Before they were filling arenas with sprawling, cosmic soundscapes, seashell-shaped backdrops, and the scent of drifting patchouli, progressive rock legends Yes were just five ambitious London musos chasing sonic alchemy.

Formed in 1968, they set out to smash the boundaries of the late-sixties underground. And, by-and-large, they succeeded, aided in no small part by Jon Anderson's angelic voice, Chris Squire's Rickenbacker bass rumble, Peter Banks' jazzy fretwork, Tony Kaye’s driving organ, and Bill Bruford’s intricate, thrilling drumwork. This early incarnation wasn’t yet the symphonic beast of the seventies, but they were a fierce, high-energy live act, fusing the melodic muscle of The Beatles with fiery bursts of proto-prog.

Their self-titled 1969 debut, and 1970’s Time And A Word, showcased a band testing the limits of their own ambition, blending original material with heavily rearranged, symphonic covers of The Beatles, The Byrds, Simon & Garfunkel and Leonard Bernstein. The music was breathless, unusually complex, and surprisingly raw.

These formative years might have lacked the sure-footed ambition that resulted in later, long-form masterpieces like Fragile and Close To The Edge, but they laid the foundations of all that followed. And by the time The Yes Album arrived in early 1971 – with Steve Howe replacing Banks – all the building blocks were in place. Well, apart from cover artist Roger Drean. He arrived later that year.

How much do you know about Yes's early years? Try our quiz below, and let us know how you got on in the comments. And don't cheat. We're watching.

Few bands arrived with the force or mystery of Led Zeppelin. When Jimmy Page – desiring more than the regular work of a successful London session musician – assembled the group in 1968, few could have predicted just how quickly they would reshape rock music.

The late 60s had already delivered much: The Beatles, the Stones, folk rock, the blues boom and psychedelia. But Zeppelin brought something heavier, darker and more electrifying. They were like their predecessors, but also completely unlike them. They were more majestic. It was as if they arrived on pedestals. The 70s? In truth, they started the day Zeppelin released their debut album in January 1969, a full 12 months ahead of schedule.

Joining Page on his quest were singer Robert Plant, the original golden rock god, blonde of hair and bare of chest, with a voice from Olympus. Bassist and arranger John Paul Jones had the musical chops to match his guitarist. And drummer John Bonham? He was John Bonham. Enough said.

In just a few short years, they went from a hastily assembled touring band to the most exciting live act on the planet, swiftly moving from theatres to arenas and beyond to stadiums, with performances that were loud, loose and eye-wateringly lucrative. Led Zeppelin were the 1970s. At least for a while.

But how much do you really know about Zeppelin’s beginnings? Like the critically acclaimed Becoming Led Zeppelin documentary, this quiz dives into the dawn of one of rock’s greatest bands. Let us know how you got on in the comments.

Welcome to The Classic Rock Quiz, a new weekly quiz that takes your rock knowledge to the limit, one more time.

This week we have 22 questions, covering everyone from Aerosmith to Rory Gallagher, via the Stones, Motley Crue and Mott The Hoople – and much more besides.

All questions are multiple choice PLUS you win the chance to be humiliated and insulted at the end, depending on your score.

Share your scores with your friends and come back next week for more. Good luck!

Welcome to The Classic Rock Quiz, a new weekly quiz that will split families down the middle and set friend against friend.

20 questions, covering everyone from Van Halen to Pink Floyd and many more besides.

All questions are multiple choice PLUS you win the chance to be humiliated and insulted at the end, depending on your score.

Share your scores with your friends and come back next week for more. Good luck!

Welcome to The Classic Rock Quiz, a new weekly quiz designed to test your knowledge and strain the memory banks: which of you and your friends knows the most about rock?

20 questions, covering everyone from Kate Bush to AC/DC, Led Zeppelin and many more besides.

All questions are multiple choice PLUS you win the chance to be humiliated and insulted at the end, depending on your score.

Share your scores with your friends and come back next week for more. Good luck!

We challenged you to see if you know more about Metallica than Mastermind quiz contestant. Here are the correct answers…

1. Kill ’Em All
2. Tennis
3. Martin Hooker
4. Exodus
5. To Live Is To Die
6. Bob Rock
7. Andres Serrano
8. The Big Four
9. San Francisco Giants
10. One

Today is World Emoji Day, a day on which we should all spare a minute or two to reflect on the benefits to humanity generated by those useful little pictorial symbols without which communication in the modern age would be all but redundant.

We could not let this important day pass without paying our own tribute to the humble emoji. * So, below we have rendered the titles of 10 rock albums in emoji form: now it’s up to you to identify the albums, and indeed the artists who recorded them. The answers are at the bottom of the page: don’t even think about cheating!

Answers:

Rocket To Russia - Ramones

Diamond Dogs -David Bowie

Rainbow Rising - Rainbow

Elephant - The White Stripes

Horses - Patti Smith

Fire Dances - Killing Joke

Houses of the Holy - Led Zeppelin

Vs - Pearl Jam

Ok Computer - Radiohead

St. Anger - Metallica

* We’ll get back to our usual Pulitzer Prize-standard journalism tomorrow, killjoys ;)

So you think you know Ozzy Osbourne, the star of the brand new issue of Metal Hammer magazine?  But how well did you really do on our fiendish True Or False quiz? Here are the answers…

1. Of course it’s true, and arguably the most famous anecdote in metal history. Ozzy still claims he thought the bat – thrown onstage at a gig in Iowa in January ’82 – was fake.

2. False – he pissed near the Alamo, but the story that he peed directly onto the Texan war monument isn’t technically true. He was wearing that dress, though.

3. True, according to Sharon at least – Ozzy insists he doesn’t remember it. He also pissed in the wine and performed a Nazi goose step. Oh dear.

4. False – it was at a dinner hosted by George Snr’s son, George W. In fairness, ‘Dubya’ did give Ozzy a call-out from the stage, so it wasn’t totally unprompted.

5. True, and it’s another notorious one, taking place in a meeting with CBS records in 1981. Let’s just say animal charities probably weren’t too keen on our Ozz in the 80s.

6. False. We just made that up. We can imagine a lot of people wanted to punch Axl in the 80s and early 90s, though…

• World exclusive Ozzy Osbourne interview in the new issue of Metal Hammer 
• How a nuclear safety inspector made an album with 10 members of Black Sabbath
• Watch Bring Me The Horizon’s spirited live performance of Follow You
• ‘Trump’s fans will turn on him, trust me:’ an audience with Ice motherf**kin’ T

7. True. The statue was created by Jim Mendiola and Ruben Ortiz-Torres in honour of that aforementioned near-the-Alamo incident. It also looked freaky as shit.

8. True. It happened at Ozzy’s Buckinghamshire home in 2004, with the robber making off with Sharon’s wedding rings in the middle of the night. “It could have been a lot worse,” Ozzy noted after. We imagine the burglar thought the same.

9. False. Happily, the Osbournes’ dogs are some of the animals who’ve escaped Ozzy’s, um, appetite.

10. False. That’d be mental. Though he did once ink a couple of smiley faces onto his own knees.

The new issue of Metal Hammer - onsale now in UK newsagents or available to buy here 

At this year’s Rock On The Range festival in Columbus, Ohio, Whitney Moore teamed up with Heavy Grass to find out the answer to the question we often ask ourselves – is that a band or a weed strain?

Quizzing a number of people at the festival, Whitney tests the knowledge of stoners and headbangers alike with names such as Dog Shit, Spooky Tooth, Plunk Bottom Diesel and Demonhead. All could be bands, all good be marijuana strains, but what are they really?

With the opportunity of winning some Heavy Grass merch on offer, the good people of Rock On The Range (and Richie from Fire From The Gods) try to separate the mosh from the Mary Jane.

How well did you do?

The 10 Essential Stoner Metal Albums

The 10 best songs about drugs

Ozzy: Legal marijuana will save lives

On Thursday 13^th October, selected cinemas around the world will be screening Motley Crue: The End – the film documenting Crue’s final ever show. To celebrate we are giving away exclusive The End movie posters to 10 x lucky winners.

To get your hands on one of these rare posters, play our Motley Crue trivia game. The highest scoring players at the end of the quiz will each receive one of the prizes.

There are 10 x questions and the quiz is timed! You have 10 x seconds per question to answer. The faster your answer, the higher your score. You must be logged into the Team Rock website to be included on the high score table (but you can log in after playing the quiz, so it’s easy, fast and free).

There are still tickets available for Thursday night’s screenings. To find the screening nearest you and to book tickets visit the official Motley Crue film site.

Terms & Conditions

Players must be registered TeamRock members. Restricted to United Kingdom residents over the age of 15 years old only. 10 winners will receive an exclusive Motley Crue: The End poster. Competition Open date: 11:00 UK time 12/10/16 Competition Closing Date: 17:00 UK time 13/10/16. The winner will be announced on 14/10/16. Prizes will be posted by Music Screen. The prize is non-transferrable and no alternative cash prize will be offered.

When it comes to insane tour demands, this lot take the biscuit…and the bun-less hamburgers and gallon of Hennessy. Your mission - match the crazy rider to the correct artist.

As usual it’s 10 seconds per question, 10 questions per round. Remember the faster you answer, the higher your score! And if you hit the high numbers first time round, have another go.

Log into TeamRock.com to check your position on our brand new quiz leaderboards. Not yet a member? Sign up today - it’s completely free!

Enjoy.

• Metal Hammer Quiz: Rock Star Real Names
• Metal Hammer Quiz: Match the artist to the album title
• Metal Hammer Quiz: Match the singer to the band

They’re legends in the world of music, household names, but not every band has been happy with their original choice. Some of the most famous acts in the world were known by completely different names before they hit the big time.

We have ten trivia questions for you on the bands who changed names, why they changed and where the inspiration came from.

As always, you have ten seconds per question. The faster you answer, the higher your score. Log into teamrock.com to save your score and see you position on our new high score leaderboards. You can log in - or sign up - after you play. It’s fast, simple and free!

• Classic Rock Quiz: Rock Star Real Names
• Queen Quiz
• The Cure Quiz
• Classic Rock Quiz : True or False?

The rock world is famous for some long-running feuds, fights and disagreements. Bad blood between bands can last for decades. Some folks just plain hate each other, while internal arguments can lead even the biggest acts to break up.

Why can’t we all just get along? Won’t somebody please think of the fans? In today’s trivia we bring you the biggest band bust ups and long-lasting fights in the rock world.

As always there are 10 x questions. You have 10 x seconds per question - and the faster you answer, the higher your score. Not happy with your results? Play again. Your highest score is the one which counts.

You can save and share your score with the world at the end of each quiz. Not a member of teamrock.com? Sign up straight from the quiz, it’s fast, simple and free!

• Classic Rock Quiz: Rock Star Real Names
• The Classic Rock Lyrics Quiz: can you match the song to the lyric?
• Classic Rock Quiz: General Knowledge III
• Classic Rock Quiz: Rock Literature

Today marks the 50th Anniversary of Star Trek! But you don’t have to be a science-fiction fan to enjoy a good song about space travel and mysteries of the universe. Today we’re quizzing you on some of those classic “cosmic” songs, albums and bands…

As usual it’s 10 seconds per question, 10 questions per round. Remember the faster you answer, the higher your score! And if you hit the high numbers first time round, have another go.

Log into TeamRock.com to check your position on our brand new quiz leaderboards. Not yet a member? Sign up today - it’s completely free!

Enjoy.

• Classic Rock Quiz: Rock Star Real Names
• The Classic Rock Lyrics Quiz: can you match the song to the lyric?
• Prog Crossover Quiz

It’s quiz time. Today for Prog we have: Camel

Do you recall which band Camel supported for their first ever gig in 1971? Or which novel inspired their Dust and Dreams album?

As usual it’s 10 seconds per question, 10 questions per round. Remember the faster you answer, the higher your score! And if you hit the high numbers first time round, have another go.

And now you can log into TeamRock.com to check your position on our brand new quiz leaderboards! Not yet a member? Sign up today - it’s completely free!

Enjoy.

• Porcupine Tree Quiz
• The Hawkwind Quiz
• Jethro Tull Quiz
• Jon Anderson Quiz

Every band needs a front man - or woman. But which classic rock acts do these vocalists (past and present) belong to?

We’re taking it easy on you guys with this one…but there may be a few stumpers.

10 seconds per question, 10 questions per round. And if you hit the high score first time around, have another shot - there are 30 singers in there for your rock delight.

Enjoy and don’t forget to share your score…

• The Classic Rock Lyrics Quiz: can you match the song to the lyric?
• Women of Classic Rock Quiz
• Classic Rock Quiz : True or False?
• Classic Rock Quiz: Match the artist to the album title

Can you answer each question correctly in 10 seconds or less? Don’t forget to share your score!

• The Prog Lyrics Quiz

Today was the day Metallica infamously filed a suit against Napster, Yale University, The University of Southern California and Indiana University for copyright infringement back when downloading was still big and scary. Think you know your ‘Tallica? Here’s a few q’s to put that knowledge to the test…

It was 22 years ago today that Seattle bid farewell to Kurt Cobain. The unwilling personification of grunge and a spokesman for his generation, Cobain remains a musical hero for millions. For those who experienced Nirvanamania the first time round, and for those who’ve listened since, here’s a commemorative Nirvana quiz to mark today.

23 people were arrested after several thousand fans without tickets tried to gate-crash a Grateful Dead concert at the Pittsburgh Civic Arena, Pennsylvania. Consider yourself a true Dead Head? Try TeamRock’s Quiz of the Day…

The Black Crowes played a concert in Knoxville, Tennessee. Joshua Harmon, a teenager sitting in the second row sued the band a year later for $5,000 claiming significant hearing loss. Think you know The Black Crowes? Try TeamRock’s Quiz of the Day…

2015 was another landmark year for rock and metal - and prog and blues. Were you paying attention? Did you read the news? Were you following the biggest stories? Team Rock games have put together an exclusive set of brain teasers, just for TR+ members.

Check out the Quiz of the Year here

You never hear anyone talking about what a legendary band The New Yardbirds were, for the simple reason that Jimmy Page decided to change his band's name to Led Zeppelin.

Here are ten more band names that you’ll never see in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but do you know the rock superstars they became? Answers at the bottom of the page…

MOOKIE BLAYLOCK

TED ED FRED

GOTHIC PLAGUE

THE HIGH NUMBERS

SWEET CHILDREN

WICKED LESTER

ATOMIC MASS

MIGHTY JOE YOUNG

THE HYPE

MELD

How well do you think you’ve done?

And the answers are…