Foo Fighters Trivia
0Loading crowd target
0Loading crowd target
7correct to beat the crowd
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
Sunny Day Real Estate, the Seattle band behind the 1994 album Diary, was breaking up when Grohl recruited its bassist Nate Mendel and its drummer to fill out the first Foo Fighters lineup.
Q 06Which former Nirvana touring guitarist joined the original four-piece lineup in 1994?
Pat Smear
Pat Smear, who had played second guitar for Nirvana on its final tours, joined in 1994; he quit in 1997, returned as a touring player 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
Arcata, California: the debut gig was at the Jambalaya, a small club in the Humboldt County college town, on February 23, 1995, about four months before the first album came out.
Q 08The video for "Big Me" parodied the ads for which product, with the band hawking 'Footos'?
Mentos
Mentos: the 'Footos' spots copied the candy's cheesy 'Freshmaker' ads shot for shot; the video won Best Group Video at the 1996 MTV VMAs, and fans pelted the band with Mentos at shows for years.
Q 09Who produced The Colour and the Shape (1997) and returned for Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace?
Gil Norton
Gil Norton, best known for producing the Pixies, oversaw The Colour and the Shape in 1996–97 and returned a decade later for Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace, drilling the band hard in pre-production.
Q 10Which drummer quit after Grohl re-recorded most of The Colour and the Shape's drum tracks himself?
William Goldsmith
William Goldsmith had tracked the album at Bear Creek Studio near Seattle, but Grohl quietly redid nearly every drum part at Grandmaster Recorders in Hollywood; Goldsmith quit in 1997 when he found out.
Q 11Whose touring drummer was Taylor Hawkins when Grohl phoned him for a recommendation and he volunteered?
Alanis Morissette
Alanis Morissette: Hawkins drummed on her Jagged Little Pill world tour from 1995 to 1997; when Grohl rang asking for a name, Hawkins offered himself and joined in 1997, before the second album's release.
Q 12Who directed the surreal, dream-hopping music video for "Everlong"?
Michel Gondry
Michel Gondry, the French director later behind Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, shot the 'Everlong' video in 1997, complete with Evil Dead-style nightmares and Grohl's giant hand.
Q 13"Everlong" was inspired by Grohl's romance with Louise Post, singer of which band?
Veruca Salt
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
Queens of the Stone Age: Grohl drummed on their 2002 album Songs for the Deaf while the Foos were in limbo, then returned and re-cut One by One in under two weeks at his home studio near Washington, D.C.
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?
Veruca Salt: Post, the Chicago band's co-frontwoman, was dating Grohl in 1996 and sang backing vocals on 'Everlong'; Grohl said the song was about being so connected you harmonize perfectly when singing together.
Q 14Grohl's solo acoustic 'Everlong' took off after an impromptu 1998 performance on whose radio show?
Howard Stern
Howard Stern: Grohl played 'Everlong' alone on acoustic guitar on Stern's radio show in 1998; the stripped-down arrangement later closed 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
Scream, the Washington-area hardcore band, took on a 17-year-old Grohl as drummer in 1987, replacing Kent Stax; it fell apart on tour in 1990 when bassist Skeeter Thompson quit, freeing Grohl to join Nirvana.
Q 16Which single became the band's first to reach the Billboard Hot 100?
Learn to Fly
Learn to Fly, the lead single from 1999's There Is Nothing Left to Lose, peaked at number 19 on the Hot 100 — the band's first appearance on that chart — and topped Billboard's Modern Rock chart.
Q 17In the video for the band's 1999 airliner single, which comedy duo play cabin cleaners smuggling sleeping powder?
Tenacious D
Tenacious D — Jack Black and Kyle Gass — play the cleaning crew who spike the plane with 'erotic sleeping powder'; the video won the 2001 Grammy for Best Short Form Music Video.
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
No Use for a Name, the Bay Area punk band, was Shiflett's home from 1995 until the Foos hired him in late 1999; he also played in Me First and the Gimme Gimmes and later released solo country records.
Q 20A 'key man clause' let the band leave Capitol Records when which executive was forced out?
Gary Gersh
Gary Gersh, the Geffen A&R man who had signed Nirvana, ran Capitol when the Foos signed there; a key-man clause tied to him let the band walk when he was ousted in 1998, and they moved to RCA.
Virginia Moon
'Virginia Moon', a hushed bossa nova from In Your Honor, pairs Grohl with Norah Jones; his guitar tech Joe Beebe played the jazzy nylon-string guitar part.
Q 24Which Foo Fighters song did Prince cover during his rain-soaked halftime show at Super Bowl XLI in 2007?
Best of You
Best of You: Prince played the Foos' 2005 single in the Miami rain, a surprise because he had earlier objected to the band's own cover of his '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
Grohl's garage in Encino, at his home in the San Fernando Valley, was the live room; the family house became the makeshift studio, and the sessions were filmed for the 2011 documentary Back and Forth.
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
All analog, no computers: the band tracked to 24-track tape with no Pro Tools, and Grohl even packaged a strip of the original master tape inside each CD copy of the album.
Q 29Which former Nirvana bassist appears as a guest on Wasting Light?
Krist Novoselic
Krist Novoselic plays bass and accordion on 'I Should Have Known', reuniting the Nirvana rhythm section; Bob Mould and Fee Waybill also guest, and the album was 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
Falling Down, the 1993 Michael Douglas film, is restaged scene by scene: Grohl abandons his car in an L.A. traffic jam and melts down in a fast-food joint; the video won Best Rock Video at the 2011 MTV VMAs.