Q 01/05

Which Buggles song was the first clip ever played on MTV when the channel launched in 1981?

A) Video Killed the Radio Star

B) Living in the Plastic Age

C) Elstree Studios Blues

D) I Love You (Miss Robot)

Answer · why

A) Video Killed the Radio Star

The Buggles clip aired at 12:01 a.m. on August 1, 1981. The song was written by Trevor Horn, Geoff Downes and Bruce Woolley, and Woolley recorded his ...

Q 02/05

Who directed Michael Jackson's 1983 'Thriller' video?

A) John Landis

B) Martin Scorsese

C) Steven Spielberg

D) Spike Lee

Answer · why

A) John Landis

Jackson called Landis after seeing An American Werewolf in London. Ola Ray, a former Playboy Playmate, was cast as his date because, Landis said, she ...

Q 03/05

In 2009, 'Thriller' became the first music video added to which American archive?

A) The Smithsonian's permanent collection

B) The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame vault

C) The National Film Registry

D) The Grammy Museum

Answer · why

C) The National Film Registry

The Library of Congress called it the most famous music video of all time. Its $900,000 budget was far larger than any video before it.

Q 04/05

The pencil-sketch animation in a-ha's 'Take On Me' video was created using which technique?

A) Claymation

B) Stop motion

C) Cel shading

D) Rotoscoping

Answer · why

D) Rotoscoping

Director Steve Barron shot live action that animators then drew over frame by frame, a process that took six months. In 2024 it became the first 1980s...

Q 05/05

Which video holds the record for most MTV Video Music Awards won by a single clip, with nine in 1987?

A) Sledgehammer

B) Money for Nothing

C) Walk This Way

D) Land of Confusion

Answer · why

A) Sledgehammer

Peter Gabriel's clip used claymation, pixilation and stop motion by Aardman Animations and the Brothers Quay. Time magazine has called it the most-pla...