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60. The turning point that led to the end of major record labels employing white performers
to cover black rock-and-roll artists’ songs occurred with which event?
A) Ray Charles had a No. 1 hit covering a country song in 1962.
B) The Crew Cuts covered “Sh–Boom” in 1954.
C) Little Richard had a hit, “Tutti–Frutti,” in 1956.
D) Jimi Hendrix covered Bob Dylan’s “All Along the Watchtower” in 1968.
E) None of the options are correct.
61. In the 1950s, disc jockey Alan Freed attempted to make rock-and-roll music more
acceptable to mainstream audiences by ______.
A) playing original rhythm-and-blues music and black versions of early rock and roll
B) playing rhythm-and-blues songs as they were covered by white musicians
C) developing formatted stations that targeted specific audiences with specific types of
music
D) developing payola practices that guaranteed the inclusion of particular songs on
mainstream music stations
E) having white musicians cover sacred gospel songs for mainstream audiences
62. Conservative social forces in the late 1950s pointed to Jerry Lee Lewis as an example of
______.
A) the new clean-cut musicians who were promoted by Dick Clark
B) a rock and roller who was considered to be “white trash”
C) how musicians could be corrupted by payola
D) how a young man from the South could realize the American Dream
E) how black musicians were inciting riots
63. The success of British groups in America in the 1960s led to ______.
A) the verification that the performers themselves could write and produce popular
music well
B) the German Invasion led by artists like the Scorpions
C) the acceptance of later British artists like OneRepublic and Radiohead
D) the sale of American popular music recordings in Europe
E) None of the options are correct.
64. Folk music ______.
A) is mostly acoustic music that is historically popular with authority figures
B) is a genre with a rich history of protest lyrics and a focus on social and political
issues
C) used electric guitars and loud drum solos to establish its distinctive sound
D) was at the heart of the payola scandals of the 1950s
E) has its roots as music composed and written down by so-called “Tin Pan Alley”
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65. The album that broke grunge music into the American mainstream was ______.
A) Nevermind by Nirvana
B) Thug Life by Tupac Shakur
C) Raising Hell by Run-DMC
D) Silence Yourself by The Savages
E) Dookie by Green Day
66. Which of the following statements about hip-hop music is true?
A) It is a broad description of music and culture that includes rapping,
sampling/cutting, and deejays.
B) It provides a way for artists to debate issues of gender, race, class, violence, and
drugs.
C) It has been criticized for lyrics that degrade women and glorify violence.
D) Some of its most popular artists include Lupe Fiasco and YG.
E) All of the options are correct.
67. Which of the following is the correct chronological order (oldest to newest) in which
musical genres first became popular?
A) Hip-hop, rock, punk, jazz, grunge
B) Jazz, punk, hip-hop, rock, grunge
C) Punk, jazz, grunge, hip-hop, rock
D) Jazz, rock, punk, hip-hop, grunge
E) Grunge, hip-hop, punk, rock, jazz
68. Sugarhill Gang’s 1979 hit “Rapper’s Delight” ______.
A) became the first No. 1 hip-hop album on the popular charts
B) infused hip-hop with a political take on ghetto life
C) sampled part of another song, a practice common to hip-hop
D) was part of the subgenre known as gangster rap
E) was covered more successfully by white artists
69. The term ______ refers to the economic situation in which a few firms dominate an
industry.
A) monopoly
B) corporate scaling economies
C) oligarchy
D) limited competition
E) oligopoly
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70. Which of the following large corporations is not one of the major firms controlling
national and international music distribution today?
A) RCA
B) Sony Music Entertainment
C) Warner Music Group
D) Universal Music Group
E) None of the options are correct.
71. In economic terms, the recording industry is best described as ______.
A) a monopoly
B) a big, friendly, family business
C) an oligopoly
D) alternative-music heaven
E) cluttered with indie record labels
72. An A&R (artist & repertoire) agent typically ______.
A) makes decisions about the final sound of a recording
B) listens to demo tapes and scouts talent for record labels
C) chooses studio recording equipment and manages audio technicians
D) makes distribution arrangements with major retailers
E) All of the options are correct.
73. Which of the following is not one of the ways record companies, composers, and
recording artists make their money?
A) The direct sale of CDs and digital downloads at retail stores
B) Charging fees to radio stations that play their music
C) The illegal sharing of songs via computer files
D) Selling albums and songs on sites like iTunes and Amazon
E) All of the options are correct.
74. Which statement best describes the uneasiness between the commercial and artistic sides
of the music business?
A) Record labels only want cookie-cutter artists, but recording artists don’t want to
compromise their own “sound.”
B) An artist who criticizes commercial culture might need to sign with a major label
and become part of that culture in order to reach a larger audience.
C) Record labels rely on the Internet to promote artists, but recording artists feel that
this practice is too commercial.
D) Artists want to set their own prices, but record labels are unwilling to allow artists
too much freedom.
E) All of the options are correct.
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75. Which of the following statements accurately represents how independent musicians use
the Internet?
A) The Internet is a big obstacle for new musicians because they lose money on illegal
song downloads.
B) The Internet doesn’t really have much impact on new or independent musicians.
C) The Internet provides an inexpensive way for new artists to create a fan base using
social networking sites.
D) No musicians have been able to use the Internet to launch a mainstream music
career.
E) The Internet is the only way for independent musicians to launch a mainstream
music career.
76. Which of the following is not an example of the Web sites that are increasingly popular
places for fans to sample and discover new music?
A) Google
B) Pandora
C) Facebook
D) YouTube
E) Rhapsody
77. Which of the following statements about the music industry and the Internet since the
year 2000 is true?
A) Musicians and music companies are afraid to use the Internet to market new music.
B) No one will spend money for music if they can download it for free.
C) Artists who use the Internet to generate a fan base can improve their chances of
being signed by a major label.
D) No musicians have experimented with bypassing record labels and selling their
music directly on the Internet.
E) None of the options are correct.
78. Which statement best describes the relationship between small independent music labels
and the huge major music labels?
A) Each survives only by trying to put the other out of business.
B) The major labels are better able than indies to use downloads and streaming.
C) Independent labels often rely on major labels for distribution.
D) Independents distribute only mainstream music while the majors cover niche
markets and discover new talent.
E) There are no independent labels left because they’ve all been purchased or run out
of business by the three major labels.
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79. What does the term digital divide refer to?
A) Most attempts happened in the 1950s and 1960s.
B) Concerns over lyrics in the mid-1980s had no effect on the music industry.
C) Before the British Invasion, there were no clashes between older and younger
generations over music.
D) Gangster rap was embraced by middle-class white adults as an excellent way for
their children to learn about inner-city life.
E) None of the options are correct.
80. According to the American Library Association, what is a limitation of trying to protect
children from inappropriate material on the Internet?
A) Lower prices for music
B) Higher royalty rates for artists
C) Monopolistic control of the music industry
D) Music advisory labels
E) The legalization of payola
81. Over the last century, the music industry ______.
A) has had a history of reproducing and reinforcing racial, gender, and other
stereotypes
B) challenged racial, gender, and other stereotypes
C) encouraged rebellion and confrontation with authority
D) toned down content in order to increase profits
E) All of the options are correct.
82. In the 1940s, _____________________ originated as magnetized strands.
83. A(n) _________________________ recording is made by capturing the fluctuations of
the original sound waves and storing those signals in record grooves or an audiotape’s
continuous stream of magnetized particles.
84. A _________________________ recording is made by turning sound waves into a series
of on-off pulses stored as numerical code.
85. Bing Crosby established himself as one of the first _________________________, or
singers of pop standards.
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86. Before rock and roll, the music industry distinguished pop charts—featuring mostly
white music—from R&B, or _________________________ charts—featuring mostly black
music.
87. In the 1950s, songs recorded or performed by musicians who did not originally write or
perform the music, were called _________________________; they were an attempt by white
producers and artists to capitalize on popular songs by blacks.
88. _________________________ is a style of music that depicts the hardships of urban life
and sometimes glorifies the violent style of street gangs.
89. Music talent scouts, or _________________________, discover, develop, and
sometimes manage performers.
90. Unauthorized online file sharing is known as __________________.
91. Buddy Holly died in ____, a tragedy known as “the day music died.”
92. Thomas Edison invented the ____, a device that recorded and played back sound.
93. Little Richard performed as a ____, which blurred the lines of gender identity and sexual
orientation.
94. ____, was drafted into the Army.
95. Bing Crosby is considered a ____, or a singer of “pop” standards.
96. Chuck Berry was ____ for gun possession.
97. In 1960, Alan Freed admitted to participating in ____, the practice of record promoters’
paying deejays or radio programmers to play particular songs.
98. Emile Berliner, a German engineer, developed a machine that played a ____ or record.
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99. Jerry Lee Lewis was exiled from the industry when he married his young ____.
100. Why did Emile Berliner’s flat disk replace Thomas Edison’s wax cylinder, and why did
this technical reconfiguration matter in the history of mass media?
101. Compare and contrast how Adele and Taylor Swift became pioneers in the music
industry.
102. How did sound recording survive the coming of radio?
103. Why did cover music figure so prominently in the development of rock and roll and the
recording industry in the 1950s?
104. How has the way people listen to music changed in the last decade or so? How might
those changes affect the kinds of music that artists make? What does that mean for music as a
part of culture?
105. Briefly explain how rock and roll muddied the waters of the American cultural landscape
in the 1950s.
106. Why did hip-hop and punk rock emerge as significant musical forms in the late 1970s
and 1980s? What do their developmental paths have in common, and how are they different?
107. Write a short biography of Max Martin and his effect on the music industry.
108. Why are independent labels important to the music industry today?
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Answer Key
1. A
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45. A
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