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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Whom did Bob Dylan claim was "America's greatest poet"?
(a) Bob Dylan.
(b) Sly Stone.
(c) Randy Newman.
(d) Smokey Robinson.

2. In what song does Sly Stone mock his own song "Thank you falettinme be mice elf Agin"?
(a) "Africa Talks to You 'The Asphalt Jungle.'"
(b) "Blowin Your Mind."
(c) "Thank you for talkin' to me Africa."
(d) "Bonnie and Clyde."

3. What group did Cleaver and Seale found?
(a) Temptations.
(b) Black Panthers.
(c) Pilgrims.
(d) Chil-Lites.

4. Who wrote "Papa Was a Rolling Stone?'
(a) The Temptations.
(b) Jimmy Hendrix.
(c) Bob Dylan.
(d) Sly Stone.

5. What archetype does Newman represent?
(a) The American philosopher.
(b) Doomed lover.
(c) Keeper of American imagination.
(d) Journeyman.

6. What motto of Hank Williams' made him similar to Robert Johnson according to Marcus?
(a) What life doesn't give me, I'll take.
(b) The end is near.
(c) Nothing really matters.
(d) Life goes on.

7. What was the original name of the style that Elvis sang?
(a) Rockabilly.
(b) Country.
(c) Rock 'n' Roll.
(d) Rhythm and Blues.

8. From whom does Marcus quote in the beginning to introduce the myth of Staggerlee in "Sly Stone"?
(a) James Brown.
(b) Billy Lyon.
(c) Bobby Seale.
(d) Sly Stone.

9. Who said "if I couldn't perform I'd give up . . . It's not a question of the money side of it. . . not having that ninety minutes up there anymore. Phew. I don't like to think about it"?
(a) Randy Newman.
(b) Van Morrison.
(c) John Lennon.
(d) Rod Stewart.

10. What is the mood in the Riot album?
(a) Hope.
(b) Anger.
(c) Joy.
(d) Oppression.

11. What literary figure does Marcus allude to in "Sly Stone" when identifying how Sly speaks in the music?
(a) Frodo.
(b) Ahab.
(c) Golem.
(d) Starbuck.

12. Who wrote "Hound Dog"?
(a) Elvis Presley.
(b) Carl Perkins.
(c) Robert Johnson.
(d) Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller.

13. Who wrote "obviously, it is easier to kill than to create" (95)?
(a) Greil Marcus.
(b) Sly Stone.
(c) Nietszche.
(d) Josef von Sternberg.

14. Staggerlee and Sly Stone are both powerful, but what is different about them?
(a) Staggerlee worked his way to the top.
(b) Sly did not kill anyone to get power.
(c) Staggerlee had no emotion.
(d) Sly bought his fame.

15. What two lines from an Elvis song does Marcus claim are the most perfect lines in blues?
(a) "If you don't believe I'm leavin' / You can count the days I'm gone" (152).
(b) "I'm gonna quit my crying / I'm gonna leave you alone" (152).
(c) "That's All Right" and "My Baby Left Me" (155).
(d) "I tried and I failed / And I feel like going home" (154).

Short Answer Questions

1. Why does Marcus discuss many movies in "Sly Stone"?

2. What song by Randy Newman was a satire on bigotry?

3. Who wrote "We needed . . . to be violently stirred into life . . . intolerable social constraints grew daily upon us"?

4. According to Marcus in "Randy Newman," what is the number one democratic desire?

5. In "Elvis," what song does Elvis make his own by changing the story from hopelessness to hope?

(see the answer keys)

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