stress before getting to this week’s questions.

ATTENTION: After answering each question, POST your answers into a comment. Commenting on a post is simple. Click the quote bubble with the number next to the post’s name. It will ask for a name and an e-mail address. Follow those brief directions and post your answers. Therefore, I know who can be crowned the winner and, in the future, be eligible for PRIZES. If you don’t post your answers, I cannot recognize your intelligence.

Get it? Got it? Good. Let’s play!

The entire trivia game will not be patriotic, but since this is the fourth of July weekend we do need at least one germane question.

1.) “O! say can you see.” I am sure most of you can complete the lyric. Heck, you can probably explain to me that Francis Scott Key wrote the “Star-Spangled Banner” while detained on a British ship in September of 1814. But, lyrics aside, can you tell me where the melody of our National Anthem comes from?

2.) Randy California was the stage name of American guitarist Randy Wolfe. His work with his band Spirit was influential. He displayed tremendous technical skill and aplomb up to his untimely drowning death in 1997. If you have heard “Stairway to Heaven” by Led Zeppelin, which I’m pretty sure everyone has heard, the indelible guitar riff is strikingly similar to California’s guitar work on Spirit’s “Taurus.” But I’m not going to ask a question about the controversy. Instead, I want to know what American musician gave Randy California his stage name?

3.) Jimmy Page is often cited as the originator of using a violin bow on a guitar, but this is incorrect information. Who was the true FIRST guitarist to popularize this practice?

4.) Thunderclap Newman was a British band known for their one-hit wonder “Something In The Air.” How they were promoted is more interesting than the song. Newman vocalist/keyboardist John “Speedy” Keen worked as a chauffeur for a famous British band who’s guitarist thanked Keen by creating the band around him to showcase his work. What was that band?

There you have it. Four questions for your fourth of July weekend. Answers will be posted on Thursday of next week. Remember, after you select your choices on the polls, post your answer choices in a comment! I cannot stress this enough. And, hey, after you answer the questions if you cannot wait for the answers, look them up and use these fun questions to stump friends of families at your fourth of July barbecues. Have a great weekend!