60 free Journey trivia questions with answers — music quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This Journey trivia quiz covers the whole run of the San Francisco rock band, from its 1973 start as a Santana spin-off called the Golden Gate Rhythm Section to Arnel Pineda's YouTube-era lineup and the lawsuits of the 2020s. Expect questions on Steve Perry's arrival, the switch to pop on Infinity, why Escape's cover says E5C4P3, the one-take recording of Don't Stop Believin', the infamous air-instrument video for Separate Ways, and the Sopranos, White Sox and Glee moments that turned an 1981 single into the best-selling digital track of the 20th century. There are easy questions for anyone who knows the hits and harder ones on Aynsley Dunbar, Robert Fleischman, Alien Project, the 1983 arcade game and Prince's phone call to Jonathan Cain about Purple Rain. Difficulty is spread so a casual fan and a superfan can play the same set. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia's articles on the band, its members, albums and songs, and each question links to the sentence that supports it, so you can settle the arguments at trivia night with a source.
30 of 60 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01In which city was Journey formed in 1973?
San Francisco
Former Santana manager Herbie Herbert put the group together from ex-members of Santana, the Steve Miller Band and Frumious Bandersnatch.
Q 02What was the band originally called before a roadie suggested the name Journey?
The Golden Gate Rhythm Section
The plan was to be a backup group for established Bay Area artists; that idea was dropped after a single performance in Hawaii.
Q 03The band's guitarist and keyboardist Gregg Rolie both came to Journey from which band?
Santana
Rolie had co-founded Santana and played Woodstock with them; the teenage Schon appeared on Santana III and Caravanserai.
Q 04How did the band end up with the name Journey?
A roadie suggested it after a radio contest failed
Roadie John Villanueva gets the credit. The name-the-band radio contest produced nothing usable.
Q 05Where did Journey play its first public show, on New Year's Eve 1973?
Winterland Ballroom
About 10,000 people were there; the next day the band flew to Hawaii to play the Diamond Head Crater to more than 100,000.
Q 06Which British drummer, fresh from working with David Bowie and Frank Zappa, joined Journey in 1974?
Aynsley Dunbar
He was chosen after up to 28 auditions, then fired in 1978 for resisting the band's move away from jazz fusion.
Q 07On which 1978 album did Journey embrace pop arrangements and redefine its sound?
Infinity
Columbia had threatened to drop the band; a new frontman and a Queen producer, Roy Thomas Baker, changed its fortunes.
Q 08Roy Thomas Baker was hired in 1978 to give Journey a layered sound like that of which band he had produced?
Queen
Manager Herbie Herbert wanted the big stacked vocals; the album reached number 21 and launched Journey's first headlining tour, over Van Halen.
Q 09Which singer fronted Journey for a few months in 1977 before Steve Perry and co-wrote 'Wheel in the Sky'?
Robert Fleischman
He toured with the band opening for Black Sabbath and ELP, but clashed with manager Herbie Herbert and was out by September.
Q 10Steve Perry joined Journey after its manager heard a demo by his previous band. What was it called?
Alien Project
Perry had nearly quit music after that band's bassist died in a car crash; his mother urged him to return the manager's call.
Q 11Steve Perry was born in Hanford, California, to parents who came from which islands?
The Azores
His father Raymond Pereira was a singer and part-owner of a radio station; Perry is an only child.
Q 12Which fellow rock star coined Steve Perry's nickname 'The Voice'?
Jon Bon Jovi
Rolling Stone later ranked Perry 76th among its 100 greatest singers, and Billboard readers voted him their favorite rock singer of all time in 2023.
Q 13Hearing which Sam Cooke song on his mother's car radio at age 12 inspired Steve Perry to become a singer?
Cupid
That same birthday his mother gave him a gold eighth-note pendant, which he still wears for luck.
Q 21Which Babys singer turned down the melody that became 'Open Arms', calling it 'sentimental rubbish'?
John Waite
He later teamed up with Schon and Cain anyway in the supergroup Bad English, which had a number-one hit of its own with 'When I See You Smile'.
Q 22The title of 'Don't Stop Believin'' came from advice the keyboardist repeatedly received from whom?
His father
Cain was a struggling musician on Sunset Boulevard, and each despairing phone call home ended with the same encouragement.
Q 23'Don't Stop Believin'' was recorded in one take at which studio?
Fantasy Studios in Berkeley
Q 14Which 1979 album gave Journey its first Billboard Hot 100 top-20 single, 'Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin''?
Evolution
The tour behind it grossed more than $5 million and let the band set up its own lighting and trucking operation.
Q 15Which Berklee-trained ex-Montrose drummer joined Journey in 1978?
Steve Smith
He later returned to jazz with Vital Information and Steps Ahead, rejoined for the 1990s reunion, and was fired again in 2020.
Q 16When Gregg Rolie left in 1980, he recommended a keyboardist from The Babys as his replacement; who?
Jonathan Cain
His synthesizers replaced Rolie's organ, and he immediately co-wrote the hits on Escape.
Q 17How is the title of the 1981 album Escape stylized on its cover?
E5C4P3
The album went Diamond in 2021 for ten million US sales, second in the catalogue only to the 1988 Greatest Hits.
Q 18Where did Escape peak on the US Billboard 200?
No. 1
It was the fifth-best-selling album of 1981, just behind Stevie Nicks's Bella Donna, and remains the band's only chart-topper.
Q 19'Open Arms', the band's biggest Hot 100 hit, sat at what position for six weeks in early 1982?
No. 2
It was stuck behind the J. Geils Band's 'Centerfold' and Joan Jett's 'I Love Rock 'n' Roll'. VH1 later named it the greatest power ballad ever.
Q 20Which singer had an international hit with a cover of 'Open Arms' in 1996?
Mariah Carey
Her version reached number 4 in the UK, where it is arguably better known than the original.
Perry had a cold that day, so the instrumental was cut without him; he did his vocal mostly in one take the following week.
Q 24What is structurally unusual about 'Don't Stop Believin''?
The chorus only arrives near the end
Two pre-choruses and three verses go by before the title hook finally lands with about 50 seconds left.
Q 25Perry admits the Detroit district he sang about does not exist; what lies directly south of downtown Detroit?
Windsor, Ontario
He said he tried north, east and west and none of them sang, then found out later that south of the river is Canada.
Q 26Which baseball team adopted 'Don't Stop Believin'' during its 2005 World Series run?
Chicago White Sox
Perry, a Giants fan, was invited along and joined the players on the field in Houston.
Q 27The famous 2007 series finale of which HBO drama used 'Don't Stop Believin'' in its final scene?
The Sopranos
Perry hesitated before allowing it. Downloads soared, and the boost pushed the band to finally replace its departed singer.
Q 28Which TV cast's 2009 cover of 'Don't Stop Believin'' outperformed the original internationally?
Glee
They performed it in six different episodes, from the pilot to the second-to-last one.
Q 29In 2024, 'Don't Stop Believin'' was certified how many times platinum by the RIAA?
18
That made it the top-selling digital track in US history; the 1988 Greatest Hits album holds the same 18-times-platinum mark.
Q 30'Don't Stop Believin'' closes which 1980s jukebox musical, filmed in 2012 with Tom Cruise?
Rock of Ages
The show ran on Broadway from 2009 to 2015.