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The October Mixed Bag Music Quiz

 

🎸 Hidden Gems: The October Mixed Bag

20 questions • 5 formats • One seriously eclectic playlist

Welcome to the musical lucky dip!

We've thrown out the rulebook, tipped the record crate upside down, and let twenty tracks escape into the wild.

This month, there's no ridiculously long sentence to decipher. No single format to master. Instead, we're mixing picture clues, multiple choice, missing song titles, lyrical detective work and a few wild cards designed to test just how far your musical knowledge stretches.

We've got psychedelic rock, Indonesian metal, British legends, South African talent, alternative heavyweights, garage-punk weirdness and a few unexpected detours along the way.

Some answers might jump straight into your head. Others may require a little digging around the dusty corners of your memory.

And remember, this is Hidden Gems. Knowing the biggest hit from a band won't necessarily save you here.

Twenty questions. Twenty tracks. How deep does your crate-digging go?

Grab a pen, trust your ears, and let's find out.


Round 1: Picture Clues 🖼️

Four images. Four musical mysteries. The pictures are your clues, but the artist and song title are yours to uncover.

Question 1


What song and artist are hiding behind this larger-than-life image?

Question 2

Name the song and artist.

Question 3

Which solo artist and track are we looking for?

Question 4

Name the song and band.


Round 2: Multiple Choice 🔘

Four options. One correct answer. No asking the person next to you.

Question 5

Which band released “God, Allow Me (Please) to Play Music”?

  • A. The Hu 
  • B. Voice of Baceprot 
  • C. Bloodywood 
  • D. Babymetal

Question 6

“Mr Pitiful” is performed by which group in the film and soundtrack world?

  • A. The Blues Brothers 
  • B. The Commitments 
  • C. The Foundations 
  • D. The Animals

Question 7

Which band recorded “Symptom of the Universe”?

  • A. Judas Priest 
  • B. Motörhead 
  • C. Sepultura 
  • D. Black Sabbath

Question 8

Who gave us the alternative-rock track “A Girl Like You”?

  • A. Nick Lowe 
  • B. Edwyn Collins 
  • C. Paul Weller 
  • D. Richard Ashcroft


Round 3: Complete the Title 🧩

We give you the beginning. You supply the missing piece.

Question 9

Queen — Spread Your ______

Question 10

13th Floor Elevators — You're Gonna ______ Me

Question 11

Slipknot — The Virus of ______

Question 12

Paul Young — Tomb of ______


Round 4: Musical Detective 🎤

No easy chorus giveaways here. Read each description of the song's lyrical world and identify the track and artist.

Question 13

This track shares its title with a Black Sabbath classic, but this version comes from a different era of heavy rock. Imagine the sky opening up above a desolate, post-apocalyptic landscape.

Which song are we describing?

Question 14

A founding figure of psychedelic rock takes us into a world of horror-movie imagery, where a creature of the night is waiting after dark. This track is a perfect fit for the Halloween season.

Name the song and artist.

Question 15

This track from a former Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist comes from his solo catalogue. Its title suggests the passage of time and the way life keeps changing.

Which song are we looking for?

Question 16

A dark, unsettling track from Nine Inch Nails, with a title that suggests something being consumed by flames. It appeared on the soundtrack to the film Natural Born Killers.

Name the song.


Round 5: The Wild Cards 🎲

Anything goes. These last four questions reward knowledge that stretches beyond the obvious hits.

Question 17

The Pretty Things

Complete the full title:

“Cries from the ______ ______”

Two missing words. One classic British psychedelic-rock deep cut.

Question 18

Black Sabbath

The title of this track repeats the band's own name, followed by two words that sound like a particularly grim religious ceremony.

What is the full song title?

Question 19

Neu!

This German experimental rock group's track has a one-word title associated with a champion, a leading figure or someone who takes the initiative.

What is the title?

Question 20

The South African connection

Sannie Fox released a track with a title that represents liberation, independence and breaking free.

What is the song called?


 ðŸ“Š Your Hidden Gems Score

How deep did you dig? No shame in the score — the important thing is what you discover along the way.

| Score | Your crate-digger status |

| 0–4 | Still browsing the record shop window. |

| 5–8 | The digging has begun. |

| 9–12 | A respectable collection of musical knowledge. |

| 13–16 | Serious crate-digger. We see you. |

| 17–19 | Deep-cut royalty. |

| 20/20 | The record collection has officially taken over your life. 🤘 |

 

🎯 The Questions Are Over!

Twenty tracks. Five different ways to find them. And hopefully a few musical discoveries to add to your listening list.

Did the picture clues help? Did multiple choice save you? Or did the deep cuts leave you staring into the middle distance, wondering where you've heard that title before?

There's only one way to settle it.

Let's see those answers!


🔎 The Answer Key

Press Play ▶️ 

1. Goliath — The Mars Volta

2. Spanish Train — Chris de Burgh

3. Spiderbite — Jerry CaCantrell

4. Surfin' Dead — The Cramps

5. God, Allow Me (Please) to Play Music — Voice of BaBaceprot

6. Mr Pitiful — The Commitments

7. Symptom of the Universe — Sepultura (their cover of the Black Sabbath original)

8. A Girl Like You — Edwyn Collins

9. Spread Your Wings — Queen

10. You're Gonna Miss Me — 13th Floor Elevators

11. The Virus of Life — Slipknot

12. Tomb of Memories — Paul Young

13. Hole in the Sky — 3000AD

14. Night of the Vampire — Roky Erickson

15. The Days Have Turned — John Frusciante

16. Burn — Nine Inch Nails

17. Cries from the Midnight Circus — The Pretty Things

18. Sabbath Bloody Sabbath — Black Sabbath

19. Hero — Neu!

20. Freedom — Sannie Fox

Press Play ▶️ 


🎸 Until the Next Dig...

That's another Hidden Gems quiz in the books.

If you scored twenty, congratulations — your record collection needs its own postcode. If you scored five, you've still got fifteen new reasons to explore.

And if you discovered a track you hadn't heard before, then the quiz has done precisely what it was meant to do.

Because we're not here to celebrate the same old hits everyone already knows.

We're here for the songs hiding just beneath the surface. The B-sides, the overlooked album tracks, the unexpected covers and the musical rabbit holes that lead somewhere wonderful.

Keep digging. Keep listening. Follow the B-side track.

Because some of the best music in the world is still waiting to be found. 🤘

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