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50's Music Trivia Questions and Answers

The decade of the jukebox and the first rock and roll records, 1950 to 1959, every fact dated.

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Which song, released by Chess Records in July 1955, was Chuck Berry's first hit?

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All 72 questions with answers

Rock and roll arrives 12

  • An instrumental released on March 31, 1958 by Link Wray & His Ray Men used distortion, tremolo and which kind of guitar chord, then little explored in rock and roll? Answer: Power chords. Source: Wikipedia: Rumble (instrumental)
  • Buddy Holly re-recorded one of his songs in 1957 with his new band, and that version achieved widespread success. What was the band called? Answer: The Crickets. Source: Wikipedia: That'll Be the Day
  • Several music writers consider a song first recorded in March 1951 to be the first rock and roll record. In which city was it recorded? Answer: Memphis. Source: Wikipedia: Rocket 88
  • The top 40 hit that Ritchie Valens adapted in 1958 is a Mexican folk song. From which state of Mexico did the song originally come? Answer: Veracruz. Source: Wikipedia: La Bamba (song)
  • Which 1955 song, Little Richard's first major hit, has a refrain that began as his spoken version of a drum pattern? Answer: Tutti Frutti. Source: Wikipedia: Tutti Frutti (song)
  • Which 1957 recording by Jerry Lee Lewis sold one million copies in its first ten days of release in the United States? Answer: Great Balls of Fire. Source: Wikipedia: Great Balls of Fire
  • Which group's 1954 recording became the first rock and roll record to top the pop charts in both the United States and the United Kingdom? Answer: Bill Haley & His Comets. Source: Wikipedia: Rock Around the Clock
  • Which singer and guitarist wrote and first recorded, in 1955, a rock and roll standard that is considered one of the first rockabilly records? Answer: Carl Perkins. Source: Wikipedia: Blue Suede Shoes
  • Which singer made the original recording of a twelve-bar blues by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller on August 13, 1952, her only hit record? Answer: Big Mama Thornton. Source: Wikipedia: Hound Dog (song)
  • Which song did Eddie Cochran write with his manager, Jerry Capehart, and release in August 1958, at first as the B-side of a single? Answer: Summertime Blues. Source: Wikipedia: Summertime Blues
  • Which song, released by Chess Records in July 1955, was Chuck Berry's first hit? Answer: Maybellene. Source: Wikipedia: Maybellene
  • Whose first single for his new label, RCA Victor, came out on January 27, 1956? Answer: Elvis Presley. Source: Wikipedia: Heartbreak Hotel

Pop hits and crooners 12

  • A ballad about which frontiersman was introduced on ABC television in the premiere episode of a new series on October 27, 1954? Answer: Davy Crockett. Source: Wikipedia: The Ballad of Davy Crockett
  • A song by Pat Ballard, published in 1954, asks a figure of folklore to bring a dream. It was recorded that year by the Four Aces and by which other group? Answer: The Chordettes. Source: Wikipedia: Mr. Sandman
  • A song that Ray Evans and Jay Livingston wrote for a Paramount film won the Academy Award for Best Original Song. It takes its title from a Renaissance portrait. Which one? Answer: Mona Lisa. Source: Wikipedia: Mona Lisa (Nat King Cole song)
  • A song that the Italian singer Domenico Modugno released on 1 February 1958 is popularly known by a one-word title meaning 'to fly'. What is it? Answer: Volare. Source: Wikipedia: Nel blu, dipinto di blu
  • Doris Day introduced a song by Jay Livingston and Ray Evans in a film of 1956. Who directed the film? Answer: Alfred Hitchcock. Source: Wikipedia: Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be)
  • Harry Belafonte's third studio album, released by RCA Victor in 1956, was the first long-playing record album to do what? Answer: Sell one million copies. Source: Wikipedia: Calypso (album)
  • In March 1956 Frank Sinatra released his tenth studio album. It was the first album ever to top which chart, first published on 22 July 1956? Answer: The UK Albums Chart. Source: Wikipedia: Songs for Swingin' Lovers!
  • The most popular version of a song from a German music drama of 1928 was recorded in 1959 and became a number one hit in the US and the UK. Who sang it? Answer: Bobby Darin. Source: Wikipedia: Mack the Knife
  • Rosemary Clooney's hit of 1951 has a melody based on an Armenian folk song. Ross Bagdasarian wrote it in 1939 with his cousin, which writer? Answer: William Saroyan. Source: Wikipedia: Come On-a My House
  • Which novelty song, written and performed by Sheb Wooley, was number one on the Billboard pop charts from June 9 to July 14, 1958? Answer: The Purple People Eater. Source: Wikipedia: The Purple People Eater
  • Whose 1950 recording made a country waltz written in 1946 into a multimillion seller? Answer: Patti Page. Source: Wikipedia: Tennessee Waltz
  • Whose recording of a song that pleads with the Roman goddess of love and beauty spent five weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1959? Answer: Frankie Avalon. Source: Wikipedia: Venus (Frankie Avalon song)

Doo-wop and rhythm and blues 12

  • A single that Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller produced for the Drifters, released by Atlantic Records, was whose debut recording as the group's lead singer? Answer: Ben E. King. Source: Wikipedia: There Goes My Baby (The Drifters song)
  • Bill Doggett recorded a two-part instrumental in 1956 that became his signature piece and the biggest R&B hit of the year. What is it called? Answer: Honky Tonk. Source: Wikipedia: Honky Tonk (instrumental)
  • Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers released their debut single on January 10, 1956, and it reached number one on the R&B chart. What was it called? Answer: Why Do Fools Fall in Love. Source: Wikipedia: Why Do Fools Fall in Love (song)
  • Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller wrote, produced and arranged a song of 1958 that spent seven weeks at number one on the R&B charts. For which group? Answer: The Coasters. Source: Wikipedia: Yakety Yak
  • The Penguins released their debut single in October 1954. In what kind of place in South Central Los Angeles had they recorded it as a demo? Answer: A garage. Source: Wikipedia: Earth Angel
  • Ray Charles improvised a song at a show late in 1958, when his set list ran out with time to spare. Released in June 1959, it was one of the first songs of which kind? Answer: Soul. Source: Wikipedia: What'd I Say
  • Which group released in November 1955 a song written by its manager, Buck Ram, with Tony Williams singing the lead vocals? Answer: The Platters. Source: Wikipedia: The Great Pretender
  • Which R&B singer first recorded, in 1958 on the Brunswick label, a single written by Berry Gordy Jr., Gwen Gordy and Billy Davis? Answer: Jackie Wilson. Source: Wikipedia: Lonely Teardrops
  • Which R&B vocal group wrote and first recorded a song of 1954 that is sometimes considered the first rock and roll record to reach the top ten of the pop charts? Answer: The Chords. Source: Wikipedia: Sh-Boom
  • Which singer wrote a hit of 1955 with Dave Bartholomew that reached number one on the Billboard R&B chart and in time sold a million copies? Answer: Fats Domino. Source: Wikipedia: Ain't That a Shame
  • Which subgenre of rhythm and blues, built on vocal group harmony with little or no instrumentation, began in African-American communities in the late 1940s? Answer: Doo-wop. Source: Wikipedia: Doo-wop
  • Which vocal group wrote and first recorded, in 1959, a song that the Scottish singer Lulu took to number 7 on the UK singles chart in 1964? Answer: The Isley Brothers. Source: Wikipedia: Shout (Isley Brothers song)

Country, rockabilly and folk 12

  • A folk standard first recorded by the blues musician Lead Belly in 1933 was a number one hit in 1950 for which group? Answer: The Weavers. Source: Wikipedia: Goodnight, Irene
  • A radio show that helped to launch country stars, and gave a stage to the young Elvis Presley, was broadcast from a municipal auditorium in which Louisiana city? Answer: Shreveport. Source: Wikipedia: Louisiana Hayride
  • Elvis Presley recorded his debut single on July 5, 1954, a song first performed by the blues singer Arthur Crudup. Which song was on its B-side? Answer: Blue Moon of Kentucky. Source: Wikipedia: That's All Right
  • Hank Williams first released his most recorded song in July 1952. It is named after a Creole and Cajun what? Answer: Dish. Source: Wikipedia: Jambalaya (On the Bayou)
  • Johnny Horton's recording of a song that Jimmy Driftwood wrote in 1936 reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1959. Which battle does it describe? Answer: The Battle of New Orleans. Source: Wikipedia: The Battle of New Orleans
  • Which country singer recorded, in November 1956, a song first given to the pop singer Kay Starr, whose label had rejected it? Answer: Patsy Cline. Source: Wikipedia: Walkin' After Midnight
  • Which duo's debut recording, a 1957 song by Felice and Boudleaux Bryant, reached number one as a country song in the spring of that year? Answer: The Everly Brothers. Source: Wikipedia: Bye Bye Love (The Everly Brothers song)
  • Which group's 1958 recording of a traditional North Carolina folk song reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100? Answer: The Kingston Trio. Source: Wikipedia: Tom Dooley (song)
  • Which kind of folk music, played on manufactured and homemade instruments, became extremely popular in 1950s Britain through artists such as Lonnie Donegan? Answer: Skiffle. Source: Wikipedia: Skiffle
  • Which singer wrote and first recorded a western ballad of 1959 that became the first number one hit of the 1960s on both the country and the pop charts? Answer: Marty Robbins. Source: Wikipedia: El Paso (song)
  • Which song, written and recorded in 1956, became Johnny Cash's first number one hit on the Billboard country chart? Answer: I Walk the Line. Source: Wikipedia: I Walk the Line
  • The word rockabilly joins rock, from rock 'n' roll, to which other word? Answer: Hillbilly. Source: Wikipedia: Rockabilly

Jazz, dances, stage and screen 12

  • A jazz standard that the Dave Brubeck Quartet recorded in 1959 is written in quintuple time. How many beats does that put in each bar? Answer: Five. Source: Wikipedia: Take Five
  • Elaine Lorillard established a summer jazz festival in 1954 in the city of Newport. In which state is it? Answer: Rhode Island. Source: Wikipedia: Newport Jazz Festival
  • Ella Fitzgerald's double album of 1956 was the first in a series of LPs devoted to great American songwriters. Whose songs fill it? Answer: Cole Porter. Source: Wikipedia: Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Cole Porter Song Book
  • Elvis Presley recorded a ballad for a 20th Century Fox film of 1956. Its melody is a sentimental ballad from the time of which war? Answer: The Civil War. Source: Wikipedia: Love Me Tender (song)
  • Frank Sinatra's ninth studio album, released by Capitol Records on April 25, 1955, has been called one of the first albums of which kind? Answer: Concept albums. Source: Wikipedia: In the Wee Small Hours
  • In a musical with book, music and lyrics by Meredith Willson, the con man Harold Hill poses as the organizer and leader of what? Answer: A boys' band. Source: Wikipedia: The Music Man
  • In a slow rock 'n' roll dance popular in the late 1950s, two lines of dancers face each other and each couple in turn dances down between them. What was it called? Answer: The Stroll. Source: Wikipedia: The Stroll
  • Which dance of the 1950s, done with a pattern of hand moves and claps, resembles a highly elaborate version of pat-a-cake? Answer: The hand jive. Source: Wikipedia: Hand jive
  • Which disc jockey appeared as himself in a musical film of 1956 that featured Chuck Berry, LaVern Baker and other rock and roll singers of the era? Answer: Alan Freed. Source: Wikipedia: Rock, Rock, Rock!
  • Which jazz musician led the sextet, with John Coltrane on saxophone, on an album that Columbia Records released on August 17, 1959? Answer: Miles Davis. Source: Wikipedia: Kind of Blue
  • Which relaxed style of samba was developed in Rio de Janeiro in the late 1950s and early 1960s? Answer: Bossa nova. Source: Wikipedia: Bossa nova
  • Which Shakespeare play inspired a musical with music by Leonard Bernstein and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, set on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in the mid-1950s? Answer: Romeo and Juliet. Source: Wikipedia: West Side Story

Labels, jukeboxes and radio 12

  • The 13-story tower completed in Hollywood in April 1956 for Capitol Records is considered the world's first office building of which shape? Answer: Circular. Source: Wikipedia: Capitol Records Building
  • A record company set up in 1950 as the successor to Aristocrat Records specialized in blues and rhythm and blues. In which city was it established? Answer: Chicago. Source: Wikipedia: Chess Records
  • According to one producer, Todd Storz invented the Top 40 radio format in the early 1950s at his station in which city? Answer: Omaha. Source: Wikipedia: Top 40
  • Leo Fender designed a prototype in 1950 for the bass players of big bands, and it reached the market the following year. What kind of instrument was it? Answer: An electric bass guitar. Source: Wikipedia: Fender Precision Bass
  • On December 4, 1956, Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins and Johnny Cash held an impromptu jam session in Memphis. Under which title did a newspaper report it? Answer: Million Dollar Quartet. Source: Wikipedia: Million Dollar Quartet
  • What is the practice known in the music industry as payola? Answer: Paying a radio station in secret to play a song. Source: Wikipedia: Payola
  • Which label, founded by Sam Phillips on February 1, 1952, was the first to record Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins and Johnny Cash? Answer: Sun Records. Source: Wikipedia: Sun Records
  • Which music and dance television program began in Philadelphia in 1952 and showed teenagers dancing to songs from the Top 40 charts? Answer: American Bandstand. Source: Wikipedia: American Bandstand
  • Who founded Atlantic Records with Herb Abramson in October 1947? Answer: Ahmet Ertegun. Source: Wikipedia: Atlantic Records
  • Whose recording became the first number one song on Billboard magazine's new Hot 100 chart on August 4, 1958? Answer: Ricky Nelson. Source: Wikipedia: Poor Little Fool
  • Whose single was the first to receive a gold record certification from the Recording Industry Association of America, on March 14, 1958? Answer: Perry Como. Source: Wikipedia: Catch a Falling Star
  • The word jukebox came into use in the United States from 1940. It refers to juke joints, a name that comes from a word in which language? Answer: Gullah. Source: Wikipedia: Jukebox

How it works

Whose first single for RCA Victor came out in January 1956, and which album was the first LP to sell a million copies? These 50's music trivia questions and answers come in six rounds of twelve.

Read the full guide

50s music trivia questions, round by round

Rock and roll arrives has Memphis in March 1951, a drum pattern that became a refrain and the first rock and roll record to top the charts in two countries. Pop hits and crooners has a purple novelty hit and a waltz that sold in millions. Doo-wop and rhythm and blues has a demo made in a garage.

Questions on 1950's music for a party or a reunion

Jazz, dances, stage and screen is the gentlest round, with five easy questions of twelve, among them the hand jive, bossa nova and a musical drawn from Shakespeare. Country, rockabilly and folk has Hank Williams and the Kingston Trio. Finish on Labels, jukeboxes and radio, which asks where the word jukebox comes from.

  • Most answers come with a song title, so have the table hum the tune once the answer is shown.

Questions and answers

What are some 1950's music trivia questions with answers?

Which song was Chuck Berry's first hit? Whose record was the first number one of the Billboard Hot 100? Which label was the first to record Elvis Presley? The answers are Maybellene, Ricky Nelson and Sun Records.

Are these 50s music trivia questions and answers printable?

Yes. Every question stands with its answer in the list under the quiz. To hand out a sheet, play a set and press Print. The With answer key box adds the answers for the host.

What was the first rock and roll record?

There is no agreed answer. Several music writers name Rocket 88, recorded in Memphis in March 1951. Some historians cite The Fat Man, the first single of Fats Domino, and several critics name That's All Right, which Elvis Presley recorded on July 5, 1954.

How were the answers checked?

On October 16, 2026 every answer was read in the English Wikipedia article about its own song, album, label or dance: 72 articles for 72 questions. A date is given the way its article gives it, and no lyric is printed.

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