Getting your questions ready
Getting your questions ready
Beat the crowd
10 questions No timer
100 free TV & Movie Theme Songs trivia questions with answers — music quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
49 free TV & Movie Theme Songs trivia questions with answers. Did you know that many iconic theme songs were written by the same legendary composers who scored entire films? Test your expertise across decades of television and cinema with our comprehensive 100-question theme song trivia challenge. From classic sitcoms to blockbuster franchises, can you name that tune?
30 of 100 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01'Suicide Is Painless', sung in the 1970 film, became the instrumental theme of which long-running TV series?
M*A*S*H
Robert Altman demanded 'the stupidest song ever written', and the lyrics were finally supplied by his 14-year-old son Mike; the show never used them.
Q 02Who composed the iconic main theme for Star Wars?
John Williams
John Williams has more Oscar nominations than any living person, over 50; Star Wars won him the 1977 award for Best Original Score.
Q 03Who wrote and rapped the lyrics of the theme to his own 1990 NBC sitcom, set in a Bel-Air mansion?
Will Smith
He wrote them after reading the pilot scripts, and his partner DJ Jazzy Jeff produced the track after Quincy Jones's early version was set aside.
Q 04Who composed the main title theme for The Simpsons?
Danny Elfman
Danny Elfman wrote the Simpsons theme in 1989 after Matt Groening approached him. Alf Clausen went on to score the show's episodes for decades, but not the title theme.
Q 05Which sitcom's pilot used R.E.M.'s 'Shiny Happy People' before its famous theme was written?
Friends
When Michael Stipe declined to license the song, the producers wrote a new one with Allee Willis and handed it to The Rembrandts to record.
Q 06The two-note "dun-dun" sound is the signature of which TV franchise?
Law & Order
Law & Order plays it at every scene change; Post calls it 'the clang', and it has run since 1990.
Q 07Which 1975 film has a two-note bass theme, alternating E and F, that tells you something is in the water?
Jaws
Jaws' composer John Williams played the two notes on a piano and Spielberg laughed, assuming it was a joke; the score won him an Oscar.
Q 08Cindy Fee's cover of 'Thank You for Being a Friend' was the theme of which sitcom?
The Golden Girls
Chuck Negron of Three Dog Night re-recorded it for the short-lived spin-off The Golden Palace.
Q 09Jonathan Wolff re-recorded the Seinfeld theme for every episode. Which instrument carries its melody?
Slap bass
Slap bass licks were re-cut each time so they would fit around Jerry's opening monologue, complete with mouth pops and lip smacks.
Q 10Which Disney animated film features the song "Circle of Life" in its opening?
The Lion King
"Circle of Life," performed by Carmen Twillie and Lebo M, opens The Lion King (1994) with the iconic sunrise over the African savanna.
Q 11Who co-wrote and sang 'Where Everybody Knows Your Name', the bar-set sitcom theme first heard in 1982?
Gary Portnoy
He and Judy Hart Angelo had originally written the tune as 'People Like Us' for a failed Broadway musical; he re-recorded a longer version soon after the premiere.
Q 12Which director composed and performed the piano theme for his own 1978 slasher film Halloween?
John Carpenter
He wrote the whole score in about three days on a budget of roughly $300,000; the piano riff sits in an unsettling 10/8 metre.
Q 13Who composed the main title theme for HBO's Westeros saga, and scored all eight seasons?
Ramin Djawadi
Q 21Which 1980s TV show opened with "Believe it or not, I'm walking on air"?
The Greatest American Hero
"Believe It or Not" by Joey Scarbury was the theme song for The Greatest American Hero (1981-1983), about a teacher given a superhero suit by aliens.
Q 22Which mockumentary sitcom won the Outstanding Comedy Series Emmy five years running from 2010?
Modern Family
It won 22 Primetime Emmys in all, and its title card was later imitated shot-for-shot by an episode of WandaVision.
Q 23The "Imperial March" (Darth Vader's theme) first appeared in which Star Wars film?
The Empire Strikes Back
He also wrote the piano-and-choir piece 'Light of the Seven' for the season six finale, and later scored the prequel House of the Dragon.
Q 14"Gonna Fly Now" is the inspirational theme from which sports film franchise?
Rocky
Rocky's steps now have a statue of Stallone at the bottom, and the song reached number one in 1977.
Q 15Which studio built the clockwork-map title sequence for HBO's Westeros saga?
Elastic
The map changes every episode to show only the locations that episode visits, with buildings unfolding out of the terrain like clockwork.
Q 16The instrumental theme for the US version of The Office was performed by which group?
The Scrantones
Producer Greg Daniels had considered using The Kinks' 'Better Things' and Modest Mouse's 'Float On' before commissioning Jay Ferguson's tune.
Q 17Which James Bond film features the theme song "Skyfall" by Adele?
Skyfall
Skyfall's song was the first Bond theme ever to win the Oscar; Sam Smith and Billie Eilish then won for the next two films.
Q 18'Hedwig's Theme', the celesta melody first heard in 2001, is the signature of which film series?
Harry Potter
Harry Potter's theme is named after an owl; John Williams scored only the first three films, but every composer after him kept it.
Q 19Which sitcom's theme song begins with 'In West Philadelphia born and raised'?
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air's theme tells the plot: one basketball-court fight and a one-way flight to his aunt and uncle in Los Angeles.
Q 20Which composer is known for the scores of The Dark Knight, Inception, and Interstellar?
Hans Zimmer
Hans Zimmer composed the scores for The Dark Knight (2008), Inception (2010), and Interstellar (2014), establishing himself as one of the most prolific film composers of the modern era.
Nothing like it appears in the 1977 original; the 1980 sequel introduced both the march and Yoda's theme.
Q 24Randy Newman's 'You've Got a Friend in Me' is the theme of which Pixar franchise, starting with its 1995 original?
Toy Story
Toy Story's song is a duet with Lyle Lovett in the first film, and the Gipsy Kings did a Spanish-language version for the third.
Q 25Which TV drama's theme song is "Woke Up This Morning" by Alabama 3?
The Sopranos
HBO used a shortened 'Chosen One Mix' over Tony's drive from Manhattan to New Jersey in every episode.
Q 26'My Heart Will Go On' by Celine Dion won an Oscar as the theme of which 1997 blockbuster?
Titanic
Titanic's director James Cameron did not want a pop song at all; Dion recorded the demo in one take and it became one of the best-selling singles ever.
Q 27Which band recorded 'Eye of the Tiger' for Rocky III after Queen refused Stallone 'Another One Bites the Dust'?
Survivor
Survivor then spent six weeks at number one, and the song was nominated for an Oscar.
Q 28Which cartoon's opening theme is built on a sped-up sample of Clyde Stubblefield's 'Funky Drummer' break?
The Powerpuff Girls
The closing theme, by contrast, was performed by the Scottish band Bis; both bookend the tale of sugar, spice, everything nice and Chemical X.
Q 29The Stranger Things theme is built mainly on which kind of instrument?
Synthesizer
Synthesizer, in homage to Tangerine Dream, Vangelis and John Carpenter; Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein wrote it.
Q 30Which film's main theme is nicknamed the "Bond Theme" or "James Bond Theme"?
Dr. No
The iconic James Bond Theme was first heard in Dr. No (1962), the first film in the franchise. It was composed by Monty Norman and arranged by John Barry.