Pop Music: From Backstreet to Main Street

Question: Which continent’s music has had the most influence on American popular music?

Answer: Music brought to America by African slaves influenced jazz, blues, and rock music.

Question: What is the Latin pop music style invented in 1970s New York City?

Answer: Salsa (Spanish for “sauce”) is a pop mixture of musical styles from Cuba and other Spanish-speaking countries that came together in New York City in the 1970s.

Question: Who is the pop singer who started the WOMAD world music festival series?

Answer: Peter Gabriel, the former lead singer of Genesis, cofounded the ongoing WOMAD (World of Music, Arts, and Dance) Festival in 1982.

Question: In pop music recordings, which instruments are usually recorded first?

Answer: Bass and drums are usually recorded first.

Question: Which of the following is not a famous pop music "sound"?

Answer: Puget Sound is a body of water adjacent to the U.S. city of Seattle, Washington. The others are categories of popular American music.

Question: In pop music, what is the term for the bass player and the drummer?

Answer: The bass player and the drummer are usually referred to as the rhythm section because they set and maintain a song’s tempo.