109 Fun Facts About 80s Rock

What was the first clip MTV aired when it launched on August 1, 1981?

'Video Killed the Radio Star' by the Buggles opened MTV at 12:01 a.m.; it had peaked at only No. 40 in the US but topped charts in sixteen countries.

Which AC/DC singer died in 1980, seven months after Highway to Hell?

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.

Where did AC/DC record Back in Black over seven weeks in 1980?

The Bahamas — the band cut it at Compass Point Studios in Nassau in April and May 1980, then mixed it at Electric Lady Studios in New York.

Ozzy Osbourne famously bit the head off a bat on stage in January 1982 in which city?

Des Moines, Iowa — on January 20, 1982, at Veterans Memorial Auditorium; he thought the bat was rubber and needed rabies shots afterward.

Which guitarist on Ozzy Osbourne's Blizzard of Ozz died in a 1982 plane crash?

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.

Def Leppard drummer Rick Allen lost his left arm after a car crash on New Year's Eve of which year?

1984 — Allen crashed his Corvette near Sheffield on December 31, 1984; he returned with an electronic kit, and the Hysteria title nods to the media frenzy around his accident.

Which producer made Def Leppard's Pyromania and Hysteria, as well as AC/DC's Back in Black?

Mutt Lange — he produced Back in Black (1980), then Pyromania (1983), which peaked at No. 2 behind Thriller, and Hysteria (1987).

Which was Van Halen's only No. 1 single on the Billboard Hot 100?

'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.

Who replaced David Lee Roth as Van Halen's singer in 1985?

Sammy Hagar, formerly of Montrose, joined in 1985 and fronted four straight No. 1 albums, starting with 5150 in 1986.

Which 1984 single became the 'Red Rocker' Sammy Hagar's signature solo song?

'I Can't Drive 55' reached only No. 26 on the Hot 100 in 1984, but heavy rock-radio play made it Sammy Hagar's signature song.

Guns N' Roses' Appetite for Destruction holds what US sales record?

Best-selling debut album — it flopped at first, then reached No. 1 in 1988 and went 18× platinum, more than any other US debut.

Which was Guns N' Roses' only US No. 1 single?

'Sweet Child o' Mine' topped the Hot 100 in September 1988; in the UK it stalled at No. 24 until a 1989 reissue took it to No. 6.

Axl Rose and Slash's band formed in LA in 1985 from Hollywood Rose and which other group?

L.A. Guns — Tracii Guns' band merged with Hollywood Rose in March 1985; the classic lineup of Rose, Slash, Stradlin, McKagan and Adler signed with Geffen in 1986.

Bon Jovi's Slippery When Wet spent how many weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200?

Eight — Slippery When Wet spent eight non-consecutive weeks atop the Billboard 200 and was Billboard's top-selling album of 1987.

Which two Bon Jovi singles from Slippery When Wet reached No. 1 on the Hot 100?

'You Give Love a Bad Name' and 'Livin' on a Prayer' both topped the Hot 100 in 1986-87; the follow-up New Jersey added two more No. 1s.

In which New Jersey town was Bon Jovi formed in 1983?

Sayreville — Jon Bon Jovi's hometown, where the band came together in 1983 after his single 'Runaway' got local radio play.

How is the title of Journey's 1981 album Escape stylised on its cover?

E5C4P3 — the number-for-letter spelling on the 1981 cover; the album topped the Billboard 200 and 'Open Arms' peaked at No. 2.

Bruce Springsteen's Born in the U.S.A. produced how many top-ten singles in the US?

'Dancing in the Dark', 'I'm on Fire' and 'Glory Days' were among them, and the album was the world's best seller of 1985.

Which Springsteen album was his first to top the Billboard 200?

The River, a 1980 double album mixing party songs and ballads, was his first No. 1; Nebraska, a solo acoustic record, followed in 1982.

Which U2 album, recorded in two Irish houses in 1986, includes 'With or Without You'?

The Joshua Tree (1987) — recorded largely at Danesmoate House and Melbeach, it was meant as a 'cinematic' record evoking America's open spaces; the Edge used a prototype Infinite Guitar on the single.

U2 formed as teenagers at which Dublin school?

Mount Temple Comprehensive — Larry Mullen Jr. posted a notice there in 1976; four years later, in March 1980, the band signed to Island Records.

The Police's only US No. 1 single, from their final album Synchronicity, was which song?

'Every Breath You Take' spent eight weeks at No. 1 in 1983 and won two Grammys; its writer has said it brings in a quarter to a third of his publishing income.

Dire Straits' Brothers in Arms was the first album to do what?

Sell a million copies on CD — the 1985 album was the first to do so, spending nine weeks at No. 1 in the US; 'Money for Nothing' won Video of the Year at the 1986 VMAs.

Which singer joined Dire Straits for 'Money for Nothing' at Live Aid, a month after its release?

Sting — he sang the 'I want my MTV' refrain on the record and joined the band for it at Wembley on 13 July 1985.

Live Aid on 13 July 1985 was held simultaneously at Wembley Stadium and which US venue?

JFK Stadium in Philadelphia — an estimated 1.9 billion people in 150 nations watched the two concerts, nearly 40 percent of the world's population.

How long was Queen's Live Aid set, later voted the best rock gig of all time?

21 minutes — Queen's set began at 6:41 pm, ran six songs from 'Bohemian Rhapsody' to 'We Are the Champions', and was recreated as the climax of the 2018 film Bohemian Rhapsody.

Survivor wrote 'Eye of the Tiger' for Rocky III after which band refused Stallone a song?

Queen — Stallone was refused 'Another One Bites the Dust', so Survivor wrote 'Eye of the Tiger', timing the riff to the punches in the boxing footage.

Which band first recorded 'I Love Rock 'n' Roll' in 1975, before Joan Jett's cover?

The Arrows, fronted by Alan Merrill, first recorded 'I Love Rock 'n' Roll' in 1975; Jett saw them play it on British TV and cut her version in 1981.

Which Rush instrumental from Moving Pictures was nominated for a 1982 Grammy?

'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'.

Which rap group's 1986 collaboration with Aerosmith on 'Walk This Way' revived the band's career?

Run-DMC — their 1986 'Walk This Way' remake hit No. 4 on the Hot 100 and put Aerosmith back on MTV ahead of the multi-platinum Permanent Vacation (1987).

Which 1986 Beastie Boys album was the first rap record to top the Billboard 200?

Licensed to Ill, released in November 1986, hit No. 1 in March 1987 — the first rap album to do so; the trio had begun as a hardcore punk band and opened for Madonna in 1985.

Metallica's bassist Cliff Burton died in a tour-bus accident in 1986 while promoting which album?

Master of Puppets — the bus overturned near Ljungby, Sweden, on September 27, 1986; the European leg was cancelled and Jason Newsted was hired that autumn.

Metallica are considered one of the 'big four' of thrash metal alongside Slayer, Anthrax and which band?

Megadeth was founded by Dave Mustaine after Metallica fired him in 1983.

Iron Maiden's 1982 album The Number of the Beast was their first with which singer?

Bruce Dickinson, formerly of Samson, replaced Paul Di'Anno in late 1981; The Number of the Beast became Maiden's first UK No. 1 album.

Which three musicians testified against the PMRC at the 1985 Senate 'porn rock' hearing?

Dee Snider, Frank Zappa and John Denver — Zappa called the PMRC plan 'an ill-conceived piece of nonsense'; the outcome was the Parental Advisory sticker.

Prince's Purple Rain spent how many consecutive weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200?

24 — Purple Rain held No. 1 for 24 straight weeks from August 1984 to January 1985; its track 'Darling Nikki' helped provoke the PMRC and the Parental Advisory sticker.

Which was the only Pink Floyd single to reach No. 1 in both the UK and the US?

'Another Brick in the Wall (Part II)' topped both charts in late 1979 and early 1980; the 1980-81 tour built a wall across the stage, and the album became a film in 1982.

The Rolling Stones' 1981 album Tattoo You, home of 'Start Me Up', was assembled largely from what?

Feuding and touring made new sessions impossible, so producers combed the vaults for fragments dating back almost a decade.

Which Yes song became the band's only Billboard Hot 100 No. 1?

'Owner of a Lonely Heart', from 90125, topped the Hot 100 for two weeks in January 1984 and finished No. 8 on that year's year-end chart.

Talking Heads' 1984 concert film Stop Making Sense was directed by whom?

Jonathan Demme directed it over three nights at Hollywood's Pantages Theatre in December 1983; the band raised the $1.2 million budget themselves, and the film entered the National Film Registry in 2021.

ZZ Top's 1983 breakthrough album Eliminator took its title from a term used in which sport?

Drag racing — an 'eliminator' is a knockout-round class; the name also went on Billy Gibbons's customised 1933 Ford coupe, star of the 'Gimme All Your Lovin'' and 'Sharp Dressed Man' videos.

The Traveling Wilburys formed in 1988 to record which song as a George Harrison B-side?

'Handle with Care' was cut in April 1988 as a B-side for Harrison's 'This Is Love'; the label thought it too good to bury, and the five half-brother pseudonyms followed. Orbison died that December.

MCA initially refused to release which 1989 Tom Petty solo album, believing it had no hits?

Full Moon Fever, co-produced by Jeff Lynne, was first turned down by MCA; released in April 1989, it yielded 'Free Fallin'' and 'I Won't Back Down' and went 5× platinum.

R.E.M. formed in 1980 in which college town?

Athens, Georgia — the band played its first show there in April 1980 at a friend's birthday party in a converted church; 'The One I Love' became their first top-10 hit in 1987.

Which independent label released The Smiths' 1984 debut album?

Rough Trade — Geoff Travis's London indie signed the band in 1983 and released The Smiths in February 1984; it reached No. 2 in the UK.

Which Cure single from 1989's Disintegration reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100?

'Lovesong', written for Robert Smith's new wife Mary, peaked at No. 2 on the Hot 100 in October 1989, the Cure's highest US chart placing.

Which Pixies album from 1989 became a touchstone for Nirvana and 90s alternative rock?

Doolittle, released in April 1989 with 'Here Comes Your Man' and 'Monkey Gone to Heaven', showcased the loud-quiet-loud dynamics Kurt Cobain said he copied for 'Smells Like Teen Spirit'.

Which Apple co-founder bankrolled the 1982 and 1983 US Festivals?

Steve Wozniak, wanting the '80s to be more community-minded than the 'Me Decade', poured millions of his own money into both festivals in San Bernardino County and hired Bill Graham to help stage them.

Which city was chosen in 1986 as the permanent home of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame?

Cleveland — chosen in May 1986, partly on the strength of DJ Alan Freed's 1950s 'rock and roll' broadcasts there; I. M. Pei's lakefront museum opened in September 1995.

Foreigner's 1981 album 4 spent how many weeks at No. 1 in the US?

Ten — 4 held the Billboard 200 top spot for ten weeks in 1981, driven by 'Urgent', 'Waiting for a Girl Like You' and 'Juke Box Hero'.

Which INXS single from Kick reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100?

'Need You Tonight' topped the Hot 100 in January 1988, the first of four top-10 singles from Kick, which went six-times platinum in the US.

Phil Collins's 'In the Air Tonight' peaked at what position on the Billboard Hot 100?

No. 19 — the 1981 single stalled there on the Hot 100 despite reaching No. 2 in the UK and heavy rotation on the newly launched MTV.

Which Faith No More single reached No. 9 in the US in 1990 after Mike Patton joined?

'Epic' climbed to No. 9 in September 1990, pushing The Real Thing to platinum; the band had earlier been called Sharp Young Men and Faith. No Man.

Meat Loaf's Bat Out of Hell, still charting through the 80s, was written entirely by whom?

It grew out of Neverland, a futuristic rock take on Peter Pan; Todd Rundgren produced it.

Pat Benatar's 1980 album Crimes of Passion was kept from No. 1 in the US by which record?

Double Fantasy — Crimes of Passion sat at No. 2 for five weeks behind John Lennon and Yoko Ono's album, then earned Benatar her first Grammy, for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance.

Which Huey Lewis and the News album from 1983 hit No. 1 and produced four US top-ten singles?

Sports reached No. 1 in June 1984 and finished that year as Billboard's No. 2 album behind Thriller, eventually going 7× platinum.

How many singles from Bryan Adams's Reckless (1984) reached the top 20 of the Billboard Hot 100?

Six — 'Run to You', 'Somebody', 'Heaven', 'Summer of '69', 'One Night Love Affair' and 'It's Only Love' all reached the top 20; the album came out on his 25th birthday, November 5, 1984.

Before going solo, Billy Idol fronted which London punk band?

Idol left the band Chelsea after a few weeks and co-founded Generation X with Tony James; it was among the first punk bands on Top of the Pops.

Which 1983 album was the first Kiss released after the band dropped its makeup?

The unmasked era lasted until the original lineup reunited in makeup in 1996; Lick It Up's videos won the band a new MTV audience.

Which Michael Jackson hit features a guitar solo that Van Halen's lead guitarist recorded for free?

Beat It got its solo as a favor: Eddie Van Halen cut two takes unpaid on a rented amplifier, after first taking the producer's phone call for a prank.

Which future sitcom star danced on stage with Bruce Springsteen in the video for 'Dancing in the Dark'?

Courteney Cox was planted in the crowd by director Brian De Palma, and Springsteen thought she was simply a fan until after the shoot.

Van Halen's concert rider famously demanded a bowl of M&M's with which color removed, as a test of promoters?

Brown M&M's in the dressing room told the band a promoter had skimmed the contract, so the crew would recheck the staging and electrics before the show.

Which British band beat Metallica to the first hard rock and metal Grammy, in a notorious 1989 upset?

Jethro Tull were told they had no chance and skipped the ceremony, and their label answered the outcry with an advert calling the flute a heavy, metal instrument.

Ozzy Osbourne was banned from a Texas city for a decade after drunkenly relieving himself beside which landmark?

The Alamo incident in February 1982 cost him 15 minutes in a holding cell, a forty-dollar fine and a ten-year ban from San Antonio.

Which mockumentary about a fading British heavy metal band features an amplifier whose dials go up to eleven?

This Is Spinal Tap was Rob Reiner's first feature as a director, and that amplifier gave English an idiom for pushing anything past its maximum.

Which 1985 film gave Huey Lewis and the News a first US No. 1 single with 'The Power of Love'?

Back to the Future also gave Huey Lewis a cameo as the school judge who cuts off Marty McFly's band for being too loud while they play that very song.

Tom Petty dressed as which Alice in Wonderland character in the video for 'Don't Come Around Here No More'?

The Mad Hatter hosts a tea party that ends with Alice herself turned into a cake and eaten by the guests.

Which 1986 hit by the Swedish band Europe was written as a concert opener around a keyboard riff?

The Final Countdown grew from a riff singer Joey Tempest had kept in a drawer since college, and the band never expected a show intro to become a hit.

Which future US Second Lady co-founded the PMRC, compilers of the 'Filthy Fifteen' list of objectionable songs?

Tipper Gore and three other Washington wives pressed the industry until 19 record companies agreed to put explicit-lyrics warning labels on albums.

Which band of session musicians won the Album of the Year Grammy with the record that includes 'Africa'?

Toto took six Grammys for the album in 1983, and members Jeff Porcaro and Steve Lukather also played on Michael Jackson's Thriller.

Which band made the first US No. 1 album by an all-female group writing and playing its own songs?

The Go-Go's emerged from the late-1970s Los Angeles punk scene, and their debut Beauty and the Beat went double platinum.

Which British band broke up in December 1980, saying it could not continue after drummer John Bonham's death?

Led Zeppelin's three survivors have played together only sporadically since, including a 2007 London tribute show with Bonham's son Jason on drums.

Which 'King of the Movie Soundtrack' recorded both 'Danger Zone' for Top Gun and the title song of Footloose?

Kenny Loggins began his run of film hits with the Caddyshack theme 'I'm Alright', and 'Footloose' became his only solo No. 1.

Which band at first refused to record 'Don't You (Forget About Me)', written for the film The Breakfast Club?

Simple Minds felt they should only record their own material, then gave in and scored a US No. 1, their biggest North American hit.

Which Peter Gabriel song knocked his former band Genesis off the top of the US singles chart in July 1986?

Sledgehammer replaced 'Invisible Touch' at No. 1, and its stop-motion video went on to win a record nine MTV Video Music Awards.

Which Whitesnake song's video shows actress Tawny Kitaen cartwheeling across the hoods of two Jaguar cars?

Here I Go Again first appeared on a 1982 album that never came out in America, and the 1987 re-recording went to No. 1 there.

Which Twisted Sister anthem's video opens with an Animal House actor playing a father who berates his rock-loving son?

We're Not Gonna Take It cast Mark Metcalf, the bullying Niedermeyer of Animal House, and became the band's only Top 40 single.

Which glam metal band's only US No. 1 single was the acoustic power ballad 'Every Rose Has Its Thorn'?

Poison singer Bret Michaels wrote it in a Dallas laundromat after a pay-phone call to his girlfriend picked up a man's voice in the background.

Which band fronted by sisters Ann and Nancy Wilson topped the Hot 100 in 1987 with the ballad 'Alone'?

Heart did not write the song: Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly first recorded 'Alone' in 1983 under the name i-Ten.

Which hard rock band from Hanover, Germany, had a signature American hit with 'Rock You Like a Hurricane'?

Scorpions were formed back in 1965 by guitarist Rudolf Schenker, nearly two decades before that single sent its parent album double platinum in the USA.

U2 filmed a 1983 concert video on a rain-soaked June night at which open-air amphitheater in the American West?

Red Rocks was so rain-soaked that the show was nearly cancelled, but the downpour and the torch-lit setting made the film, Under a Blood Red Sky, dramatic.

What is the name of Iron Maiden's undead mascot, a fixture of the band's album covers since the debut?

Eddie began as a papier-mâché mask in the stage backdrop before artist Derek Riggs's illustration gave the name a face.

Which band's 'Call Me', the Giorgio Moroder theme to the film American Gigolo, was Billboard's top single of 1980?

Blondie got the job only because Moroder's first choice, a Fleetwood Mac singer, was tied up by a new record contract, so Debbie Harry wrote the lyrics instead.

Which band's 1983 rock opera Kilroy Was Here, set in a world where rock music is outlawed, includes 'Mr. Roboto'?

Styx booked small theaters for an intimate staging of the story, and the early part of that tour was a financial disaster.

Which Australian-born singer was playing Dr. Noah Drake on the soap General Hospital when 'Jessie's Girl' hit No. 1?

Rick Springfield watched the single take 19 weeks to climb to the top, one of the slowest ascents of its time, and it won him a Grammy for rock vocal.

A remark from the Live Aid stage by which singer inspired Willie Nelson to launch the Farm Aid concerts?

Bob Dylan's comment about American farmers losing their land to mortgage debt drew criticism from Live Aid's own organizer, yet the first benefit followed that September.

Which Boomtown Rats singer organized Live Aid with Midge Ure after the two wrote a famine-relief charity single?

Bob Geldof and Ure expected their Band Aid single to raise about £70,000; it brought in £8 million and led to the 1985 concerts.

Which John Mellencamp song, rescued in the studio by ex-Bowie guitarist Mick Ronson, spent four weeks at US No. 1?

Jack & Diane had been thrown on the junk heap until Ronson helped arrange it, adding percussion and a choir-like vocal break.

Which then-unknown Texas blues guitarist played on David Bowie's 'Let's Dance' after Bowie saw him at Montreux?

Stevie Ray Vaughan impressed Bowie enough to be asked onto the Serious Moonlight Tour, and his own debut album Texas Flood followed within months.

Before forming the Blackhearts, Joan Jett co-founded which teenage all-female band with drummer Sandy West?

The Runaways grew from producer Kim Fowley's 1975 idea for an all-girl rock group, and Jett was only 16 when she became a founding member.

Which singer replaced Ozzy Osbourne in Black Sabbath and popularized heavy metal's 'devil horns' hand gesture?

Ronnie James Dio said he borrowed the sign from his Italian grandmother, who often made the traditional gesture for warding off bad luck.

Which Motörhead founder, born Ian Kilmister, played the overdriven bass intro to the 1980 single 'Ace of Spades'?

Lemmy was the band's main songwriter and its only constant member, from its founding in 1975 until his death in 2015.

Billy Idol named which 1983 album after a bourbon he saw being drunk at a party with the Rolling Stones?

Rebel Yell was the whiskey being passed around, and Idol decided on the spot that the brand would make a great title for a record.

Aerosmith's 'Dude (Looks Like a Lady)' came from Steven Tyler mistaking which long-haired metal singer for a woman?

Vince Neil's long blonde hair fooled Tyler, as co-writer Desmond Child tells it, and the Mötley Crüe frontman's look became a hit single.

Which English singer's 'Addicted to Love' video backed him with a 'band' of look-alike fashion models?

Robert Palmer cut the song as a duet with Chaka Khan, but her label refused permission and her vocals were erased before release.

Which bassist and chief songwriter left Pink Floyd in 1985 and began a legal fight over the band's name?

Roger Waters told the High Court the group was a spent force creatively, but the others carried on and released A Momentary Lapse of Reason in 1987.

Which band's Metal Health became the first heavy metal album to top the Billboard album chart, in 1983?

Quiet Riot got there on the back of a cover of Slade's 'Cum On Feel the Noize', which spent two weeks at No. 5 on the Hot 100.

Which band led by guitarist Vernon Reid won a Grammy for the hard rock hit 'Cult of Personality'?

Living Colour got an early push from Mick Jagger, who saw the band at CBGB after Reid auditioned for his solo album and produced two of its demos.

Which Australian band's debut album Business as Usual spent 15 weeks at No. 1 in the United States?

Men at Work owed that run to 'Down Under', a reworked version of the B-side to the group's very first single.

The metal umlauts in Mötley Crüe's name were supposedly inspired by which German beer the band was drinking?

Löwenbräu was what the members were drinking when their singer suggested adding two sets of dots as a stylistic flourish.

Which Marvel Comics character appears on the original cover of Joe Satriani's breakthrough 1987 instrumental album?

Silver Surfer art was a comic-loving label manager's idea: Satriani had already named Surfing with the Alien without the character in mind.

Which hip-hop producer and Def Jam co-founder moved into metal by producing Slayer's 1986 album Reign in Blood?

Rick Rubin's first album with the band runs just 29 minutes, and its imagery was believed to have made distributor Columbia refuse to release it.

Which portrait photographer shot the cover of Bruce Springsteen's Born in the U.S.A., showing him from behind?

Annie Leibovitz framed him against the stripes of an American flag, and Springsteen later had to deny that the pose carried any secret message.

Which Canadian rocker was sued by Geffen Records in 1983 for making music 'unrepresentative' of himself?

Neil Young had already annoyed label head David Geffen with Trans, and Everybody's Rockin' arrived only months later to trigger the lawsuit.

Which Seattle label, co-founded by Bruce Pavitt in 1986, released Nirvana's 1989 debut album Bleach?

Sub Pop grew out of a fanzine Pavitt started in the early 1980s, and Bleach is the only Nirvana album it released.

Which English motor racing circuit hosted the Monsters of Rock festival, launched in 1980 with Rainbow headlining?

Donington Park was unknown as a major concert site, but its spot beside the M1 motorway made it easy to reach from around the country.

Which band's 'You Might Think' won Video of the Year at the first MTV Video Music Awards?

The Cars, a Boston band, took the prize with one of the first music videos to use computer graphics.

Which supergroup of former Yes, King Crimson and ELP members had America's top album of 1982 with its debut?

Asia spent nine weeks at No. 1 with the self-titled record, which also produced the top-five single 'Heat of the Moment'.

Which Clash single, the band's only US top-ten hit, had its music composed by drummer Topper Headon?

Rock the Casbah took shape when Headon, alone in the studio, taped the piano, drums and bass parts himself before his bandmates arrived.