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About This Quiz
Heavy Metal has a reputation for being the noisiest racket on the planet. However, it's serious music for some, and has its own share of history and information. Take the Hellacious Heavy Metal Quiz and find out more about heavy metal music! And if you are a heavy metal fan, have fun making fun of all this!
What was arguably the first metal band in existence?
Judas Priest
Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath, with lead singer Ozzy Osbourne and guitarist Tommy Iommi, was the first metal band identified as such. All you have to do is listen to their song, "Paranoid," to get the idea.
Motorhead
Deep Purple
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Which instrument has been the key to the heavy metal sound?
Keyboards
Bass guitar
Drums
Electric guitar
The electric guitar is arguably the "weapon of choice" for the aggressive heavy metal sound, particularly once it's distorted or made to sound like a chainsaw (for the most part). Experimentation with shaping the guitar sound has allowed heavy metal music to also influence pop and hip-hop songs.
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In one of the classic heavy metal feuds of all time, why does Dave Mustaine hate Metallica?
he found them boring to hang out with
he doesn’t like their music
Metallica pirated some of his band members
he was kicked out of the band
Dave Mustaine, one of the founding members of Metallica, was kicked out of the band. And to add insult to injury, they made him go home by bus.
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While this band is seen more as the granddaddy of punk, their take-no-prisoners attitude and harder-rocking song style were blueprints for the earlier versions of metal. Who were they?
The Kinks
The Kinks' simple, rough, and large sound on such singles as "You Really Got Me," provided the abrasive attitude and devil-may-care style from which both punk and metal would eventually learn. Some metal bands have covered Kinks songs in tribute to the band.
The Zombies
The Stylistics
The Spiral Starecase
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People argue that this band is either early metal, or the heaviest blues-rock proto-metal band. What band was this?
Allman Brothers
ZZ Top
The Yardbirds
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin, featuring Jimmy Page on guitars and Robert Plant on vocals, didn’t have the lyrical and arrangement style to be considered heavy metal. However, their heavy brand of blues-rock set the tone for the "heavy" in heavy metal.
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Which punk-influenced heavy metal band would become one of the big influences of thrash and speed metal?
Anthrax
Anthrax was a band that had an aggressive, fast-tempo sound that also had humor and comic-book references in its lyrics. Their highest-charting album in America was "The Sound of White Noise," released in 1993.
Biohazard
Helmet
Type O Negative
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This heavy metal band is well known for their unusual time signatures, drumming patterns, and melodic arrangements. They are also fans of The Melvins and King Crimson. Who are they?
Tool
Tool is one of the bands known for an intellectual approach to heavy metal music. They've managed to use mathematical concepts, like the Fibonacci sequence, in the way they construct their songs. Some say their later albums are more progressive rock than heavy metal.
System of a Down
Deftones
Korn
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Rammstein is an internationally popular bands from Germany that has at times been labeled as industrial heavy metal. What is their favorite stage effect?
fire
Rammstein's stage antics are punctuated by the use of fireworks and custom-designed flamethrowers integrated into their costumes. Their lead singer, Till Lindemann, is a licensed pyro-technician.
lightshows
video projections
lots of smoke
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Who is this famous blues guitarist, whose love of long live guitar solos influenced heavy metal?
Robert Johnson
Gary Moore
Eric Clapton
Eric Clapton's early work and mesmerizing extended guitar solos makes him a heavy metal influence for the guitar. All you have to do is listen to the live version of "Crossroads" (with his band, Cream) to notice the link to heavy metal.
Jeff Beck
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When it comes to musical forms, most people can't believe that metal is influenced by this musical style. What is it?
classical
Classical and heavy metal music both require technical skill to pull them off, and it's no surprise that many heavy metal vocalists and guitarists have had classical training. Some even use sections of classical music passages as inspirations for their song arrangements.
pop
rap
punk
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This band started out as one of the big players in the Grunge scene, but has always been considered to be a heavy metal band, or at least heavily influenced by heavy metal. What band is this?
Nirvana
Smashing Pumpkins
Pearl Jam
Soundgarden
Soundgarden, whose vocalist is Chris Cornell, is a band that is either seen as part of heavy metal, or as hard rock with heavy metal influences. Their wide range of arrangement styles can be heard in the likes of "Jesus Christ Pose" and "The Day I Tried to Live."
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Before the birth of metal, which psychedelic guitarist and singer heavily influenced the musical language of heavy metal?
Keith Richards
Eddie Cochran
Jimi Hendrix
Jimi Hendrix had a massive influence on heavy metal. Most people feel that his use of distorted guitar sounds and aggressive song arrangements were the big points from which future heavy metal gods drew from him.
Eric Clapton
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What music can be said to be the "mother" of heavy metal, mixing with rock music?
folk music
marching music
polka
the blues
The blues is probably the spiritual predecessor of heavy metal, and can be considered its philosophical beginning, with its emphasis on emotions and expression. If you've heard heavy metal, then expression is an understatement.
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What musical from the late '70s and '80s would later influence and merge with the heavy metal sound to make a sub-genre known for shorter, high-energy songs?
jazz
punk
Punk music gave metal a shot in the arm, by introducing shorter songs with higher energy levels, either with faster tempos, or more straight forward and rhythm-based.
New Wave
Neo-Mod
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What is this cultural influence on heavy metal that some of the genre's own bands hate, particularly those more influenced by punk?
theater
Even from the very beginning, heavy metal had influences taken from theater. It's part of why heavy metal music relies on the idea of creating or using myths for the band's image and sound, and why some heavy metal music actually works well with movie and TV soundtracks.
surf music
non-vocal music
drum and marching beats
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Which of the early heavy metal bands had the dubious distinction, at one point, of being the loudest band ever?
Judas Priest
Led Zeppelin
Black Sabbath
Deep Purple
We're not kidding. Deep Purple was in the 1975 edition of the Guinness Book of World Records as the loudest band in the world, after a thundering 1972 concert at London's Rainbow Theater.
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What is the name of this band, seen as a heavy metal proto-group, thanks to their re-interpretation of Eddie Cochran's "Summertime Blues?”
Big Brother and the Holding Company
The Zombies
The Who
Blue Cheer
Blue Cheer is arguably in that rough boundary between blues-rock and heavy metal, but the blue-collar aggression they showed in their version of "Summertime Blues," as well as the radical arrangement shifts, provide a historical prologue to heavy metal music.
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What facet of modern life, particularly in the late '60s and early '70s, would contribute to the heavy metal music boom?
industrialism
The rise of modern industrialism in England contributed to the dark and gloomy sound of early heavy metal. Black Sabbath was an early proponent of this, with their plodding, metronomic sound .
technological development
economic downturn
city living
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Which metal band became well-known as the progressive metal band of 1990, with their hit song "Silent Lucidity?”
Dream Theater
Opeth
Queensryche
Queensryche's song, "Silent Lucidity," was one of the big breakthrough metal hits, even becoming an MTV favorite. If you listen to the song, however, it's categorized as heavy metal only because of the band's affiliation to the genre.
Fates Warning
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What role does the bass guitar generally play in heavy metal music?
follows the guitarist
follows the drummer
goes along with the melody
“fills out" the song
The bass guitar is important in heavy metal for making the "big sound." It doesn't necessarily have to be heard, but it fills in the empty spaces in the song, making heavy metal music sound, well, heavier.
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What major musical style does the band Opeth mix with the death metal style?
folk
jazz
punk
progressive rock
Opeth's main man, Mikael Akerfeldt, steers the band's sound, and in later years has moved towards progressive rock in style. Their first major success was the album, "Watershed."
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What was the major change in Mastodon's vocals, if you listen to their albums in sequence?
shorter lyrics
moving towards "clean" vocals
Mastodon started with screaming or yelling vocals, but as of their third album, "Blood Mountain," they have favored clean, traditional vocal singing more and more. Some of the band's members have said that harsh vocals are a thing of the past.
conceptual lyrics
simpler melodies
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Which New Orleans heavy metal band became known for a slow-tempo, brooding style of arrangement that influenced what became known as the sludge, doom, and stoner metal sub-genres?
Crowbar
Crowbar is an influential heavy metal band from New Orleans that gained fame for songs like "All I Had (I Gave)" and "Existence is Punishment." They are still active today.
Superjoint Ritual
Eyehategod
Down
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Which heavy metal band actually had a crossover hit with a song that had synthesizers play the basic intro and riff?
Guns and Roses
Van Halen
It's a bit of an irony that Van Halen's "Jump" featured synthesizer keyboard sounds prominently, particularly since the band is known for Eddie Van Halen's amazing guitar skills.
Warrant
Poison
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Which famous Nu-Metal band had lyrics that focused, for the most part, on pain and alienation?
Korn
Korn was one of the big heavy metal winners of the MTV era, starting with their album "Follow the Leader," and the single "Freak on a Leash."
Slipknot
Deftones
Linkin Park
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Which heavy metal band has had five albums debut at the top spot of the Billboard 200, and had a song in the "Transformers" movie?
Ministry
Rise Against
Disturbed
Disturbed has disturbed many heavy metal fans, who claim they are more now more hard rock than heavy metal. They recently did a cover of "Sounds of Silence" by Simon and Garfunkel.
Macabre
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What great Texan heavy metal band started out as a glam metal band, before becoming one of the proponents of a rhythm-based style known as groove metal?
The Sword
Watchtower
Drowning Pool
Pantera
Pantera was an example of how the heavy metal scene evolved through trying times. Starting out as a glam metal band, they found critical and commercial success as a groove metal band, with hits such as "Walk," "I'm Broken," and "Cemetery Gates."
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Which heavy metal band is known for experimenting with their music, that comparisons have been made to Radiohead?
Faith No More
Deftones
The Deftones moved away from belonging to a specific sub-genre of metal. Now, they are usually tagged as an "experimental" heavy metal band. Their biggest hit is "Change (In the House of Flies)."
Machinehead
Testament
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Why did the all-female Canadian heavy metal band, Kittie, choose that as their name?
they chose it randomly
they were all cat lovers
they found it cute
it sounded contradictory
While Kittie is known for being an all-female band, they don’t think it should be an important factor. Their bass guitarist, Trish Doan, died in February 2017.
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According to the members of the heavy metal band, Slipknot, what was one advantage of wearing masks?
they were unrecognizable without them
While the idea of Slipknot members wearing masks was more of an image thing, it also made them anonymous in public, something that some of the band members enjoyed. Later on, however, they revealed their actual faces.
they could go into another personality onstage
they didn’t need make-up
they had protection for their faces
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Which famous pop artist invited heavy metal guitarists to record parts for their songs?
Justin Bieber
Justin Timberlake
Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson knew the power of a good guitar solo or riff. Eddie Van Halen did the solo on "Beat It," and Slash did some notable work on "Give in to Me." He's also worked with other shredders, such as Steve Stevens, and Jennifer Batten.
Kylie Minogue
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Which hip-hop group or artist sampled a Black Sabbath song, and then mixed another sample from Led Zeppelin?
P.Diddy
Beastie Boys
The Beastie Boys managed to splice Tony Iommi's riff from "Sweat Leaf" with Drummer John Bonham's track in "When the Levee Breaks" to release a snazzy backing track for their song "Rhymin' and Stealin'." after hearing their metal-esque treatment in their song "Sabotage." there's no doubt the Beastie Boys love their heavy metal,
Snoop Dogg
Run D.M.C.
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From whose song did Judas Priest, the classic British heavy metal band, get its name?
Woody Guthrie
Beatles
Bob Dylan
Judas Priest took its name from "The Ballad of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest," by Bob Dylan. That's some metal folk stuff, right there.
Rolling Stones
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What does Meshuggah mean?
crazy
Meshuggah's name means "crazy" in Yiddish. The band is known for experimenting as much as they can within the boundaries of heavy metal music.
scary
stupid
funny
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How did Sepultura, a Brazilian heavy metal band, find its name?
it was the name of their street
it was an ancient term for death
one of them worked in a place full of it
they took it from a Motorhead song
Sepultura got its name from the title of the Motorhead song, "Dancing on Your Grave." The founding brothers were also deeply affected by their father's death.
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