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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Curtis Mayfield's songs in Superfly were meant to be what according to Marcus?
(a) Superficial.
(b) Legendary.
(c) Parody.
(d) Direct.

2. What is the name of Randy Newman's album that finally gained him a larger audience?
(a) The Godfather.
(b) Sail Away.
(c) Sunny Afternoon.
(d) Good Old Boys.

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

4. Who, according to Marcus, gave Staggerlee the cruelest epitaph?
(a) John Hurt.
(b) Eldridge Cleaver.
(c) Elvis Presley.
(d) Sly Stone.

5. How many people came to see Elvis open a shopping center after he produced only one record?
(a) 10,000.
(b) 30.
(c) 100.
(d) 3,000.

6. What Randy Newman song does Marcus claim suggests that the we are being laughed at and life is a joke?
(a) "Burn On."
(b) "Short People."
(c) "Suzanne."
(d) "God's Song."

7. Why does Marcus discuss many movies in "Sly Stone"?
(a) They all include the Staggerlee myth.
(b) They are biographies for Sly Stone.
(c) They are about black people.
(d) Sly Stone made the soundtracks for them.

8. What church did Elvis attend as a boy?
(a) Assembly of God.
(b) Seven Day Adventist.
(c) He did not go to church.
(d) Christ the King.

9. What political group does Marcus compare to Sly Stone's music in "Sly Stone"?
(a) Democrats.
(b) Fundamentalists.
(c) Republicans.
(d) Black Panthers.

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

11. What did RCA first present Elvis as?
(a) A hillbilly.
(b) A country singer.
(c) A folksinger.
(d) The boy next door.

12. What is Sly Stone's given name?
(a) Stanley Stewart.
(b) Sylvester Stone.
(c) Sly Stone.
(d) Sylvester Stewart.

13. What does Leslie Fielder call the Beatles in "Randy Newman"?
(a) Ancestors.
(b) Pop stars.
(c) Imaginary Americans.
(d) Democrats.

14. According to Marcus in "Randy Newman," why does Newman lack a large audience for most of his early carrier?
(a) He lacks talent.
(b) Critics loved him.
(c) Critics hated him.
(d) He does not try.

15. According to Marcus in "Sly Stone," what is pop culture by definition?
(a) Optimistic.
(b) Rebellious.
(c) Angry.
(d) Determined.

Short Answer Questions

1. What motto of Hank Williams' made him similar to Robert Johnson according to Marcus?

2. What type of audience does Marcus believe Randy Newman attracts?

3. Where does the line "They're animals anyway . . . let them lose their souls" come from?

4. 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"?

5. From whom does Marcus quote in the beginning to introduce the myth of Staggerlee in "Sly Stone"?

(see the answer keys)

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