Heavy Metal Riffs and Legends – answers and explanations
Here are the answers to all 15 questions in the Heavy Metal Riffs and Legends quiz, each with a short explanation. From Birmingham's smoky origins to stadium anthems — how well do you know metal? Haven't played yet? Take the quiz first and compare your score.
Play the quiz · 15 questions1. What is the name of Iron Maiden's zombie-like album cover mascot?
Answer: Eddie
Iron Maiden's mascot is Eddie (Eddie the Head), who first appeared in silhouette on the 1980 single 'Running Free' and was painted by artist Derek Riggs for the band's debut album. Vic Rattlehead belongs to Megadeth and Snaggletooth to Motorhead.
2. A fire at a Montreux casino inspired which Deep Purple classic?
Answer: Smoke on the Water
'Smoke on the Water' describes the 4 December 1971 fire that destroyed the Montreux Casino during a Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention show, started by an audience member's flare gun. Deep Purple were in town to record Machine Head.
3. Who became AC/DC's singer on 'Back in Black' after Bon Scott's death?
Answer: Brian Johnson
Brian Johnson, formerly of the band Geordie, was announced as AC/DC's new singer in April 1980 after Bon Scott died in February, and he fronted 'Back in Black', released that July.
4. Which track opens Metallica's 1991 self-titled 'Black Album'?
Answer: Enter Sandman
'Enter Sandman' opens Metallica's self-titled 'Black Album' (released 12 August 1991) and was its lead single; it was the first song written for the record and the last to get lyrics.
5. Which instrument did Motorhead's frontman Lemmy play while singing?
Answer: Bass guitar
Lemmy Kilmister sang lead while playing bass, famously using Rickenbacker basses through overdriven Marshall stacks for a distorted, chord-heavy rumble, a sound he developed after founding Motorhead in 1975.
6. Which Black Sabbath guitarist lost fingertips in a factory accident as a teenager?
Answer: Tony Iommi
Tony Iommi lost the tips of the middle and ring fingers of his right (fretting) hand at age 17 on his last day at a Birmingham sheet metal factory. He made plastic thimbles from a detergent bottle and detuned his guitar, shaping Black Sabbath's heavy sound.
7. Ozzy Osbourne infamously bit the head off which creature on stage in 1982?
Answer: A bat
On 20 January 1982 at Veterans Memorial Auditorium in Des Moines, Iowa, Ozzy Osbourne bit the head off a bat thrown onstage, thinking it was a rubber toy, and had rabies shots afterwards. A year earlier he had bitten the heads off two doves at a record label meeting.
8. What is the title of Guns N' Roses' smash 1987 debut album?
Answer: Appetite for Destruction
Guns N' Roses' debut album Appetite for Destruction came out on 21 July 1987 and became the best-selling debut album in US history, driven by singles such as Welcome to the Jungle and Sweet Child o' Mine.
9. Which leather-clad singer is widely known as 'The Metal God'?
Answer: Rob Halford of Judas Priest
Judas Priest singer Rob Halford is nicknamed the Metal God, a title fans gave him after the 1980 album British Steel and its track Metal Gods; he trademarked the phrase in 2009.
10. Wacken Open Air, the world's biggest metal festival, is held in which country?
Answer: Germany
Wacken Open Air has been held since 1990 in the village of Wacken in Schleswig-Holstein, northern Germany, and draws around 85,000 fans each summer, making it the world's largest heavy metal festival.
11. Which Led Zeppelin song opens with one of rock's most famous acoustic guitar intros?
Answer: Stairway to Heaven
Stairway to Heaven, from Led Zeppelin's untitled fourth album (1971), begins with Jimmy Page's fingerpicked acoustic guitar before building to an electric climax. Whole Lotta Love, Immigrant Song and Black Dog all open with heavy electric riffs.
12. Which band released the 1980 album 'British Steel'?
Answer: Judas Priest
British Steel is Judas Priest's sixth studio album, released in April 1980 and producing the singles Breaking the Law, Living After Midnight and United. It arrived at the height of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal.
13. Nirvana's 1991 breakthrough album 'Nevermind' featured which hit single?
Answer: Smells Like Teen Spirit
Smells Like Teen Spirit was the lead single from Nirvana's 1991 album Nevermind and pushed grunge into the mainstream. Man in the Box is by Alice in Chains, Black Hole Sun by Soundgarden and Jeremy by Pearl Jam.
14. Which Metallica album is nicknamed after its all-black cover?
Answer: Metallica (1991)
Metallica's self-titled 1991 album is universally known as The Black Album because of its plain black sleeve; it contains Enter Sandman and became one of the best-selling albums ever.
15. Which AC/DC song features bagpipes played by singer Bon Scott?
Answer: It's a Long Way to the Top
Bon Scott played the bagpipes on It's a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll), released in December 1975. Producer George Young suggested it after hearing Scott had been in a pipe band, though Scott had actually been a drummer there.