Music · 3
Which 1982 Toto song, featuring a famously lush production style, won Record of the Year at the 1983 Grammy Awards and received heavy MTV airplay?
Answer
Rosanna
'Rosanna' by Toto won Record of the Year at the 25th Grammy Awards in 1983 and became a staple of early MTV rotation. The song is also famous for its half-time shuffle drumming pattern, known in music circles as the 'Rosanna shuffle,' performed by Jeff Porcaro.
💡 Did you know?
The drum pattern in Toto's 'Rosanna' — now called the 'Rosanna shuffle' — is taught in music schools worldwide as a masterclass in half-time groove, invented by drummer Jeff Porcaro.
Other options people guess
- Africa
- Hold the Line
- Pamela
Topics
- mtv
- 1980s
- grammy
- classic-rock
Know your music trivia?
Play a free Music quiz and see how many you get right — no signup needed to start.
More Music facts
Music
Which 1986 Peter Gabriel music video, using pioneering optical printing and claymation techniques, won the first-ever Grammy Award for Best Music Video, Short Form?
Peter Gabriel kept his eyes open for the entire 'Sledgehammer' shoot — which involved hours of lying motionless under a glass floor while animators worked around him frame by frame.
Music
Which female artist was among the first to break through MTV's early resistance to solo women by fronting a band rather than performing alone, scoring heavy rotation in 1982 with 'Edge of Seventeen'?
MTV launched with zero music videos from female solo artists in heavy rotation, forcing women musicians to either front bands or fight for airtime throughout the early 1980s.
Music
Which MTV VJ, the only person of color among the channel's original five, left MTV in 1986 and later became a minister?
MTV's first four VJs were all white despite launching during hip-hop's golden age; network executives believed music videos wouldn't appeal to the MTV demographic.
Music
Which early New Orleans cornet player, regarded as jazz's first major innovator, left behind no known recordings of his music?
Buddy Bolden, considered jazz's first major innovator, spent his final 24 years institutionalized and left behind no recordings—only testimonies from those who heard him.
Music
Which 2015 Kendrick Lamar single became an unofficial rallying cry for Black Lives Matter protesters, despite not being written as a protest anthem?
Kendrick Lamar's "Alright" wasn't originally conceived as an anthem; it became a Black Lives Matter protest rallying cry organically through social sharing.
Music
Which American singer and actress recorded the original version of 'Over the Rainbow' for the 1939 film 'The Wizard of Oz'?
Studio executives nearly cut 'Over the Rainbow' from 'The Wizard of Oz,' thinking it slowed the film down — it went on to be voted the greatest song in film history by the Recording Industry Association of America.