Savage Garden
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40 free Savage Garden trivia questions with answers — music quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
Savage Garden packed a remarkable amount into a short career. Between 1996 and 2001 the Australian duo of Darren Hayes and Daniel Jones released just two studio albums, yet songs like Truly Madly Deeply and I Knew I Loved You became fixtures of late-1990s radio around the world. This quiz gives The Animal Song its due, covering the film it was written for, its video and how it fared on the charts, then widens out to the rest of the catalogue: the debut album, Affirmation, the famous music videos, the big award night, and the solo years that followed the split. It is pitched for anyone who remembers the hits, plus a handful of tougher questions about the early days for long-time fans. Every answer comes with a short explanation, so you will pick up a few stories even when you guess.
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Q 01Which teenage actress plays the subway love interest in Savage Garden's I Knew I Loved You video?
Kirsten Dunst
Kirsten Dunst was still a teenager when she shot the clip in 1999, three years before Spider-Man made her a household name.
Q 02Savage Garden took their name from a phrase in The Vampire Chronicles by which novelist?
Anne Rice
Anne Rice launched the series with Interview with the Vampire in 1976. The duo adopted her phrase after first working under two other names.
Q 03Savage Garden wrote The Animal Song for the soundtrack of which 1999 Garry Marshall film?
The Other Sister
The Other Sister features Diane Keaton and Giovanni Ribisi. Darren Hayes later described it as the film that flopped, while the single reached No. 3 in Australia.
Q 04Savage Garden's Darren Hayes auditioned for which film series whose memorabilia he collects?
Star Wars
Star Wars has been his obsession since childhood, and the part he tried out for was in Episode III – Revenge of the Sith.
Q 05Savage Garden's Truly Madly Deeply ended the 14-week US No. 1 run of a 1997 single by which artist?
Elton John
Elton John's Candle in the Wind 1997, his tribute to Princess Diana, finally gave way in January 1998, when the Australian duo held the top spot for two weeks.
Q 06Asked in 2007 about reuniting Savage Garden, Darren Hayes said he would only do it if it did what?
Cured cancer
Cured cancer was his condition, and he repeated it in 2020, comparing a reunion to going back to a relationship he had been glad to survive.
Q 07Savage Garden formed in which Australian state capital, the home city of singer Darren Hayes?
Brisbane
Brisbane is where Hayes answered a street-press ad placed by Daniel Jones, who needed a singer for his covers band.
Q 08In the video for Savage Garden's The Animal Song, Darren Hayes sings while walking through what?
A parade
A parade swirls around Hayes in the Jim Gable-directed clip, which cuts in scenes from the film the single was written for.
Q 09Savage Garden's Break Me Shake Me recalls Darren Hayes arguing with a Madonna fan over which idol?
Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson was the hero a teenage Hayes defended at school and saw live on the 1987 Bad Tour, a night he credits with pushing him towards a career in entertainment.
Q 10After Savage Garden's I Knew I Loved You, which Australian act next topped the Billboard Hot 100?
Gotye
Gotye ended a wait of more than 12 years in 2012 with Somebody That I Used to Know, a duet with New Zealand singer Kimbra.
Q 11Savage Garden's international Truly Madly Deeply video follows two lovers through which city?
Paris
Paris provides the backdrop, from the Gare de l'Est to Montmartre, and the couple finally reunite at the foot of the Tour Saint-Jacques.
Q 12In 1997 Savage Garden won a record ten trophies in one night at which Australian music ceremony?
ARIA Awards
ARIA Awards night in September 1997 brought the duo ten wins from 13 nominations, including Album of the Year, Single of the Year and Best Group.
Q 13Savage Garden's Daniel Jones moved to Queensland as a baby after being born in which country?
England
England was his birthplace: Jones was born in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, the youngest of three boys, and the family emigrated when he was a year old.
Q 21Which producer, famed for his Mariah Carey hits, first worked with Savage Garden on The Animal Song?
Walter Afanasieff
Walter Afanasieff went on to produce the whole Affirmation album, and then oversaw most of Darren Hayes's first solo record.
Q 22Darren Hayes says his love of which sci-fi film shaped Savage Garden's To the Moon and Back?
Blade Runner
Blade Runner and its question of what it means to be human gave Hayes his angle, and the single became the duo's first Australian No. 1.
Q 23The Animal Song video intercuts Savage Garden's Darren Hayes with film scenes of which actress?
Juliette Lewis
Q 14Savage Garden's The Animal Song stalled at No. 19 in the US but topped the singles sales chart in which country?
Canada
Canada sent it to number one on its singles sales chart in March 1999, while Australia and New Zealand both took it to number three.
Q 15At the Sydney 2000 Olympics, Savage Garden's Darren Hayes wore a T-shirt showing which flag?
Aboriginal
The Aboriginal flag shirt appeared as the duo performed Affirmation at the closing ceremony, where Midnight Oil played in outfits bearing the word Sorry.
Q 16Savage Garden filmed the I Knew I Loved You video on a subway set earlier used by which sitcom?
Seinfeld
Seinfeld had used the same mock subway carriage. In the clip's story a power cut stops the train and the passengers all join hands.
Q 17Which talk-show host helped break Savage Garden in the US by playing I Want You on her show?
Rosie O'Donnell
Rosie O'Donnell played the debut single on several episodes of her daytime show in 1997, and it climbed to No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Q 18Which German Eurodance act took a cover of Savage Garden's Truly Madly Deeply to No. 4 in the UK?
Cascada
Cascada recorded it as a ballad for the album Everytime We Touch, then released an up-tempo version as the single, which first charted on downloads alone.
Q 19Around 2010 Savage Garden's Daniel Jones quit music and moved to Las Vegas to work in what?
Real estate
Real estate became his second career: with a small team he bought, renovated and sold properties, before moving back to Australia in 2023.
Q 20Savage Garden's Truly Madly Deeply spent ten weeks at No. 2 on US radio behind which film's theme?
Titanic
Titanic's theme, sung by Celine Dion, held the Australian ballad off on the Mainstream Top 40 chart in early 1998 before it climbed back to No. 1 that April.
Juliette Lewis plays Carla Tate, the young woman at the centre of the film the single was written for, so her scenes run through the clip.
Q 24After Savage Garden split, which ballad did Darren Hayes release as his first solo single?
Insatiable
Insatiable reached No. 3 in Australia and topped the New Zealand chart, launching his debut solo album Spin.
Q 25Savage Garden's Truly Madly Deeply logged a record 123 weeks on which Billboard chart?
Adult Contemporary
Adult Contemporary radio kept the ballad on its chart for more than two years, a record the duo broke themselves when I Knew I Loved You lasted 124 weeks.
Q 26Which American record label signed Savage Garden for release outside Australia in late 1996?
Columbia
Columbia executive Don Ienner later challenged the duo to write a ballad to match their biggest hit, and I Knew I Loved You was the result.
Q 27Which Californian city names a Savage Garden song released as a single only in Japan in 1998?
Santa Monica
Santa Monica drew on Darren Hayes's own observations of the place, and its video came from a live performance at the Hard Rock Cafe.
Q 28Savage Garden wrote Affirmation by phone, with Daniel Jones at home and Darren Hayes in which city?
New York
New York was Hayes's base while Jones stayed in Queensland, and the long-distance album went on to sell more than 8 million copies worldwide.
Q 29Savage Garden wrote much of their debut album while living for eight months in which Sydney area?
Kings Cross
Kings Cross was where the label installed the pair, and a homesick Darren Hayes wrote Truly Madly Deeply during the stay.
Q 30Sandy & Junior, who covered Savage Garden's Truly Madly Deeply in Portuguese, came from which country?
Brazil
Brazil's sibling duo Sandy & Junior retitled it No Fundo do Coração, and the live album carrying it sold more than 1.8 million copies at home.