NSYNC Trivia
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50 free NSYNC trivia questions with answers. NSYNC packed a whole career into about seven years, and this quiz covers all of it. Fifty questions run from Chris Kirkpatrick recruiting the group in Orlando in 1995 and the German launch on BMG Ariola, through the lawsuit against Lou Pearlman, the marionette video for "Bye Bye Bye", No Strings Attached's 2.4-million first week, the Super Bowl XXXV halftime with Aerosmith and "It's Gonna Be Me" hitting number one, then on to the 2002 hiatus, Justified, Lance Bass's cosmonaut training, Joey Fatone on Dancing with the Stars, the Walk of Fame star and the 2023 "Better Place" reunion for Trolls Band Together. Easy questions ask which single went to number one and which film brought "Bye Bye Bye" back in 2024; the hard ones want the venue of the group's first show, the city where RCA discovered them and the name of Kirkpatrick's rock band. Made for anyone who still knows the dance to the chorus. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia's articles on the band, the albums, the singles and the members, and each question carries the sentence that backs it up.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01NSYNC joined which star on a remake of "Trashin' the Camp", a song from his 1999 Disney soundtrack?
Phil Collins
Phil Collins. In Tarzan the song plays as Terk, Tantor and the gorillas wreck the professor's campsite; Collins later cut a doo-wop version of it with NSYNC.
Q 02NSYNC's Joey Fatone played cousin Angelo in which hit 2002 romantic comedy?
My Big Fat Greek Wedding
My Big Fat Greek Wedding. Fatone came back for both sequels, and in the 2016 film his comic-relief cousin comes out as gay and introduces the family to his partner.
Q 03Whose mother, Lynn, inspired NSYNC's name by remarking how "in sync" the five voices sounded?
Justin Timberlake
Justin Timberlake. His mother, Lynn Harless, went on to put together and manage a girl group of her own, Innosense, alongside Lou Pearlman.
Q 04Besides sounding like "in sync", NSYNC's name is a play on what?
The last letters of their first names
The last letters of their first names: JustiN, ChriS, JoeY, JasoN and JC. When Jason Galasso quit, his replacement Lance Bass was billed as "Lansten" so the name still worked.
Q 05NSYNC shared the 1999 hit duet "Music of My Heart" with which singer?
Gloria Estefan
Gloria Estefan. Diane Warren wrote it for Music of the Heart, a classroom drama directed, improbably, by horror specialist Wes Craven, and it earned both Oscar and Grammy nominations.
Q 06NSYNC's debut single "I Want You Back" was first released in 1996 in which country?
Germany
Germany. The group had signed with BMG's Munich office that year, so the single came out there first, more than a year before its American release.
Q 07Which sitcom star played an elf in NSYNC's 1998 Christmas video?
Gary Coleman
Gary Coleman. The band asked for him by name for "Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays", the single from Home for Christmas, in which his elf drafts them to deliver the presents for an ailing Santa.
Q 08Lou Pearlman's contract paid him an extra share of NSYNC's earnings by counting him as what?
Its sixth member
Its sixth member, good for a one-sixth cut on top of his manager's fees. Original member Jason Galasso showed the contract to a lawyer, then left the group without signing it.
Q 09Lou Pearlman assembled which boy band on the first season of the ABC reality series Making the Band?
O-Town
O-Town. Viewers watched Pearlman and a panel of judges pick the members on camera, and the series outlasted his part in it, moving from ABC to MTV.
Q 10After settling with Pearlman in 1999, NSYNC released all their later albums on which label?
Jive Records
Jive Records. NSYNC's switch to the label drew a $150 million lawsuit from Pearlman and BMG, but a judge refused to block the move and the two sides settled.
Q 11NSYNC dance as marionettes in the "Bye Bye Bye" video as a nod to what?
Being controlled by their former manager
Being controlled by their former manager, Lou Pearlman, from whom they had just broken free. To get the look, the five danced strapped to bungee cords.
Q 12Which newcomer opened for NSYNC on tour in late 1998, just as her debut single was taking off?
Britney Spears
Britney Spears. NSYNC knew the job she was doing: only weeks earlier they had been an opening act themselves, warming up the crowd on Janet's Velvet Rope tour.
Q 13Three NSYNC members filmed cameos as Jedi, later cut, for which Star Wars film?
Attack of the Clones
Q 21NSYNC co-headlined the Super Bowl XXXV halftime show in January 2001 with which rock band?
Aerosmith
Aerosmith. The show opened with a filmed sketch in which Ben Stiller, Adam Sandler and Chris Rock hyped up the two bands backstage, before the groups traded songs and then shared the finale.
Q 22Which singer brought four NSYNC members on stage during her set at Coachella?
Ariana Grande
Ariana Grande. With Timberlake absent, she took the fifth spot herself as the group sang "Tearin' Up My Heart".
Q 23Which rapper was added to the 2002 single remix of NSYNC's "Girlfriend"?
Nelly
Nelly. His label asked whether he was trying to ruin his career by rapping with a boy band; he said he didn't care, and the Neptunes' remix became the single.
Attack of the Clones. Joey Fatone, JC Chasez and Chris Kirkpatrick were dressed as Jedi and taught lightsaber moves for the big battle; Bass and Timberlake missed the shoot, and both say they were sorry to.
Q 14NSYNC's "Bye Bye Bye" lost Record of the Year at the 2001 Grammys to which song?
"Beautiful Day" by U2
"Beautiful Day" by U2 won. NSYNC's nominee had nearly gone elsewhere: its writers first offered "Bye Bye Bye" to the British boy band Five, who walked away from it.
Q 15NSYNC's "Bye Bye Bye" shot back into the charts in 2024 after featuring in which film?
Deadpool & Wolverine
Deadpool & Wolverine. Deadpool dances the video's original routine through the opening fight, with professional dancer Nick Pauley, not Ryan Reynolds, inside the suit.
Q 16Which NSYNC album sold a record 2.4 million US copies in its first week on sale?
No Strings Attached
No Strings Attached. Months of delay over the group's legal battle only built the hype, and the one-week record it set stood for 15 years, until Adele's 25.
Q 17"Bye Bye Bye" stalled at No. 4, so which single gave NSYNC its only Hot 100 number one?
"It's Gonna Be Me"
"It's Gonna Be Me" spent two weeks at No. 1 in the summer of 2000. Its video turned the five into toy-store dolls, a look built with hours of prosthetic makeup rather than computer effects.
Q 18Which president joined the "It's Gonna Be May" joke by posting a photo of himself with Timberlake?
Barack Obama
Barack Obama. On April 30, 2014, his Facebook page ran a picture of the two captioned "It's gonna be May"; the joke works because Timberlake sings the hook's last word, "me", like the month.
Q 19Timberlake says which hitmaker told him to sing "me" as "may" on a 2000 NSYNC hit?
Max Martin
Max Martin, by Timberlake's account: he says it was a specific note from the Swedish hitmaker, whose slightly broken English, he argues, made the writing team's lyrics catchier and easier to remember.
Q 20Which singer-songwriter wrote NSYNC's ballad "This I Promise You"?
Richard Marx
Richard Marx. He had meant the ballad for a three-woman vocal group; asked whether he had a song for NSYNC, he gave it to them instead.
Q 24Trance producer BT brought his "stutter edit" technique to which NSYNC single?
"Pop"
"Pop" ends with Timberlake beatboxing because BT overheard him doing it under his breath and recorded it through a pair of broken headphones. Guinness later counted 3,642 edits in the track.
Q 25JC Chasez spent seven seasons as a judge on which dance competition series?
America's Best Dance Crew
America's Best Dance Crew. Chasez judged the MTV contest from its first season in 2008, won by Jabbawockeez, the crew who went on to headline their own show in Las Vegas.
Q 26Timberlake first wrote NSYNC's "Gone" for which superstar, who turned it down?
Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson. Once NSYNC had released it he called back wanting to recut it as a duet with Timberlake alone; it never happened, but Timberlake says the call gave him the confidence to go solo.
Q 27What was the name of NSYNC's 2001 stadium tour in support of the album Celebrity?
PopOdyssey Tour
PopOdyssey Tour. By booking nothing but stadiums, NSYNC took about $90 million from just 44 dates, one of the biggest hauls of 2001.
Q 28What is the title of Timberlake's debut solo album, released in November 2002 during NSYNC's hiatus?
Justified
Justified. Timberlake recorded it in just six weeks with the Neptunes and Timbaland, trading the boy-band sound for R&B, and it went on to win a Grammy.
Q 29What was the title of JC Chasez's 2004 debut solo album?
Schizophrenic
Schizophrenic. It arrived weeks after the Super Bowl halftime furore, which had already cost Chasez an NFL halftime slot of his own at the Pro Bowl.
Q 30With what did organizers replace JC Chasez at the 2004 Pro Bowl halftime show after the NFL dropped him?
Hawaiian hula dancers
Hawaiian hula dancers. Days after the Super Bowl wardrobe malfunction the NFL scrapped Chasez's set, even though he says he had already agreed to swap songs and soften two words of the lyrics.