Duran Duran Trivia
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50 free Duran Duran trivia questions with answers — music quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
42 free Duran Duran trivia questions with answers. Duran Duran were the band MTV was built for: five faces from Birmingham, videos shot in Sri Lanka and Antigua, and a run of hits that had the British press calling them the Fab Five. This Duran Duran trivia quiz covers all of it, from the Rum Runner nightclub and the Barbarella villain who gave them their name to Rio, Seven and the Ragged Tiger, the Bond theme, Live Aid, the side projects, the 1990s comeback with Ordinary World and their 2022 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction. The 50 questions run from easy (who sings lead?) to genuinely hard (which single blocked Bruce Springsteen from number one?), so casual fans and people who owned the 12-inch night versions can both play. Every answer is checked against the band's documented history and interviews, not fan trivia lists.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01In which English city was Duran Duran formed in 1978?
Birmingham
Birmingham is where Nick Rhodes and John Taylor formed the band in 1978 with Stephen Duffy, later of The Lilac Time, as their first singer.
Q 02Duran Duran took their name from a villain in which 1968 science-fiction film?
Barbarella
Barbarella, the 1968 Jane Fonda space romp, features Milo O'Shea as the villain Durand Durand, whose name the band borrowed.
Q 03Which nightclub in the band's home city made Duran Duran its resident band in 1980, its owners becoming their managers?
The Rum Runner
The Rum Runner gave the band a rehearsal space and jobs as doormen, DJs and barmen; its owners, Paul and Michael Berrow, became their managers.
Q 04How did Simon Le Bon come to audition for Duran Duran in May 1980?
An ex-girlfriend who worked at the club recommended him
An ex-girlfriend who worked at the club recommended him: barmaid Fiona Kemp sent the drama student along, and he turned up for the audition in pink leopard-print trousers.
Q 05How many members of Duran Duran's classic line-up share the surname Taylor?
Three
Three Taylors, John, Andy and Roger, were unrelated; Andy, from Newcastle, joined by answering a Melody Maker ad.
Q 06What was Duran Duran's first hit single, which peaked at number 12 in early 1981?
Planet Earth
Planet Earth, released in February 1981, reached number 12 in the UK; its video was directed by Russell Mulcahy, who shot many of their later clips.
Q 07Which directing duo shot the controversial 'Girls on Film' video in August 1981?
Godley & Creme
Godley & Creme, the ex-10cc pair, shot the uncensored version for nightclub screens; it was banned by the BBC and heavily edited for MTV.
Q 08Which record label signed Duran Duran in December 1980 after a bidding war?
EMI
EMI won the bidding war in December 1980, helped by the band's fondness for the label of the Beatles; their debut album followed in June 1981.
Q 09Which May 1982 Duran Duran album produced 'Hungry Like the Wolf', 'Save a Prayer' and its title track?
Rio
Rio was released in May 1982 and became the band's breakthrough, eventually reaching number six on the US Billboard 200 in 1983.
Q 10Which artist painted the woman on the cover of the band's 1982 second album?
Patrick Nagel
Patrick Nagel, the American illustrator known for his Playboy work, painted the woman on the cover; Malcolm Garrett designed the sleeve around it.
Q 11In which country was the 'Hungry Like the Wolf' video filmed?
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka hosted the 1982 shoot, which also produced the 'Save a Prayer' video; Andy Taylor fell badly ill with a tropical virus there.
Q 12'Hungry Like the Wolf' won the first ever Grammy in which category in 1984?
Best Short Form Music Video
Best Short Form Music Video went to 'Hungry Like the Wolf' at the 1984 Grammys, the first year the award existed; the band also took the inaugural Long Form prize.
Q 13On which Caribbean island did the band film their famous yacht video in 1982?
Antigua
Antigua is where Russell Mulcahy shot the band aboard a yacht for the video in 1982; the boat was the Eilean, a 1936 ketch built by William Fife.
Q 21Which composer co-wrote 'A View to a Kill' with Duran Duran and recorded it with a 60-piece orchestra?
John Barry
John Barry, the veteran Bond composer, co-wrote and arranged it with the band, and the song was nominated for the Golden Globe for Best Original Song.
Q 22Which single kept 'A View to a Kill' at number two in the UK chart?
Paul Hardcastle's '19'
Paul Hardcastle's '19', the Vietnam-sampling hit, held the UK top spot for over a month in May and June 1985, blocking the Bond theme at number two.
Q 23At which venue did Duran Duran play Live Aid on 13 July 1985?
JFK Stadium, Philadelphia
Q 14Which member of the royal family publicly declared Duran Duran her favourite band?
Diana, Princess of Wales
Diana, Princess of Wales, named them her favourite band and attended their July 1983 Prince's Trust concert at London's Dominion Theatre.
Q 15What was Duran Duran's first UK number one single, which entered the chart at the top in 1983?
Is There Something I Should Know?
Is There Something I Should Know? entered the UK chart at number one in March 1983, and was then added to the US reissue of their debut album.
Q 16Which 1983 album gave Duran Duran their first UK number one album?
Seven and the Ragged Tiger
Seven and the Ragged Tiger, recorded as tax exiles in France, Montserrat and Sydney, topped the UK album chart in December 1983.
Q 17Which Chic guitarist remixed 'The Reflex' into Duran Duran's first US number one?
Nile Rodgers
Nile Rodgers of Chic reworked 'The Reflex' into a single that topped the Billboard Hot 100 in June 1984 and also went to number one in the UK.
Q 18Which Bruce Springsteen single did 'The Reflex' block from reaching number one on the Billboard Hot 100?
Dancing in the Dark
Dancing in the Dark stalled at number two in June 1984 behind 'The Reflex', and Prince's 'When Doves Cry' then kept it there.
Q 19'The Wild Boys' was inspired by a plan to film a novel by which Beat writer?
William S. Burroughs
Russell Mulcahy wanted the band to score his film; the video alone cost over a million pounds at Pinewood's 007 Stage.
Q 20'A View to a Kill' was the first James Bond theme song to do what?
Top the US Hot 100
Top the US Hot 100 is what it did in July 1985, the first Bond theme to reach number one there; it peaked at number two in the UK.
JFK Stadium, Philadelphia, hosted the US half of Live Aid; Le Bon's cracked high note in 'A View to a Kill' there was dubbed 'the bum note heard round the world'.
Q 24Which singer fronted The Power Station, the 1985 side project of John and Andy Taylor?
Robert Palmer
Robert Palmer sang on the 1985 Power Station album, which covered T. Rex's 'Get It On' with Chic's Tony Thompson and Bernard Edwards on board.
Q 25Le Bon and Rhodes' 1985 side project Arcadia released which single from So Red the Rose as a top-ten hit?
Election Day
Election Day, with a spoken cameo by Grace Jones, reached the top ten on both sides of the Atlantic; the album's guests also included Sting, Herbie Hancock and David Gilmour.
Q 26What was Simon Le Bon's maxi yacht, which capsized in the 1985 Fastnet Race, called?
Drum
Drum lost her keel and capsized in the 1985 Fastnet Race, trapping Le Bon under the hull until Royal Navy helicopter divers freed him.
Q 27Which two members left Duran Duran in 1986, before the recording of their fourth album?
Andy Taylor and Roger Taylor
Andy Taylor and Roger Taylor both left in 1986: Roger retired to the countryside exhausted, while Andy pursued a solo deal with MCA during sessions for the fourth album.
Q 28Which ex-Missing Persons and Zappa guitarist joined Duran Duran in 1986 and stayed until 2001?
Warren Cuccurullo
Warren Cuccurullo first played on the band's fourth album as a hired hand in 1986 and was made a full member in 1989, staying until the classic line-up reunited in 2001.
Q 29Which rapper famously sampled Duran Duran's 1986 title-track single from their fourth album?
The Notorious B.I.G.
The Notorious B.I.G.'s posthumous 1999 track 'Notorious B.I.G.', with Lil' Kim and Puff Daddy, is built on the 'Notorious' riff.
Q 30Why is Duran Duran's 1993 self-titled album known by a nickname referring to a ceremony?
Its cover shows the members' parents' wedding photos
Its cover shows the members' parents' wedding photos, hence 'The Wedding Album'; it revived the band with the hits 'Ordinary World' and 'Come Undone'.