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50 free 1981 Music trivia questions with answers — music quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
1981 was the year synth-pop took over the UK charts, a cable channel began playing videos around the clock, and punk's children formed the bands that would define the decade. It was also a year of farewells: solo careers launched, long partnerships dissolved, and a murdered Beatle's songs climbed the charts one more time. These 50 questions cover the number ones on both sides of the Atlantic, the albums that broke new acts, the Grammys and the Brits, Eurovision, the big tours and the novelty records everyone pretended not to buy. Every answer comes with an explanation and a source. Play it on your own, run it at a pub quiz, or print it for a 1981-themed evening.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which newly signed solo singer bit the head off a dove during a CBS Records meeting in Los Angeles?
Ozzy Osbourne
Ozzy Osbourne had planned to release doves as a peace gesture, but grabbed one and bit its head off instead. The notorious bat incident came a year later, on stage in Des Moines.
Q 02Which Dolly Parton song, with a typewriter rhythm tapped out on acrylic fingernails, topped the Hot 100 in February?
9 to 5
9 to 5 is one of the few chart hits to feature the clacking of a typewriter, a rhythm Parton devised by running her acrylic nails against each other. It was her first solo pop number one.
Q 03Which Blondie single, name-checking hip-hop pioneer Fab 5 Freddy, was the first US number one to feature a rap?
Rapture
Rapture was the first number-one single in the United States to feature rap vocals, delivered by Debbie Harry herself. Fab 5 Freddy and Jean-Michel Basquiat make cameo appearances in the video.
Q 04Which duo, apart since Bridge over Troubled Water, reunited for a free Central Park concert drawing some 500,000 people?
Simon & Garfunkel
Simon & Garfunkel had broken up at the height of their popularity, and the Great Lawn reunion on 19 September became a live album and a TV special. The show doubled as a benefit for the run-down park.
Q 05Which band's ballad 'Waiting for a Girl Like You' sat a record ten weeks at number two without reaching the top?
Foreigner
Foreigner were held off the top for nine weeks by Olivia Newton-John's 'Physical' and then by Hall & Oates for a tenth. The ballad still ranked among Billboard's biggest hits of 1982.
Q 06Which band formed in Los Angeles after Danish drummer Lars Ulrich advertised for metal musicians in The Recycler?
Metallica
Metallica began when James Hetfield answered Lars Ulrich's Recycler ad, which asked for players into Tygers of Pan Tang, Diamond Head and Iron Maiden. Their debut Kill 'Em All followed in 1983.
Q 07Which John Lennon single, a two-week UK number one, knocked his own re-released 'Imagine' off the top?
Woman
Woman was Lennon's ode to Yoko Ono and to all women, opening with a whispered line that paraphrases a Chinese proverb once used by Mao Zedong. Lennon called it a grown-up version of the Beatles' 'Girl'.
Q 08Which Specials single about urban decay sat at UK number one for three weeks as riots broke out across English cities?
Ghost Town
Ghost Town was named Single of the Year by Melody Maker, NME and Sounds after serving as an 'instant musical editorial' on that summer's riots. The band fell apart within months of its success.
Q 09Which Adam and the Ants single, its video a 'dandy highwayman' romp, debuted at UK number one and stayed five weeks?
Stand and Deliver
Stand and Deliver debuted at the top of the UK chart on 3 May and became the year's third best-selling single, passing a million copies. Its video nods to Monty Python's 'Dennis Moore' sketch.
Q 10Which album, ABBA's last studio release for four decades, was among the earliest manufactured on compact disc?
The Visitors
The Visitors stood as ABBA's final album until Voyage arrived in 2021, and was one of the first albums recorded and mixed digitally. It was also among the earliest albums issued on compact disc, following Billy Joel's 52nd Street.
Q 11Which band, formed by Paul and Linda McCartney in 1971, disbanded after guitarist Denny Laine departed?
Wings
Wings bowed out quietly after Laine's departure, a year after a live version of 'Coming Up' had given them a US number one. McCartney went solo again with Tug of War.
Q 12Which George Harrison single, a tribute to John Lennon, had Ringo Starr on drums and Paul McCartney on backing vocals?
All Those Years Ago
All Those Years Ago was the first record to feature Harrison, McCartney and Starr together since 'I Me Mine' in 1970, and their last until 'Free as a Bird'. It spent three weeks at US number two.
Q 13Which AC/DC album, the follow-up to Back in Black, first took the band to number one on the Billboard 200?
Q 21Which Genesis album, recorded at the Farm in Surrey, is titled with the section letters of an early song arrangement?
Abacab
Abacab was named for a stage when the sections of the song were ordered A-B-A-C-A-B, and the track's working title was simply 'Odd'. The song went on to become a favourite of Tony Banks.
Q 22Which jazz-rock duo broke up in June after Gaucho, Walter Becker heading to Maui to become an 'avocado rancher'?
Steely Dan
Steely Dan went quiet for more than a decade, with Becker turning 'self-styled critic of the contemporary scene' and Donald Fagen going solo with The Nightfly. The pair reunited to tour in 1993.
Q 23Which synth-pop star announced his retirement from touring with farewell concerts at Wembley Arena in April?
For Those About to Rock
For Those About to Rock held the top of the Billboard chart for three weeks and remained AC/DC's only US number one album until Black Ice in 2008. Its title track is famous for its cannon fire.
Q 14Which Kool & the Gang single, the band's only Hot 100 number one, held the top for two weeks in February?
Celebration
Celebration had already topped Billboard's dance and R&B charts in late 1980 before reaching number one on the Hot 100 on 7 February, where Dolly Parton's film theme overtook it.
Q 15Which Stevie Wonder single was issued to push for a US national holiday honouring Martin Luther King Jr?
Happy Birthday
Happy Birthday became the anthem of Wonder's campaign, and King's birthday was signed into law as a federal holiday in 1983. The song is now a birthday standard in its own right.
Q 16Which Bette Midler song beat Barbra Streisand and Donna Summer to the Grammy for Best Female Pop Vocal in February?
The Rose
The Rose was the title theme of Midler's film about a self-destructive rock star, and its Grammy came at the same Grammys that crowned Christopher Cross. Midler earned an Oscar nomination for the role.
Q 17Which Welsh revivalist, the decade's biggest UK singles seller, took 'This Ole House' and 'Green Door' to number one?
Shakin' Stevens
Shakin' Stevens followed those two chart-toppers with 'Oh Julie' and 'Merry Christmas Everyone', charting 28 UK top-40 singles in all. Both 1981 hits were covers of 1950s American records.
Q 18Which novelty dance hit by the Tweets, later voted the most annoying record of all time, reached UK number two?
The Birdie Song
The Birdie Song is the British take on a Swiss accordion tune known elsewhere as the Chicken Dance, and its video has bird-costumed dancers miming the instruments. A 2000 dotmusic poll crowned it most annoying of all time.
Q 19Which Adam and the Ants album, the UK's best seller of the year, won Best British Album at the 1982 Brits?
Kings of the Wild Frontier
Kings of the Wild Frontier outsold everything else in Britain that year, a full year after its release, riding the Antmusic craze. Its follow-up album arrived before the year was out.
Q 20Which band, formed by Martyn Ware and Ian Marsh on quitting the Human League, released Penthouse and Pavement?
Heaven 17
Heaven 17 took its name from a fictional band in A Clockwork Orange, and singer Glenn Gregory had been Ware and Marsh's first choice to front the Human League. Philip Oakey got that job instead.
Gary Numan
Gary Numan's Wembley farewell, supported by Nash the Slash and the mime troupe Shock, was filmed and released as Micromusic. His first album after the send-off was simply titled Dance.
Q 24The Human League's Dare, a UK number one album by its second week, modelled its sleeve on which magazine's cover?
Vogue
Vogue was the look Philip Oakey wanted: the Dare sleeve copies a Vogue cover, lettering and all. Its fourth single became that year's Christmas number one.
Q 25Which Depeche Mode debut album, released on Mute, was the only one to feature founding member Vince Clarke?
Speak & Spell
Speak & Spell was released by Mute in the UK and Sire in the US, and Vince Clarke quit soon after, going on to form Yazoo with Alison Moyet. Martin Gore then took over the songwriting.
Q 26Which trio did Terry Hall, Neville Staple and Lynval Golding form after quitting the Specials at their peak?
Fun Boy Three
Fun Boy Three stripped away the ska sound the three had made with Jerry Dammers, leaning on percussion and vocals, and soon teamed up with Bananarama for a hit. The group lasted only until 1983.
Q 27Which U2 album was written in a rush after a briefcase holding Bono's lyrics went missing at a Portland show?
October
October was hurried out with improvised lyrics after the theft in Portland, and the briefcase finally surfaced in 2004, when Bono called its return 'an act of grace'. Parts were written during a Minneapolis soundcheck.
Q 28Which New Order debut single was among the last songs written by Joy Division, with lyrics by Ian Curtis?
Ceremony
Ceremony was issued by Factory Records as FAC 33 on 6 March, less than a year after Ian Curtis's death, and New Order re-recorded it later in the year. Its B-side, 'In a Lonely Place', was also a Joy Division song.
Q 29Which performance artist's 'O Superman', championed by DJ John Peel, reached number two on the UK singles chart?
Laurie Anderson
Laurie Anderson was barely known outside the art world before the minimalist single took off, and Warner Bros. agreed to distribute it at her request. NME ranked it among the year's top ten tracks.
Q 30Madness's UK number four hit 'It Must Be Love' was a cover of a 1971 single by which singer-songwriter?
Labi Siffre
Labi Siffre's original reached number 14 in January 1972, and Madness's version later landed on their chart-topping compilation Complete Madness. Siffre went on to write the anthem '(Something Inside) So Strong'.