Radiohead Trivia
0Loading crowd target
0Loading crowd target
7correct to beat the crowd
48 free Radiohead trivia questions with answers — music quiz, new questions added Sep 2026.
Radiohead met at a boys' school in Abingdon, rehearsed on Fridays, turned down Island Records to go to university, and got signed after their eighth gig. Their first single was blacklisted by Radio 1 as too depressing, broke in Israel and America, and was the song they then spent a decade trying to escape. OK Computer made them the most acclaimed band of the 1990s; Kid A was called a commercial suicide note and then the album of the decade; In Rainbows let fans pay whatever they liked. These 48 questions cover the whole arc: the Talking Heads song behind the name, the Hollies writers credited on Creep, the mansion near Bath where the third album was recorded, the Hitchhiker's Guide phrase that named it, the Napster leak, the Harry Potter cameo, the Toronto stage collapse, the Smile and Atoms for Peace, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction only two members bothered to attend. Easy questions cover the members and albums; the expert tier asks about demo tapes, A&R scouts, side-project drummers and chart peaks. Every answer is cited to a page we checked, with a short explanation. Play it solo, or print it for an alternative rock quiz night.
30 of 48 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01In which Oxfordshire town did Radiohead form in 1985?
Abingdon
Abingdon: the five met at Abingdon School, and the youngest, Jonny, joined last on harmonica and keyboards before becoming lead guitarist.
Q 02Which Radiohead song's video shows Thom Yorke miming inside a helmet that slowly fills with water?
No Surprises
No Surprises was shot as one close-up, and the crew sped up part of the song so Yorke would spend less time holding his breath underwater.
Q 03What was Radiohead's debut single, released in 1992?
Creep
Creep's crunching guitar blasts before each chorus came from Jonny, who found the song too quiet and wimpy and hit his guitar as hard as he could.
Q 04What was the title of Radiohead's 1993 debut album?
Pablo Honey
Pablo Honey took its title from a Jerky Boys prank call in which a caller pleads, 'Pablo, honey, please come to Florida!'
Q 05Which 1997 Radiohead album is known for its themes of modern alienation?
OK Computer
OK Computer includes 'Lucky', which the band recorded in a single day in 1995 for a charity album for children in Bosnia.
Q 06Which 2007 album did Radiohead release as a pay-what-you-want download?
In Rainbows
In Rainbows let fans pay whatever they liked, even nothing, yet its retail release still reached number one in both the UK and the US.
Q 07Which producer has worked on every Radiohead album since the mid-1990s?
Nigel Godrich
Nigel Godrich was an engineer on The Bends when a B-side he recorded, 'Black Star', was promoted onto the album.
Q 08Radiohead took their name from a song by which band?
Talking Heads
Talking Heads supplied the name: when their label asked for a new one, the band chose 'Radio Head', a track from the 1986 album True Stories.
Q 09Which surname is shared by two brothers in Radiohead?
Greenwood
Greenwood: bassist Colin's younger brother Jonny quit his course at Oxford Brookes University when the band signed their record deal.
Q 10Who is Radiohead's drummer?
Philip Selway
Philip Selway was brought in to replace the drum machine the band had been playing with at the start.
Q 11Which rock star inducted Radiohead into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2019?
David Byrne
David Byrne gave the induction speech, but Yorke and Jonny weren't interested, so only Ed O'Brien and the drummer went to accept.
Q 12Which 2000 Radiohead album marked a dramatic turn toward electronic music?
Kid A
Kid A came out the year Radiohead toured Europe in a custom-built tent free of corporate logos, playing mostly new songs.
Q 13What is the name of the band Radiohead's Thom Yorke and Jonny launched in 2021?
The Smile
The Smile, Jonny said, was a way to work with Yorke during the COVID-19 lockdowns, when they just wanted to finish some songs together.
Q 21Which band did Radiohead support on tour in 1995, one of their formative influences?
R.E.M.
Michael Stipe's public enthusiasm helped keep them in the spotlight outside the UK.
Q 22The title of Radiohead's third album comes from a phrase in which radio series?
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: the band listened to it on their tour bus, and Yorke noted down a line spoken by Zaphod Beeblebrox.
Q 23'Fitter Happier' is recited by 'Fred', a synthesised voice from which make of machine?
Apple Macintosh
Yorke wrote the words in ten minutes and found it liberating to hand them to a neutral-sounding voice.
Q 14Jonny scored There Will Be Blood and Phantom Thread for which director?
Paul Thomas Anderson
Phantom Thread earned him an Oscar nomination; One Battle After Another in 2025 was their sixth film together.
Q 15Radiohead wrote 'Exit Music (For a Film)' for the closing credits of which Baz Luhrmann film?
Romeo + Juliet
Romeo + Juliet: Baz Luhrmann sent Radiohead a tape of the film's final scenes, and they wrote this song to play as it ends.
Q 16Which artist has designed Radiohead's album covers since 1994?
Stanley Donwood
Yorke met him at the University of Exeter; the pair exhibited their artwork at the Ashmolean Museum in 2025.
Q 17What was Radiohead called before they signed their record deal?
On a Friday
On a Friday was named after the band's school rehearsal day, but their label asked for a new name when it signed them.
Q 18Which 1972 song, later a Hollies hit, earned its writers a credit on Radiohead's debut single?
The Air That I Breathe
Albert Hammond and Mike Hazlewood accepted only a small share because the band were honest about the borrowing.
Q 19Why did BBC Radio 1 keep Radiohead's debut single off its playlists in 1992?
Too depressing
Too depressing, Radio 1 decided, but after the song caught on abroad, its 1993 reissue reached number seven in the UK.
Q 20In which country did a radio DJ turn Radiohead's debut single into a hit before it broke in America?
Israel
Israel: DJ Yoav Kutner made the song a radio hit there, and Radiohead soon booked shows in Israel to build on its success.
Q 24Radiohead's fourth album leaked online before its release on which file-sharing network?
Napster
Napster spread the leak, yet the album still went to number one in the US.
Q 25Which label released the retail version of Radiohead's seventh album in the UK?
XL Recordings
XL Recordings put out the CD after the band's download release, and in April 2016 it also took over Radiohead's back catalogue.
Q 26Which film featured the drummer and Jonny as members of the wizard band the Weird Sisters?
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Jarvis Cocker of Pulp fronted the fictional band in the 2005 film.
Q 27What was the title of Thom Yorke's 2006 debut solo album?
The Eraser
The Eraser was made, Yorke insisted, with the band's blessing, and he stressed that Radiohead were not splitting up.
Q 28In which city did a stage collapse kill Radiohead's drum technician before a 2012 show?
Toronto
Toronto: after the collapse the show was cancelled, and Radiohead's European tour dates were postponed.
Q 29What was the name of the band Yorke formed in 2009 with his producer and the bassist Flea?
Atoms for Peace
Atoms for Peace was formed to play Yorke's first solo album live, and later made its own album, Amok, in 2013.
Q 30Which singer beat Radiohead's Amnesiac to the 2001 Mercury Prize?
PJ Harvey
PJ Harvey won on 11 September 2001 while touring in Washington, D.C., and later said winning the prize that day didn't have much importance.