60 free 80s Rock trivia questions with answers — music quiz, new questions added Aug 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 60 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
The Buggles' song had only reached No. 40 in the US, but it topped sixteen charts around the world.
Q 02Which AC/DC singer died in 1980, seven months after Highway to Hell?
Bon Scott
Back in Black's all-black cover was designed as a sign of mourning for him.
Q 03Where did AC/DC record Back in Black over seven weeks in 1980?
The Bahamas
The producer of Highway to Hell returned to oversee it; the mixing was done at Electric Lady in New York.
Q 04Ozzy Osbourne famously bit the head off a bat on stage in January 1982 in which city?
Des Moines
He thought it was rubber; by his own account it bit back and he needed rabies shots.
Q 05Which guitarist on Ozzy Osbourne's Blizzard of Ozz died in a 1982 plane crash?
Randy Rhoads
He fused classical guitar with metal, helping create what became known as neoclassical metal.
Q 06Def Leppard drummer Rick Allen lost his left arm after a car crash on New Year's Eve of which year?
1984
He returned to the kit with a custom electronic setup, and the Hysteria title refers partly to the media frenzy around his accident.
Q 07Which producer made Def Leppard's Pyromania and Hysteria, as well as AC/DC's Back in Black?
Mutt Lange
Pyromania was the first glam metal album to hit the Billboard top ten, held off No. 1 by Thriller.
Q 08Which was Van Halen's only No. 1 single on the Billboard Hot 100?
Jump
The 1984 album it came from was stuck at No. 2 behind Thriller, on which Eddie Van Halen played the 'Beat It' solo.
Q 09Who replaced David Lee Roth as Van Halen's singer in 1985?
Sammy Hagar
The former Montrose frontman gave them four straight No. 1 albums, starting with 5150 in 1986.
Q 10Which 1984 hit by the 'Red Rocker' protested the national speed limit?
I Can't Drive 55
It reached only No. 26 on the Hot 100 but got heavy rock-radio play and became his signature song.
Q 11Guns N' Roses' Appetite for Destruction holds what US sales record?
Best-selling debut album
It initially flopped, then went 18× platinum after 'Welcome to the Jungle', 'Paradise City' and a third single took hold.
Q 12Which was Guns N' Roses' only US No. 1 single?
Sweet Child o' Mine
It topped the Hot 100 in 1988 but only reached No. 24 in the UK on first release.
Q 13Axl Rose and Slash's band formed in LA in 1985 from Hollywood Rose and which other group?
L.A. Guns
The classic lineup of Rose, Slash, Stradlin, McKagan and Adler signed with Geffen in 1986.
Q 21Which U2 album, recorded in two Irish houses in 1986, includes 'With or Without You'?
The Joshua Tree
The band wanted a 'cinematic' record evoking the open spaces of America; the Edge played a prototype Infinite Guitar on the single.
Q 22U2 formed as teenagers at which Dublin school?
Mount Temple Comprehensive
They had limited musical proficiency at first but signed to Island Records within four years.
Q 23The Police's only US No. 1 single, from their final album Synchronicity, was which song?
Every Breath You Take
It won two Grammys and by 2010 was estimated to bring in a quarter to a third of its writer's publishing income.
Q 14Bon Jovi's Slippery When Wet spent how many weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200?
Eight
Billboard named it the top-selling album of 1987, and it has since been certified 18× platinum.
Q 15Which 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
The follow-up New Jersey produced five top-10 singles, including two more No. 1s.
Q 16In which New Jersey town was Bon Jovi formed in 1983?
Sayreville
Longtime guitarist and co-writer Richie Sambora left the band in 2013.
Q 17Journey recorded 'Don't Stop Believin'' in how many takes at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley?
One
Its chorus does not arrive until the song is nearly over, and by 2024 it was the top-selling digital track in US history.
Q 18How is the title of Journey's 1981 album Escape stylised on its cover?
E5C4P3
It topped the Billboard 200 and gave the band four Hot 100 hits, with 'Open Arms' peaking highest at No. 2.
Q 19Bruce Springsteen's Born in the U.S.A. produced how many top-ten singles in the US?
Seven
'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.
Q 20Which Springsteen album was his first to top the Billboard 200?
The River
The 1980 double album mixed party songs and ballads; Nebraska, a solo acoustic record, followed in 1982.
Q 24Dire Straits' Brothers in Arms was the first album to do what?
Sell a million copies on CD
It spent nine weeks at No. 1 in the US and 34 in Australia, and 'Money for Nothing' won Video of the Year at the 1986 VMAs.
Q 25Which singer joined Dire Straits for 'Money for Nothing' at Live Aid, a month after its release?
Sting
He also sang the song's falsetto refrain on the record.
Q 26Live Aid on 13 July 1985 was held simultaneously at Wembley Stadium and which US venue?
JFK in Philadelphia
An estimated 1.9 billion people in 150 nations watched, nearly 40 percent of the world's population.
Q 27How long was Queen's Live Aid set, later voted the best rock gig of all time?
21 minutes
It started at 6:41 pm and was recreated as the climax of the 2018 film Bohemian Rhapsody.
Q 28Survivor wrote 'Eye of the Tiger' for Rocky III after which band refused Stallone a song?
Queen
Stallone had wanted 'Another One Bites the Dust'; Survivor matched the riff's chord changes to the punches in the boxing scenes.
Q 29Joan Jett's 'I Love Rock 'n' Roll' spent how many weeks at No. 1 on the Hot 100 in 1982?
Seven
The Arrows' original was written as a response to the Stones' 'It's Only Rock 'n Roll'; Jett's old band the Runaways had passed on it.
Q 30Which Grammy-nominated Rush instrumental is named after a Toronto airport code?
YYZ
'Tom Sawyer' and 'Limelight' were the album's singles.