109 Fun Facts About 80s Rock

What was the first clip MTV aired when it launched on August 1, 1981?

'Video Killed the Radio Star' by the Buggles opened MTV at 12:01 a.m.; the two-year-old single had reached only No. 40 in the US, though it had topped the UK chart.

Which AC/DC singer died in 1980, seven months after Highway to Hell?

Bon Scott died in London on February 19, 1980; the all-black cover of Back in Black, released that July, was a sign of mourning for him.

Where did AC/DC record Back in Black in the spring of 1980?

The Bahamas brought tropical storms that knocked out the studio's power, and one thunderstorm handed Brian Johnson the 'rolling thunder' opening line of Hells Bells.

Ozzy Osbourne famously bit the head off a bat on stage in January 1982 in which city?

Des Moines, Iowa — on January 20, 1982, at Veterans Memorial Auditorium; he thought the bat was rubber and needed rabies shots afterward.

Which guitarist on Ozzy Osbourne's Blizzard of Ozz died in a 1982 plane crash?

Randy Rhoads died on March 19, 1982, when a small plane buzzing the tour bus crashed in Leesburg, Florida; his classical-tinged playing shaped neoclassical metal.

Which Def Leppard drummer kept his place in the band after losing his left arm in a 1984 car crash?

Rick Allen crashed his Corvette near Sheffield on New Year's Eve 1984; determined to stay in the band, he learned to play again on a specially designed electronic drum kit.

Which producer made Def Leppard's Pyromania and Hysteria, as well as AC/DC's Back in Black?

Mutt Lange — late in the Hysteria sessions he kept pushing Def Leppard for more songs, and an idea Joe Elliott strummed during a break became the album's last addition, 'Pour Some Sugar on Me'.

Which was Van Halen's only No. 1 single on the Billboard Hot 100?

'Jump' topped the Hot 100 for five weeks in 1984; its album 1984 sat at No. 2 behind Thriller, where Eddie Van Halen had played the 'Beat It' solo.

Who replaced David Lee Roth as Van Halen's singer in 1985?

Sammy Hagar, formerly of Montrose, joined in 1985; Van Halen had never had a No. 1 album with David Lee Roth, but 5150, the first with Hagar, topped the chart in 1986.

Which 1984 single became the signature solo hit of the singer nicknamed the 'Red Rocker'?

'I Can't Drive 55' came from a real traffic stop: the Red Rocker was ticketed in New York State for doing 62 in a 55 zone and wrote the song as soon as he got home; it peaked at No. 26.

Which 1987 hard-rock debut album took a full year to climb to No. 1 on the Billboard 200?

Appetite for Destruction stalled as its first two singles flopped; a third finally took off in the summer of 1988 and carried the album to No. 1 that August, just over a year after its release.

Which was Guns N' Roses' only US No. 1 single?

'Sweet Child o' Mine' began as a throwaway: Slash was fooling around with a riff he thought was silly, and Axl Rose set it to a poem he had written for his girlfriend, Erin Everly.

Axl Rose and Slash's band formed in 1985 from members of Hollywood Rose and which other group?

L.A. Guns — the new band took its name from both groups, pairing guitarist Tracii Guns with Hollywood Rose's Axl Rose; Guns left within months, and by June 1985 Slash was playing lead.

Which Bon Jovi album was America's best-selling album of 1987?

Slippery When Wet was named after a visit to a Vancouver strip club; its planned cover of a woman in a wet T-shirt was dropped for a wet garbage bag bearing the title.

Which Bon Jovi chart-topper did Jon Bon Jovi first want left off the album as not good enough?

Livin' on a Prayer — Jon Bon Jovi disliked the first recording and wanted it shelved; reworked with a new bassline and Richie Sambora's talk box, it spent four weeks at No. 1 in 1987.

Which 1983 radio hit, recorded before Bon Jovi existed, launched the band?

Runaway — Jon Bon Jovi cut it with studio musicians, and a New York radio station put it on a compilation of local acts; the airplay led him to form the band and sign with Mercury.

How is the title of Journey's 1981 album Escape stylised on its cover?

E5C4P3 — the number-for-letter spelling on the 1981 cover; its single 'Don't Stop Believin'' peaked at only No. 9, then became a download best-seller after closing The Sopranos in 2007.

Which 1984 single was Bruce Springsteen's biggest chart hit?

Dancing in the Dark — written in a single night after manager Jon Landau demanded a hit single for the album, it was kept from No. 1 first by Duran Duran and then by Prince.

Which 1980 Springsteen album, home of 'Hungry Heart', was his first to top the Billboard 200?

The River was his first No. 1 album; its hit 'Hungry Heart' was written for the Ramones until manager Jon Landau talked Springsteen into keeping it for himself.

Which 1987 U2 album includes 'With or Without You', the band's first US No. 1 single?

The Joshua Tree — U2 came close to abandoning 'With or Without You' in the studio; the Edge's prototype Infinite Guitar, built to sustain notes endlessly, became its signature sound.

Which U2 drummer started the band with a note on his school's noticeboard?

Larry Mullen Jr. was 14 when he posted the notice in 1976; the group that gathered in his kitchen that September played as Feedback and then the Hype before becoming U2.

The Police's only US No. 1 single, from their final album Synchronicity, was which song?

'Every Breath You Take' topped the Hot 100 for eight weeks in 1983; couples play it at weddings, but its writer calls it a sinister song about jealousy, surveillance and control.

Which 1985 Dire Straits album became the first to sell a million copies on CD?

Brothers in Arms was recorded on digital tape and sold as a showcase for the new format's cleaner sound; it also became the first album whose CD outsold its LP.

Which singer joined Dire Straits on stage at Live Aid to perform 'Money for Nothing'?

Sting also sang the 'I want my MTV' line on the record; it follows the melody of the Police's 'Don't Stand So Close to Me', which earned him a co-writing credit.

Live Aid on 13 July 1985 was held simultaneously at Wembley Stadium and which US venue?

JFK Stadium in Philadelphia hosted the American half; Phil Collins played Wembley, crossed the Atlantic on Concorde and performed in Philadelphia the same day.

Freddie Mercury opened his band's 1985 Live Aid set at the piano with which song?

Bohemian Rhapsody — Mercury played only its opening ballad section, then left the piano for 'Radio Ga Ga' and had the Wembley crowd of 72,000 clapping along in unison.

Survivor wrote 'Eye of the Tiger' after Stallone couldn't get which band's hit for Rocky III?

Queen — Stallone had cut his rough footage to 'Another One Bites the Dust' but couldn't get the rights, so Survivor wrote a new song, slashing its chords in time with the punches on screen.

Which singer took 'I Love Rock 'n' Roll', first recorded by the Arrows, to No. 1?

Joan Jett saw the Arrows play it on British TV while touring England with her first band in 1976; her version with the Blackhearts topped the Hot 100 for seven weeks.

Which Rush instrumental from Moving Pictures was nominated for a 1982 Grammy?

'YYZ', from 1981's Moving Pictures, takes its name and its Morse-code opening rhythm from Toronto Pearson airport's code; it lost the Grammy to the Police's 'Behind My Camel'.

Which rap group's 1986 collaboration with Aerosmith on 'Walk This Way' revived the band's career?

Run-DMC had rapped over the song's opening beat for years without knowing who Aerosmith were; they dismissed the lyrics as 'hillbilly gibberish' until producer Rick Rubin talked them into a remake.

Which 1986 Beastie Boys album was the first rap record to top the Billboard 200?

Licensed to Ill, released in November 1986, hit No. 1 in March 1987 — the first rap album to do so; the trio had begun as a hardcore punk band and opened for Madonna in 1985.

Metallica's bassist Cliff Burton died in a tour-bus accident in 1986 while promoting which album?

Master of Puppets — the tour bus skidded off a road in Sweden on September 27, 1986, killing Burton at 24; Jason Newsted, hired a month later, played bass in Metallica for the next 14 years.

Metallica are considered one of the 'big four' of thrash metal alongside Slayer, Anthrax and which band?

Megadeth was founded by Dave Mustaine after Metallica fired him in 1983.

Iron Maiden's 1982 album The Number of the Beast was their first with which singer?

Bruce Dickinson, recruited from Samson to replace Paul Di'Anno, later qualified as an airline captain and piloted the band's own Boeing, Ed Force One, on world tours.

Which folk-pop star joined Frank Zappa and Dee Snider in testifying against the PMRC at the 1985 Senate hearing?

John Denver told senators that radio stations had wrongly banned his own 'Rocky Mountain High' as a drug song, and that he opposed censorship of any kind.

Which Prince album held No. 1 on the Billboard 200 for 24 straight weeks?

Purple Rain stayed on top from August 1984 into January 1985; its track 'Darling Nikki' so alarmed Tipper Gore that she co-founded the PMRC, whose campaign led to the Parental Advisory sticker.

Which was the only Pink Floyd single to reach No. 1 in both the UK and the US?

Another Brick in the Wall — its chorus was sung by pupils from a school near the studio, whose music teacher hid the lyrics from his headteacher in case she stopped the recording.

Which Rolling Stones album, home of 'Start Me Up', was pieced together from a decade of shelved outtakes?

Tattoo You was assembled because the band needed an album to tour behind in 1981 and had no time to make a new one; 'Start Me Up' itself had been shelved after repeated attempts to play it as reggae.

Which Yes song became the band's only Billboard Hot 100 No. 1?

'Owner of a Lonely Heart' began as a Trevor Rabin demo and was recorded by Cinema, his new band with ex-Yes members; when their old singer Jon Anderson joined, the group relaunched as Yes.

Talking Heads' 1984 concert film Stop Making Sense was directed by whom?

Jonathan Demme filmed the band at Hollywood's Pantages Theatre in December 1983; his film opens with David Byrne alone on stage with a boombox, and the musicians join him one song at a time.

ZZ Top's 1983 breakthrough album Eliminator took its title from a term used in which type of competition?

Drag racing — the term went onto Billy Gibbons's customised 1933 Ford coupe, which starred on the cover and in the MTV videos that won the band a new, younger audience.

The Traveling Wilburys formed in 1988 to record which song as a George Harrison B-side?

'Handle with Care' was written in Bob Dylan's garage studio, its title taken from a label on a box there; Harrison's label judged it too good for a B-side, so the five made a whole album together.

MCA initially refused to release which 1989 Tom Petty solo album, believing it had no hits?

Full Moon Fever, co-produced by Jeff Lynne, was first turned down by MCA; released in April 1989, it yielded 'Free Fallin'' and 'I Won't Back Down' and went 5× platinum.

R.E.M. formed in 1980 in which college town?

Athens, Georgia — R.E.M. played their first show there on April 5, 1980, at a friend's birthday party in an old church; it took until 1987 for 'The One I Love' to give them a hit single.

Which independent label released The Smiths' 1984 debut album?

Rough Trade had planned 'Reel Around the Fountain' as the Smiths' next single, but switched to 'This Charming Man' on the strength of the version the band played for a John Peel radio session.

Which Cure single from 1989's Disintegration reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100?

'Lovesong', written for Robert Smith's new wife Mary, peaked at No. 2 on the Hot 100 in October 1989, the Cure's highest US chart placing.

Which 1989 Pixies album features 'Here Comes Your Man' and 'Monkey Gone to Heaven'?

Doolittle's quiet verses and exploding choruses left their mark on Nirvana: Kurt Cobain admitted that with 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' he was 'basically trying to rip off the Pixies'.

Which Apple co-founder bankrolled the 1982 and 1983 US Festivals?

Steve Wozniak thought the 1970s had been the 'Me' decade and wanted the '80s to be more community-minded; he paid for both festivals near San Bernardino, California, out of his Apple fortune.

Which city was chosen in 1986 as the permanent home of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame?

Cleveland — chosen in May 1986, partly on the strength of DJ Alan Freed's 1950s 'rock and roll' broadcasts there; I. M. Pei's lakefront museum opened in September 1995.

Which Foreigner single spent ten weeks at No. 2 without reaching No. 1?

'Waiting for a Girl Like You' sat behind Olivia Newton-John's 'Physical' for nine of those weeks; its synthesizer intro was played by a then little-known Thomas Dolby.

Which INXS single from Kick reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100?

'Need You Tonight' began with a guitar line that hit Andrew Farriss as his cab to the airport arrived; he kept the driver waiting while he taped a demo, then played it to Michael Hutchence in Hong Kong.

Despite its lasting fame, Phil Collins's 'In the Air Tonight' stalled at what position on the Billboard Hot 100?

No. 19 — the 1981 single stalled there in America despite reaching No. 2 in Britain; its booming 'gated' drum sound, discovered at a Peter Gabriel session Collins had drummed on, was popularised by this record.

Which single from Faith No More's 1989 album The Real Thing became the band's breakthrough US top-ten hit?

'Epic' climbed to No. 9 in 1990 after MTV put its video in constant rotation; the clip's fish flopping out of water drew complaints from animal-rights activists.

Which songwriter behind Meat Loaf's Bat Out of Hell also wrote Bonnie Tyler's 1983 No. 1 'Total Eclipse of the Heart'?

Jim Steinman developed Bat Out of Hell from Neverland, his rock musical take on Peter Pan; in October 1983 his songs for Bonnie Tyler and Air Supply held No. 1 and No. 2 at the same time.

Pat Benatar's 1980 album Crimes of Passion was kept from No. 1 in the US by which record?

Double Fantasy — Crimes of Passion sat at No. 2 for five weeks behind John Lennon and Yoko Ono's album, then earned Benatar her first Grammy, for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance.

Which Huey Lewis and the News album includes the hits 'I Want a New Drug' and 'If This Is It'?

Sports reached No. 1 in 1984; Huey Lewis then sued Ray Parker Jr., claiming the 'Ghostbusters' theme lifted the melody of 'I Want a New Drug', and the case was settled out of court.

Which 1984 Bryan Adams album sent six singles into the US top 20?

Reckless came out on Adams's 25th birthday; its only No. 1, 'Heaven', had first appeared a year earlier on the soundtrack of A Night in Heaven, a film about a male stripper.

Before going solo, Billy Idol fronted which London punk band?

Generation X was formed in 1976 by Idol and bassist Tony James after a brief spell in the band Chelsea; its 1980 single 'Dancing with Myself' later launched Idol's solo career in America.

Which 1983 album was the first that Kiss released after dropping their trademark makeup?

Lick It Up arrived in September 1983 as Kiss revealed their bare faces on MTV; the stunt drew a wave of publicity and revived the fading band's album sales.

Which Michael Jackson hit features a guitar solo that Van Halen's lead guitarist recorded for free?

Beat It got its solo as a favor: Eddie Van Halen cut two takes unpaid on a rented amplifier, after first taking the producer's phone call for a prank.

Which future sitcom star danced on stage with Bruce Springsteen in the video for 'Dancing in the Dark'?

Courteney Cox was planted in the crowd by director Brian De Palma, and Springsteen thought she was simply a fan until after the shoot.

Van Halen's concert rider famously demanded a bowl of M&M's with which color removed, as a test of promoters?

Brown M&M's in the dressing room told the band a promoter had skimmed the contract, so the crew would recheck the staging and electrics before the show.

Which British band beat Metallica to the first hard rock and metal Grammy, in a notorious 1989 upset?

Jethro Tull were told they had no chance and skipped the ceremony, and their label answered the outcry with an advert calling the flute a heavy, metal instrument.

Ozzy Osbourne was banned from a Texas city for a decade after drunkenly relieving himself beside which landmark?

The Alamo incident in February 1982 cost him 15 minutes in a holding cell, a forty-dollar fine and a ten-year ban from San Antonio.

Which mockumentary about a fading British heavy metal band features an amplifier whose dials go up to eleven?

This Is Spinal Tap was Rob Reiner's first feature as a director, and that amplifier gave English an idiom for pushing anything past its maximum.

Which 1985 film gave Huey Lewis and the News a first US No. 1 single with 'The Power of Love'?

Back to the Future also gave Huey Lewis a cameo as the school judge who cuts off Marty McFly's band for being too loud while they play that very song.

Tom Petty dressed as which Alice in Wonderland character in the video for 'Don't Come Around Here No More'?

The Mad Hatter hosts a tea party that ends with Alice herself turned into a cake and eaten by the guests.

Which 1986 hit by the Swedish band Europe was written as a concert opener around a keyboard riff?

The Final Countdown grew from a riff singer Joey Tempest had kept in a drawer since college, and the band never expected a show intro to become a hit.

Which future US Second Lady co-founded the PMRC, compilers of the 'Filthy Fifteen' list of objectionable songs?

Tipper Gore and three other Washington wives pressed the industry until 19 record companies agreed to put explicit-lyrics warning labels on albums.

Which band of session musicians won the Album of the Year Grammy with the record that includes 'Africa'?

Toto took six Grammys for the album in 1983, and members Jeff Porcaro and Steve Lukather also played on Michael Jackson's Thriller.

Which band made the first US No. 1 album by an all-female group writing and playing its own songs?

The Go-Go's emerged from the late-1970s Los Angeles punk scene, and their debut Beauty and the Beat went double platinum.

Which British band broke up in December 1980, saying it could not continue after drummer John Bonham's death?

Led Zeppelin's three survivors have played together only sporadically since, including a 2007 London tribute show with Bonham's son Jason on drums.

Which 'King of the Movie Soundtrack' recorded both 'Danger Zone' for Top Gun and the title song of Footloose?

Kenny Loggins began his run of film hits with the Caddyshack theme 'I'm Alright', and 'Footloose' became his only solo No. 1.

Which band at first refused to record 'Don't You (Forget About Me)', written for the film The Breakfast Club?

Simple Minds felt they should only record their own material, then gave in and scored a US No. 1, their biggest North American hit.

Which Peter Gabriel song knocked his former band Genesis off the top of the US singles chart in July 1986?

Sledgehammer replaced 'Invisible Touch' at No. 1, and its stop-motion video went on to win a record nine MTV Video Music Awards.

Which Whitesnake song's video shows actress Tawny Kitaen cartwheeling across the hoods of two Jaguar cars?

Here I Go Again first appeared on a 1982 album that never came out in America, and the 1987 re-recording went to No. 1 there.

Which Twisted Sister anthem's video opens with an Animal House actor playing a father who berates his rock-loving son?

We're Not Gonna Take It cast Mark Metcalf, the bullying Niedermeyer of Animal House, and became the band's only Top 40 single.

Which glam metal band's only US No. 1 single was the acoustic power ballad 'Every Rose Has Its Thorn'?

Poison singer Bret Michaels wrote it in a Dallas laundromat after a pay-phone call to his girlfriend picked up a man's voice in the background.

Which band fronted by sisters Ann and Nancy Wilson topped the Hot 100 in 1987 with the ballad 'Alone'?

Heart did not write the song: Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly first recorded 'Alone' in 1983 under the name i-Ten.

Which hard rock band from Hanover, Germany, had a signature American hit with 'Rock You Like a Hurricane'?

Scorpions were formed back in 1965 by guitarist Rudolf Schenker, nearly two decades before that single sent its parent album double platinum in the USA.

U2 filmed a 1983 concert video on a rain-soaked June night at which open-air amphitheater in the American West?

Red Rocks was so rain-soaked that the show was nearly cancelled, but the downpour and the torch-lit setting made the film, Under a Blood Red Sky, dramatic.

What is the name of Iron Maiden's undead mascot, a fixture of the band's album covers since the debut?

Eddie began as a papier-mâché mask in the stage backdrop before artist Derek Riggs's illustration gave the name a face.

Which band's 'Call Me', the Giorgio Moroder theme to the film American Gigolo, was Billboard's top single of 1980?

Blondie got the job only because Moroder's first choice, a Fleetwood Mac singer, was tied up by a new record contract, so Debbie Harry wrote the lyrics instead.

Which band's 1983 rock opera Kilroy Was Here, set in a world where rock music is outlawed, includes 'Mr. Roboto'?

Styx booked small theaters for an intimate staging of the story, and the early part of that tour was a financial disaster.

Which Australian-born singer was playing Dr. Noah Drake on the soap General Hospital when 'Jessie's Girl' hit No. 1?

Rick Springfield watched the single take 19 weeks to climb to the top, one of the slowest ascents of its time, and it won him a Grammy for rock vocal.

A remark from the Live Aid stage by which singer inspired Willie Nelson to launch the Farm Aid concerts?

Bob Dylan's comment about American farmers losing their land to mortgage debt drew criticism from Live Aid's own organizer, yet the first benefit followed that September.

Which Boomtown Rats singer organized Live Aid with Midge Ure after the two wrote a famine-relief charity single?

Bob Geldof and Ure expected their Band Aid single to raise about £70,000; it brought in £8 million and led to the 1985 concerts.

Which John Mellencamp song, rescued in the studio by ex-Bowie guitarist Mick Ronson, spent four weeks at US No. 1?

Jack & Diane had been thrown on the junk heap until Ronson helped arrange it, adding percussion and a choir-like vocal break.

Which then-unknown Texas blues guitarist played on David Bowie's 'Let's Dance' after Bowie saw him at Montreux?

Stevie Ray Vaughan impressed Bowie enough to be asked onto the Serious Moonlight Tour, and his own debut album Texas Flood followed within months.

Before forming the Blackhearts, Joan Jett co-founded which teenage all-female band with drummer Sandy West?

The Runaways grew from producer Kim Fowley's 1975 idea for an all-girl rock group, and Jett was only 16 when she became a founding member.

Which singer replaced Ozzy Osbourne in Black Sabbath and popularized heavy metal's 'devil horns' hand gesture?

Ronnie James Dio said he borrowed the sign from his Italian grandmother, who often made the traditional gesture for warding off bad luck.

Which Motörhead founder, born Ian Kilmister, played the overdriven bass intro to the 1980 single 'Ace of Spades'?

Lemmy was the band's main songwriter and its only constant member, from its founding in 1975 until his death in 2015.

Billy Idol named which 1983 album after a bourbon he saw being drunk at a party with the Rolling Stones?

Rebel Yell was the whiskey being passed around, and Idol decided on the spot that the brand would make a great title for a record.

Aerosmith's 'Dude (Looks Like a Lady)' came from Steven Tyler mistaking which long-haired metal singer for a woman?

Vince Neil's long blonde hair fooled Tyler, as co-writer Desmond Child tells it, and the Mötley Crüe frontman's look became a hit single.

Which English singer's 'Addicted to Love' video backed him with a 'band' of look-alike fashion models?

Robert Palmer cut the song as a duet with Chaka Khan, but her label refused permission and her vocals were erased before release.

Which bassist and chief songwriter left Pink Floyd in 1985 and began a legal fight over the band's name?

Roger Waters told the High Court the group was a spent force creatively, but the others carried on and released A Momentary Lapse of Reason in 1987.

Which band's Metal Health became the first heavy metal album to top the Billboard album chart, in 1983?

Quiet Riot got there on the back of a cover of Slade's 'Cum On Feel the Noize', which spent two weeks at No. 5 on the Hot 100.

Which band led by guitarist Vernon Reid won a Grammy for the hard rock hit 'Cult of Personality'?

Living Colour got an early push from Mick Jagger, who saw the band at CBGB after Reid auditioned for his solo album and produced two of its demos.

Which Australian band's debut album Business as Usual spent 15 weeks at No. 1 in the United States?

Men at Work owed that run to 'Down Under', a reworked version of the B-side to the group's very first single.

The metal umlauts in Mötley Crüe's name were supposedly inspired by which German beer the band was drinking?

Löwenbräu was what the members were drinking when their singer suggested adding two sets of dots as a stylistic flourish.

Which Marvel Comics character appears on the original cover of Joe Satriani's breakthrough 1987 instrumental album?

Silver Surfer art was a comic-loving label manager's idea: Satriani had already named Surfing with the Alien without the character in mind.

Which hip-hop producer and Def Jam co-founder moved into metal by producing Slayer's 1986 album Reign in Blood?

Rick Rubin's first album with the band runs just 29 minutes, and its imagery was believed to have made distributor Columbia refuse to release it.

Which portrait photographer shot the cover of Bruce Springsteen's Born in the U.S.A., showing him from behind?

Annie Leibovitz framed him against the stripes of an American flag, and Springsteen later had to deny that the pose carried any secret message.

Which Canadian rocker was sued by Geffen Records in 1983 for making music 'unrepresentative' of himself?

Neil Young had already annoyed label head David Geffen with Trans, and Everybody's Rockin' arrived only months later to trigger the lawsuit.

Which Seattle label, co-founded by Bruce Pavitt in 1986, released Nirvana's 1989 debut album Bleach?

Sub Pop grew out of a fanzine Pavitt started in the early 1980s, and Bleach is the only Nirvana album it released.

Which English motor racing circuit hosted the Monsters of Rock festival, launched in 1980 with Rainbow headlining?

Donington Park was unknown as a major concert site, but its spot beside the M1 motorway made it easy to reach from around the country.

Which band's 'You Might Think' won Video of the Year at the first MTV Video Music Awards?

The Cars, a Boston band, took the prize with one of the first music videos to use computer graphics.

Which supergroup of former Yes, King Crimson and ELP members had America's top album of 1982 with its debut?

Asia spent nine weeks at No. 1 with the self-titled record, which also produced the top-five single 'Heat of the Moment'.

Which Clash single, the band's only US top-ten hit, had its music composed by drummer Topper Headon?

Rock the Casbah took shape when Headon, alone in the studio, taped the piano, drums and bass parts himself before his bandmates arrived.