80s Rock Trivia
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109 free 80s Rock trivia questions with answers — music quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
55 free 80s Rock trivia questions with answers. Eighties rock ran from Back in Black to Doolittle, with MTV, Live Aid and the Parental Advisory sticker in between. This 80's rock trivia covers the arena giants (Van Halen, Bon Jovi, Def Leppard, Journey, Foreigner, Springsteen, U2, Dire Straits, the Police), the metal end (Ozzy, Iron Maiden, Metallica, Guns N' Roses), the college and alternative scene (R.E.M., the Smiths, the Cure, the Pixies) and the moments everyone remembers: the first MTV video, the bat in Des Moines, Rick Allen's crash, Queen at Wembley, the Senate hearing on 'porn rock'. Easy questions ask which was Van Halen's only No. 1 and who replaced David Lee Roth. The hard ones want where Back in Black was recorded, how Journey spelled Escape on the cover, how many takes 'Don't Stop Believin'' needed and which album was the first to sell a million on CD. Every answer was checked against encyclopaedia entries on the bands, albums and songs, and each question shows the sentence that backs it up. Built for a rock-night pub round or anyone who still owns the cassettes.
30 of 109 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01What was the first clip MTV aired when it launched on August 1, 1981?
Video Killed the Radio Star
'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.
Q 02Which AC/DC singer died in 1980, seven months after Highway to Hell?
Bon Scott
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.
Q 03Where did AC/DC record Back in Black in the spring of 1980?
The Bahamas
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.
Q 04Ozzy Osbourne famously bit the head off a bat on stage in January 1982 in which city?
Des Moines
Des Moines, Iowa — on January 20, 1982, at Veterans Memorial Auditorium; he thought the bat was rubber and needed rabies shots afterward.
Q 05Which guitarist on Ozzy Osbourne's Blizzard of Ozz died in a 1982 plane crash?
Randy Rhoads
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.
Q 06Which Def Leppard drummer kept his place in the band after losing his left arm in a 1984 car crash?
Rick Allen
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.
Q 07Which producer made Def Leppard's Pyromania and Hysteria, as well as AC/DC's Back in Black?
Mutt Lange
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'.
Q 08Which was Van Halen's only No. 1 single on the Billboard Hot 100?
Jump
'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.
Q 09Who replaced David Lee Roth as Van Halen's singer in 1985?
Sammy Hagar
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.
Q 10Which 1984 single became the signature solo hit of the singer nicknamed the 'Red Rocker'?
I Can't Drive 55
'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.
Q 11Which 1987 hard-rock debut album took a full year to climb to No. 1 on the Billboard 200?
Appetite for Destruction
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.
Q 12Which was Guns N' Roses' only US No. 1 single?
Sweet Child o' Mine
'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.
Q 13Axl Rose and Slash's band formed in 1985 from members of Hollywood Rose and which other group?
L.A. Guns
Q 21Which U2 drummer started the band with a note on his school's noticeboard?
Larry Mullen Jr.
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.
Q 22The Police's only US No. 1 single, from their final album Synchronicity, was which song?
Every Breath You Take
'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.
Q 23Which 1985 Dire Straits album became the first to sell a million copies on CD?
Brothers in Arms
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.
Q 14Which Bon Jovi album was America's best-selling album of 1987?
Slippery When Wet
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.
Q 15Which Bon Jovi chart-topper did Jon Bon Jovi first want left off the album as not good enough?
Livin' on a Prayer
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.
Q 16Which 1983 radio hit, recorded before Bon Jovi existed, launched the band?
Runaway
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.
Q 17How is the title of Journey's 1981 album Escape stylised on its cover?
E5C4P3
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.
Q 18Which 1984 single was Bruce Springsteen's biggest chart hit?
Dancing in the Dark
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.
Q 19Which 1980 Springsteen album, home of 'Hungry Heart', was his first to top the Billboard 200?
The River
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.
Q 20Which 1987 U2 album includes 'With or Without You', the band's first US No. 1 single?
The Joshua Tree
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.
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.
Q 24Which singer joined Dire Straits on stage at Live Aid to perform 'Money for Nothing'?
Sting
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.
Q 25Live Aid on 13 July 1985 was held simultaneously at Wembley Stadium and which US venue?
JFK in Philadelphia
JFK Stadium in Philadelphia hosted the American half; Phil Collins played Wembley, crossed the Atlantic on Concorde and performed in Philadelphia the same day.
Q 26Freddie Mercury opened his band's 1985 Live Aid set at the piano with which song?
Bohemian Rhapsody
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.
Q 27Survivor wrote 'Eye of the Tiger' after Stallone couldn't get which band's hit for Rocky III?
Queen
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.
Q 28Which singer took 'I Love Rock 'n' Roll', first recorded by the Arrows, to No. 1?
Joan Jett
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.
Q 29Which Rush instrumental from Moving Pictures was nominated for a 1982 Grammy?
YYZ
'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'.
Q 30Which rap group's 1986 collaboration with Aerosmith on 'Walk This Way' revived the band's career?
Run-DMC
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.