eMusic has released the country-by-country results of its Music Intelligence Quiz, a 30-question test that mostly tests your knowledge of canonically “important” music (topics include the Monterey Pop Festival, Fela Kuti, and the discography of Bjork). U.S.-based test-takers ranked eighth in the world, with an average score of 101/180; Icelanders’ average score of 119/180 was the highest. (Must be the hot dogs.) After the jump, some of the questions that I got wrong on my way to a 126/180 score. I won’t put the answers down, since you all (especially you, former Rock & Roll Jeopardy! contestant Dan Gibson) should take the quiz too, if only to give yourself the chance to crow in comments about how much smarter you are than me because you know Ryan Adams’ real name.
5. What band closed the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival?
11. Which of these is not a project involving rapper MF Doom:
15. What is Ryan Adams’ real first name?
16. Which British punk band were the first to release a single?
28. Ronnie Scott played saxophone on which Beatles recording?
I also got a question about the Bad Brains wrong, which I am wholly embarrassed over. Your turn!
Music Intelligence Quiz [mymusiciq.co.uk via Hypebot]
[Photo via ericcastro]
171/180, but I missed the Bad Brains question as well.
@Dan Gibson: Of course, the only thing my score proves is why I’m largely unemployable outside of pop culture related fields.
147/180; i missed questions mainly involving older rock bands from before my existence, like the kinks question and the otis redding question (also the ryan adams question).
147/180: Monterrey Pop, Coldplay (glad I didn’t know that actually), Fela Kuti, Bad Brains, and one other…..
153, after missing the question about the kinks (i’m admittedly not too familiar with The Kinks outside of Village Green and the big hits), Beethoven (d’oh!) and Basement Jaxx (sorry, don’t care much for British techno). I did, however, get the apparently troublesome Otis Redding and Bad Brains questions … though most of my correct responses (i.e. ZZ Top’s drummer, the Beatles tune Ronnie Scott played on, Coldplay’s inspiration for “Yellow”) were complete stabs in the dark.
117. at least i got the mouse on mars one right.
147/80. A little disappointing.
141/180. I missed the ones about Monterey, Coldplay, Factory Records, Bjork, Louis Armstrong, Bad Brains, and Otis Redding.
153. it seems to score 6 points per correct answer, so i’m not sure how 171 is possible Dan…
I was all ready to brag about my 138 until I read the comments here…
That test is so slanted towards people from Iceland. It really isn’t fair at all.
120, and I’m embarrassed that I got the Blue Suede Shoes question wrong. Screwed up on the punk questions, but that was to be expected.
But I got the Otis Redding one correct, and Ryan Adams…
153. I got the Coldplay, Bad Brains (d’oh!), first punk single and Doom questions wrong.
@thatssoraven: I think the questions are worth different multiples of 3, since 153 is a multiple of 3 but not of 6.
@thatssoraven: Sorry, 174. I can’t really read. The Bad Brains question was my miss, although I guessed on the Bjork question.
150. i’m pretty sure deep down i knew the bad brains answer but i guessed wrong.
144 — they got me on the kinks, ryan adams, bjork, zz top, and the minimalism one
@friendslikeJimRome: Icelanders use ketchup on spaghetti, and eat rotten shark that they pee on to preserve it in the ground. Also, Iceland has only 300,000 people. How many Americans have taken the quiz so far? We can beat them with our numbers alone!
162. damn you coldplay, bad brains, and ronnie scott. and i totally guessed on the ryan adams one - i don’t think i’ve ever listened to a ryan adams song.
147/180: Wrong - Monterey Pop, first Punk single, Bad Brains name, (standard misses for an ex-pseudo raver) Ryan Adams name, Coldplay
144: Wrong: Monterey Pop, Coldplay, Ryan Adams, Kinks song, and I forget what else.
All the punk questions screwed me up. I thought I knew more about punk.
wow, i thought that bad brains question was more common knowledge. i’ve clearly spent too much time reading wikipedia/living in the midatlantic punk scene
at first I thought this quiz was made just for me! That Kinks song is one of my fave songs, as is Bela Lugosi’s Dead. And the Factory records/Tony Wilson question…come on too easy!
Then came the modern classical questions and stuff about Coldplay’s inspiration for Yellow. I mean do Coldplay know the answer to that?
156/180.
Missed the Kinks question (D’oh!), the Spree/Broken Social Scene question, the Ryan Adams question, and the Bad Brains question.
I could’ve SWORN Broken Social Scene has more members than the Polyphonic Spree.
I am also very embarassed that I knew the answer to the Coldplay question.
I’m a “Birthday Party DJ!” oddly accurate, that.
@Jay-C: Yeah, me too. What the holy hell is wrong with you people?
@Jay-C: Me three…
I was happy with my 114, I didn’t know the Coldplay question, the Ryan Adams question, and that one about modern classical music. I was so pleased until I saw what everyone on here says they got. Hmmph. (nerds) :)
153 - missed Monterey Pop, Coldplay, Ryan Adams, and Ronnie Scott.
I suspect some questions are worth more points than others. 26 out of 30 should be 156 out of 180, if they’re all worth the same amount.
120–Did they mean to make the Mouse on Mars question so easy?
I made educated guesses to some, like the Monterey Pop, Polyphonic Spree, & Bjork questions. Got the punk questions, but also the Frankie goes to Hollywood question. (Pays to watch Zoolander one too many times?)
Wrong: Yellow, Ryan Adams, minimalist composers, Beatles, ZZ Top, Otis Redding, & a couple others.
159 - Coldplay, Bela Lugosi, and something else I cannae mind
@Chris Molanphy: I’m almost certain a high score comes with a badge of shame, actually.
@punkybunky: right? Who gives a fuck about Coldplay. “What inspired yellow?” Radiohead?
120. I’m drunk, so leave me alone.
Getting in late, sorry. (Long day…)
150. Missed mostly the usual suspects, but I got the Bad Brains question right–you guys almost psyched me out on that one. Most embarrassing misses for me were Kinks and Björk.
Oh…and, as usual, I bow before Dan.