100 free Foo Fighters trivia questions with answers — music quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Where did the name come from, who played everything on the first album, and which drummer volunteered himself over the phone? This Foo Fighters trivia quiz has 100 free questions with answers about Dave Grohl's band, from the six-day solo recording at Robert Lang Studios in 1994 through The Colour and the Shape, Everlong and Learn to Fly, the label switch to RCA, the all-analog Wasting Light, the Sonic Highways series, the Wembley and Kia Forum tributes to Taylor Hawkins and the drummer changes since. The early questions are the ones any rock radio listener can answer. Later ones get into lineups and departures, side projects, chart records, Grammy tallies, guest stars from Paul McCartney to Lemmy, and the stories behind Grohl's broken leg and the moving throne. It works for a pre-gig warm-up, a pub quiz music round or a long car ride with the greatest hits on. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia's articles on the band, its members and its songs, and each question links to the page and sentence that supports it.
30 of 100 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01The band's name was borrowed from a term used by Allied pilots in World War II. What did it describe?
Unidentified flying objects
Grohl hoped the name would make listeners assume the record was made by a full band rather than one guy; he later called it 'the stupidest' band name in the world.
Q 02Grohl recorded almost all of the debut album himself in October 1994. How many days did the sessions take?
Six
He and producer Barrett Jones would start by noon and knock out four songs a day, then hand cassette copies to friends for feedback.
Q 03Only one outside musician plays on the debut album, contributing a guitar part to "X-Static". Who was it?
Greg Dulli of the Afghan Whigs
Dulli happened to be watching Grohl record and got roped in; every other note and vocal on the album is Grohl.
Q 04The debut album was released through Capitol on Grohl's own imprint. What was the label called?
Roswell Records
The UFO theme runs through the whole package: the cover shot by Grohl's then-wife Jennifer Youngblood shows a Buck Rogers ray gun.
Q 05Bassist Nate Mendel and the band's first drummer both came from which recently disbanded Seattle group?
Sunny Day Real Estate
Grohl left the pair a note at one of their last shows; both were invited to join during Halloween week in 1994.
Q 06Which former Nirvana touring guitarist joined the original four-piece lineup in 1994?
Pat Smear
He left in 1997 citing burnout, came back as a touring member in 2005 and was a full member again by 2010.
Q 07Where did the Foo Fighters play their first public show, on February 23, 1995?
Arcata, California
The Jambalaya Club gig came five months before the album; shows in Portland and Seattle followed the next week.
Q 08The video for "Big Me" parodied the ads for which product, with the band hawking 'Footos'?
Mentos
The video won Best Group Video at the 1996 VMAs, and fans pelted the band with the candy at shows for years afterward.
Q 09Who produced The Colour and the Shape (1997) and returned for Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace?
Gil Norton
He spent days in a hotel room with Grohl stripping the songs to their basics before the band ever hit the studio.
Q 10Which drummer quit after Grohl re-recorded most of The Colour and the Shape's drum tracks himself?
William Goldsmith
Grohl had hoped he would still play the tour, but the drummer left; Grohl later re-recorded the parts at Grandmaster Recorders in Hollywood.
Q 11Whose touring drummer was Taylor Hawkins when Grohl phoned him for a recommendation and he volunteered?
Alanis Morissette
He had drummed on the Jagged Little Pill tour from 1995 to 1997 and joined the Foos in time for the second album's release.
Q 12Who directed the surreal, dream-hopping music video for "Everlong"?
Michel Gondry
Grohl directed the video for "Monkey Wrench" from the same album, an apartment farce that loops back on itself.
Q 13"Everlong" was inspired by Grohl's romance with Louise Post, singer of which band?
Veruca Salt
Grohl said it was about being so connected to someone that when you sing along together you harmonize perfectly.
Q 21Which band's Songs for the Deaf did Dave Grohl help finish before the Foos re-recorded One by One?
Queens of the Stone Age
The scrapped first version, nicknamed the Million Dollar Demos, has never been officially released in full.
Q 22In Your Honor (2005) had an unusual format for a Foo Fighters record. What was it?
A double album: one rock disc, one acoustic
Grohl called the two halves 'the bottle and the hangover'; guests included Norah Jones, Josh Homme and John Paul Jones.
Q 23Norah Jones duets with Grohl on which bossa nova track from In Your Honor?
Virginia Moon
Q 14Grohl's solo acoustic 'Everlong' took off after an impromptu 1998 performance on whose radio show?
Howard Stern
The acoustic take closes the 2006 live album Skin and Bones and appears on the 2009 Greatest Hits.
Q 15Foo Fighters' 1997 replacement guitarist Franz Stahl was Grohl's old bandmate from which D.C. hardcore band?
Scream
Grohl joined at 17, replacing drummer Kent Stax; the group broke up mid-tour in 1990 when its bassist left.
Q 16Which single became the band's first to reach the Billboard Hot 100?
Learn to Fly
It peaked at number 19 in 1999 and set a record with 13 weeks at number one on Canadian rock radio.
Q 17In the video for the band's 1999 airliner single, which comedy duo play cabin cleaners smuggling sleeping powder?
Tenacious D
The video won the Grammy for Best Short Form Music Video in 2001; the in-flight elevator music is a Moog cover of "Everlong".
Q 18Grohl named his home studio in Alexandria, Virginia 'Studio 606'. What did 606 turn out to be?
His father's apartment number
He said for years it was 'just one of those numbers that's everywhere' before telling the real story in a 2020 Instagram post about a 1985 lecture from his dad.
Q 19Chris Shiflett joined after There Is Nothing Left to Lose from which California punk band?
No Use for a Name
He also played in the cover band Me First and the Gimme Gimmes and has released country music as a solo artist.
Q 20A 'key man clause' let the band leave Capitol Records when which executive was forced out?
Gary Gersh
He had been a friend of Grohl since his Geffen days with Nirvana; the band jumped to RCA, which later bought the Capitol catalogue.
Grohl's guitar tech Joe Beebe played lead on it because he was the only person in the crew with jazz chops.
Q 24Which Foo Fighters song did Prince cover during his rain-soaked halftime show at Super Bowl XLI in 2007?
Best of You
Hawkins was surprised, since Prince had earlier objected to the Foos covering his own "Darling Nikki".
Q 25Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones joined the band at Wembley in 2008. Which band were they from?
Led Zeppelin
Grohl played drums on "Rock and Roll" while Hawkins sang, then yelled that it was the greatest day of his whole life.
Q 26Where was Wasting Light (2011) recorded?
Grohl's garage in Encino
A control room was built inside a tent in the backyard, with two cameras and a TV linking it to the room where the band played.
Q 27Wasting Light was produced by the man who had also produced Nirvana's Nevermind. Who?
Butch Vig
He had already produced the two new tracks on the band's 2009 Greatest Hits, which is how the reunion started.
Q 28What technical rule did the band impose on the recording of Wasting Light?
All analog, no computers
Grohl complained that Pro Tools drums 'sound like a machine'; the album stayed on tape all the way to post-mastering.
Q 29Which former Nirvana bassist appears as a guest on Wasting Light?
Krist Novoselic
Bob Mould, Fee Waybill and Jessy Greene also guest; the album became the band's first to debut at number one on the Billboard 200.
Q 30The video for "Walk" is an homage to which 1993 film?
Falling Down
Grohl said the 'having a trial' verse came from watching his daughter Violet learn to walk; the video won Best Rock Video at the 2011 VMAs.