Bands and Musical Artists Mentioned in Songs Quiz

Answer: Buddy Holly

Buddy Holly was a a rock and roll musician who wore glasses. He became famous for hit songs like "Oh Boy" and "Peggy Sue." He died in a plane crash in 1959 at just 22 years old. His death was referred to as "The day the music died" in Don McLean's 1971 hit song "American Pie." Weezer released a hit song called "Buddy Holly" in 1994, in which lead singer Rivers Cuomo says that he looks like Buddy Holly. That was true. Cuomo's face was similar to Holly's and they both wore glasses.

Answer: KISS

KISS were a band known as "shock rock." They did catchy hard rock songs and they wore make-up and had explosions onstage. They were known for their stage show and for hit songs like "Rock and Roll All Night" and "Beth."

Jimmy Buffet's song "Manana" goes "Don't try to describe a KISS concert if you've never seen one."

Weezer song "In The Garage" goes "My favorite rock group KISS" and mentioned guitarist Ace Frehley and drummer Peter Criss.

In Marilyn Manson's song "Lunchbox," the title object had a picture of KISS on it.

The Black Spiders have a song called "KISS Tried to Kill Me."

Answer: Ramones

Some people say the Ramones didn't sell many albums, but Spin Magazine says the Ramones were the second most influential band of all-time behind only the Beatles.

The Motorhead song is called "R.A.M.O.N.E.S." U2's song is called "The Miracle of Joey Ramone."

Answer: T. Rex

The Ramones song in question is entitled "Do You Remember Rock and Roll Radio?" Even though Johnny Ramone hated it, it is one of my favorite songs and you could almost build a whole quiz for this category just by using references in that song. The song is about rock musicians of the past and lamenting that rock music isn't like that anymore. The moral of that song is "We need change we need it fast, before rock's just part of the past. 'Cause lately it all sound the same to me."

T. Rex were a glam rock band. They had several hits in the U.K., but their only top ten hit in the U.S. was "Bang a Gong (Get it on)"

Answer: Don McLean

Five For Fighting wrote a song about the song "American Pie." This song mentions "Chevies and levees playing on the radio," referring to American Pie's "Drove a Chevy to the levee but the levee was dry." The chorus goes "We were more than just a slice of American pie."

Answer: Elvis Presley

There are many songs about the king of rock and roll. Bands and artists who have written songs that mention Elvis include Styx ("Fallen Angel"), Dire Straits ("Calling Elvis"), Queen ("Crazy Little Thing Called Love"), Belle and Sebastian ("A Century of Elvis"), Alice Cooper ("DisGraceland") and U2 ("Elvis Presley and America")

Answer: Beethoven

Chuck Beery had a hit song called "Roll Over Beethoven," which was covered by many other artists including the Beatles and ELO. The ELO version of the song begins and ends with a rendition of the beginning of Beethoven's fifth Symphony.

ELO's hit song "Rockaria" which is about a girl who loves classical music but doesn't know much about rock music, goes "I think she died for Beethoven."

Answer: Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan is a folk songwriter who was popular in the 1960s and the 1970s. He is regarded by many people, even many musicians, as one of the greatest songwriters who ever lived, if not the greatest.

Billy Joel's song "We Didn't Start The Fire" mentions Dylan.

The Who's "The Seeker" goes "I asked Bob Dylan."

John Lennon's song "God" mentions Zimmerman, which is Bob Dylan's real name. John Lennon was a big fan of Bob Dylan, and Dylan was an influence on the Beatles' latter-day work.

David Bowie wrote a song called "Song For Bob Dylan."

Belle and Sebastian had a song called "Like Dylan in the Movies."

Answer: Kurt Cobain

Kurt Cobain created a three-piece rock band called Nirvana. Nirvana became one of the most popular and influential rock bands of all time thanks in large part to their classic 1991 album "Nevermind," specifically songs like "Smells Like Teen Spirit," "In Bloom," "Come as You Are," and "Lithium."

Weezer's 2008 song "Heart Songs" mentions an album with a cover that "had a baby, he was naked." This is a reference to Nirvana's "Nevermind" album.

Sheryl Crow's song "Maybe Angels" goes "My sister, she says she knows Elvis/She knows Jesus, John Lennon and Cobain, personally."

50 Cent's "A Baltimore Love Thing" says "Kurt Cobain, we were good friends."

The Cult's "Sacred Life" goes"Kurt Cobain was so young. Sad to see this poet's gone."

The Mountain Goats' "Love Love Love" goes "Way out in Seattle, young Kurt Cobain snuck out to the greenhouse put a bullet in his brain."

Answer: Bruce Springsteen

Bruce Springsteen is a very popular songwriter who wrote hit songs in both the 1970s and the 1980s. Some of these hits are "Hungry Heart," "Born to Run," and "Born in the U.S.A."

Weezer's "Heart Songs" says "Mr. Springsteen, he had a hungry heart."

Ian Hunter's "Listen to the Eight Track" says "I put on Bruce Springsteen's new double album."

John Mellencamp, in his song "Kid Inside," said "Everything I'm sayin' can be said better by Mr. Springsteen."

Rick Springfield had a song called "Bruce" which goes "Mr. Springsteen, you're a famous man." This song also mentions the song "Born to Run."

Eric Church wrote a song about him that was simply titled "Springsteen."