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50 free Bon Jovi trivia questions with answers — music quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
41 free Bon Jovi trivia questions with answers. Bon Jovi have sold more than 130 million records and played 3,000 shows across 50 countries, and this quiz covers the whole run. Forty questions take in the Sayreville beginnings and the radio-station demo of 'Runaway', the strip club that named Slippery When Wet, the talk box on 'Livin' on a Prayer', the record five top-tens off New Jersey, the Moscow Music Peace Festival, Keep the Faith and 'Always', the four-year hiatus, 'It's My Life' and the Crush comeback, the country crossover with Jennifer Nettles, Sambora's exit, the 2018 Rock Hall induction and the 2024 documentary. Easy questions ask where the band is from and who plays drums; the hard ones want the producer of Slippery When Wet, the studio musician who played bass on 'Runaway' before joining decades later, the Vegas chapel where Jon got married and the film that earned him an Oscar nomination. There is a little on Jon's acting, his football team and his pay-what-you-can restaurant too. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia's articles on the band, its members, albums and singles, and each question carries the sentence that supports it. Song lyrics are never quoted.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01In which New Jersey town was Bon Jovi formed in 1983?
Sayreville
Jon was born in nearby Perth Amboy, and Richie Sambora grew up in Woodbridge.
Q 02What is Jon Bon Jovi's birth name?
John Francis Bongiovi Jr.
His father was a barber and former Marine; his mother, also an ex-Marine, was a florist and a Playboy Bunny.
Q 03Who has been Bon Jovi's drummer since the band formed in 1983?
Tico Torres
Before Bon Jovi he had recorded and played with the Marvelettes and Chuck Berry.
Q 04Which band member had quit an earlier group with Jon to study medicine?
David Bryan
The keyboardist and Jon had formed Atlantic City Expressway together as teenagers.
Q 05What was Jon Bon Jovi's first professional recording?
Lead vocals on 'R2-D2 We Wish You a Merry Christmas'
It came from the Star Wars album Christmas in the Stars, co-produced by his cousin Tony Bongiovi at the Power Station.
Q 06Which E Street Band member played keyboards on the original 'Runaway' recording?
Roy Bittan
Jon cut it with hired hands he called The All Star Review, including future Bon Jovi bassist Hugh McDonald.
Q 07How did 'Runaway' first get radio play?
It was included on a station's local-talent compilation
Jon had gone to WAPP in Lake Success, New York, to write and sing jingles, and staff talked him into handing over the song.
Q 08Which future Skid Row guitarist toured with Bon Jovi in 1983 before Richie Sambora joined?
Dave 'The Snake' Sabo
He and Jon promised that whoever made it first would help the other.
Q 09Which band was cited as the model when the group chose a two-word name?
Van Halen
Pamela Maher, an employee of manager Doc McGhee, made the suggestion.
Q 10Which professional songwriter did the band bring in as a collaborator for their third album?
Desmond Child
He co-wrote 'You Give Love a Bad Name' and 'Livin' on a Prayer'; the band tested 30 songs on local teenagers to pick the running order.
Q 11In which city did Bon Jovi record Slippery When Wet?
Vancouver
Bruce Fairbairn produced it at Little Mountain Sound Studios over six months in 1986.
Q 12Where did the band get the title Slippery When Wet?
A visit to a strip club
An earlier working title was Wanted Dead or Alive, and a cowboy-themed cover shot was later used for that single.
Q 13How many weeks did Slippery When Wet spend at number one on the Billboard 200?
Eight
Billboard named it the top-selling album of 1987, and it is now certified 18-times platinum.
Q 21In August 1989 Bon Jovi played which landmark event in the Soviet Union?
The Moscow Music Peace Festival
They were officially sanctioned by the Soviet government, and New Jersey was legally released in the USSR.
Q 22Which TV series was reshaped by Jon and Richie's acoustic 'Livin' on a Prayer' in 1989?
MTV Unplugged
Its showrunners said the performance turned the show from a showcase for newcomers into a stage for big arena acts.
Q 23Jon Bon Jovi's solo hit 'Blaze of Glory' was recorded for which film?
Young Guns II
Q 14Which was Bon Jovi's first Billboard Hot 100 number one?
'You Give Love a Bad Name'
'Livin' on a Prayer' followed it straight to the top; 'Wanted Dead or Alive' peaked at seven.
Q 15What device gives Richie Sambora's guitar riff on 'Livin' on a Prayer' its distinctive voice-like sound?
A talk box
Jon disliked the first recording; Sambora talked him into reworking it with a new bassline and the talk box.
Q 16What are the names of the struggling working-class couple in 'Livin' on a Prayer'?
Tommy and Gina
He is a dockworker laid off by a strike, she waits tables at a diner; the pair got a name-check again on 'It's My Life'.
Q 17How many weeks did 'Livin' on a Prayer' spend at number one on the Hot 100?
Four
In 2006, VH1 viewers voted it the greatest song of the 1980s.
Q 18'Wanted Dead or Alive' is the theme song of which Discovery Channel series?
Deadliest Catch
Jon and Richie wrote it in Sambora's mother's basement, inspired by Bad Company's 'Bad Company'.
Q 19How many Top 10 Hot 100 hits came from the 1988 album New Jersey, a record for a hard rock album?
Five
'Bad Medicine' and 'I'll Be There for You' both went to number one.
Q 20Which New Jersey video was banned by MTV for sexual content until it was re-edited?
'Living in Sin'
Once trimmed, MTV put it into heavy rotation.
It went to number one, won a Golden Globe and earned him an Academy Award nomination.
Q 24Which manager did Jon Bon Jovi fire in 1991?
Doc McGhee
McGhee had guided the band from its debut through the exhausting New Jersey Syndicate Tour.
Q 25Which producer worked with the band on Keep the Faith in 1992?
Bob Rock
He had mixed Slippery When Wet; the album marked a deliberate change of sound and image.
Q 26Which 1994 song became Bon Jovi's biggest-selling single?
'Always'
It was one of two new tracks on the greatest-hits set Cross Road and sat in the Hot 100's top ten for six months.
Q 27Which original member left in 1994, the band's first lineup change?
Alec John Such
Hugh McDonald, who had played bass on 'Runaway' back in 1982, unofficially took his place.
Q 28Which 2000 album, led by 'It's My Life', brought the band back after a near four-year hiatus?
Crush
It earned Grammy nominations for Best Rock Album and Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group.
Q 29Which Swedish pop hitmaker co-wrote 'It's My Life' with Jon and Richie?
Max Martin
The song's second verse also tips its hat to fellow New Jerseyan Frank Sinatra.
Q 30Bon Jovi's August 2000 concerts were the last ever held at which venue before its demolition?
The old Wembley Stadium
They also closed Philadelphia's Veterans Stadium in 2003 and opened London's O2 Arena in 2007.