80s quiz questions for a blast from the past

The 1980s felt like a decade running at double speed. Charts turned into global launchpads for pop stars, home computers started showing up in living rooms, and the multiplex churned out blockbusters that are still being remade today. It's a rich decade for quiz material precisely because so much of it still gets referenced now, from film sequels to song samples.

These 18 questions cover 80s music, film and TV, and the wider pop culture and technology of the decade, running roughly from easy warm-ups to trickier trivia. If you want a round dedicated entirely to the charts, our music quiz questions has 28 more spanning six decades, and for the big screen across every era there's our film quiz questions too. Or build a full themed night with the quiz creator.

80s Music

Warm-ups first. These should be familiar even to people who weren't born yet.

1Which charity single, recorded by a supergroup of British and Irish musicians in November 1984 to raise money for famine relief in Ethiopia, became that year's Christmas number one in the UK?

Answer:"Do They Know It's Christmas?" by Band Aid. It sold a million copies in its first week, a UK record that stood for over a decade.(click to reveal)

2The following July, an even bigger event grew out of that single's success: a charity concert held simultaneously at Wembley Stadium in London and JFK Stadium in Philadelphia. What was it called?

Answer:Live Aid (held on 13 July 1985 and organised, like the record before it, by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure)(click to reveal)

3Which artist's deliberately provocative 1984 single "Like a Virgin" gave her a first US number one and turned her into one of the decade's defining pop stars?

Answer:Madonna(click to reveal)

4Which artist debuted the moonwalk to a television audience of tens of millions during a Motown 25th anniversary special in 1983, dancing to "Billie Jean"?

Answer:Michael Jackson. The performance is still considered one of the greatest TV moments in music history, even though the moonwalk itself lasted only a few seconds.(click to reveal)

5Prince's 1984 album, and the film that shared its name, gave the world "When Doves Cry" and its title track. What was it called?

Answer:Purple Rain(click to reveal)

6In 1986, which rap group's collaboration with rock band Aerosmith on a reworked version of "Walk This Way" became the first hip-hop song to get regular airplay on mainstream rock radio?

Answer:Run-D.M.C. (The pairing also revived Aerosmith's career and helped push hip-hop toward the mainstream.)(click to reveal)

80s Film and TV

7In Back to the Future, what speed, in miles per hour, does the DeLorean need to reach before it can travel through time?

Answer:88 miles per hour(click to reveal)

8Which 1982 Steven Spielberg film, about a stranded alien befriended by a young boy, became the highest-grossing film of all time and held that record for eleven years, until Spielberg's own Jurassic Park overtook it in 1993?

Answer:E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (Screen Rant has the full record-holding timeline)(click to reveal)

9Which 1984 comedy follows a trio of New York parapsychologists who go into business catching ghosts, culminating in a showdown with a giant, marshmallow-based villain?

Answer:Ghostbusters(click to reveal)

10Which 1986 film, starring Tom Cruise as a naval aviator with the call sign "Maverick," was the highest-grossing film in the world that year and didn't get a sequel until more than three decades later?

Answer:Top Gun(click to reveal)

11Which 1985 John Hughes film follows five high school students from different social cliques who spend a Saturday together in detention?

Answer:The Breakfast Club(click to reveal)

12Which pastel-suited, neon-lit crime drama, starring Don Johnson as a Miami detective, became one of the most stylistically influential shows of the decade?

Answer:Miami Vice(click to reveal)

13Which 1988 film mixed live action with hand-drawn animation to tell a detective story set in a Los Angeles where cartoon characters and humans live side by side?

Answer:Who Framed Roger Rabbit(click to reveal)

80s Pop Culture and Technology

The harder section, covering the decade beyond the charts and the cinema.

14Which puzzle, invented by a Hungarian architecture professor, was named Toy of the Year in the UK, US, France, and Germany in 1980, and has since sold over 350 million units worldwide?

Answer:The Rubik's Cube(click to reveal)

15Which video game console, tested in New York City in October 1985 before its full US rollout the following year, is widely credited with reviving the American video game industry after its 1983 crash?

Answer:The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES)(click to reveal)

16On 26 April 1986, an explosion at a nuclear power plant in the Soviet Union caused the world's worst nuclear accident. In which country, now independent, did it take place?

Answer:Ukraine (the plant was near the town of Pripyat, in what was then the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic)(click to reveal)

17On 1 January 1985, which entertainer, one half of a famous British comedy double act, made a widely publicised call on a five-kilogram handset to mark one of the UK's first mobile phone calls?

Answer:Ernie Wise (of Morecambe and Wise, calling Vodafone's office from St Katharine Docks in London)(click to reveal)

18On 9 November 1989, which structure, dividing a European capital city since 1961, was breached by crowds after an announcement that citizens could now travel freely to the West?

Answer:The Berlin Wall. Its fall is widely seen as a symbolic end to the Cold War divide between East and West.(click to reveal)

Tips for Running an 80s Round

Pace the difficulty deliberately. The music and film questions here land easier than the pop culture and technology section, so if you're running a themed 80s night, save the harder ones for later in the evening when teams have warmed up.

Watch for the "I wasn't born yet" excuse. A surprising number of younger quizzers know 80s films and music through reruns, remakes, and playlists, even if they've never lived through the decade themselves. Don't assume the round will only land with an older crowd.

Mix media types. Pure music rounds can tire out non-music fans fast. Blending songs, films, and general trivia like these keeps a broader range of people engaged across the whole round.

Bring in a visual element if you can. A slide of Rubik's Cubes, DeLoreans, or big shoulder pads works well as a quick picture round to pair alongside these questions.

Looking for more themed rounds? Browse the quiz creator to mix and match questions from any decade or topic into your next quiz night.