80s Music Quiz: Can You Name MTV's First Video?

"What was the first music video played on MTV?" That question sits near the top of this quiz, and it's a trap: the obvious guess is Billie Jean, but the right answer is "Video Killed the Radio Star" by The Buggles. The template packs ten prompts like that, covering the artists, albums, and one hit wonders that defined the decade, and it grades takers out of 100 points along the way.

Ten prompts spanning Thriller, MTV, and hair metal

The question set moves through the decade in a mix of formats. Straight multiple choice items ask things like "Which band performed 'Take On Me'?" and which Michael Jackson album became the best selling record of all time. True or false statements check whether takers know Prince starred in Purple Rain and when "We Are the World" came out. Two select-all questions raise the stakes: one lists Madonna, Whitney Houston, Taylor Swift, and Bon Jovi and asks which of them had number one hits in the 80s, which catches anyone not watching the dates.

Every item is worth 10 points, and each carries a short explanation that appears after the answer, so takers learn something even when they miss. The set is rated medium difficulty and takes about six minutes, short enough for a warm-up round and long enough to separate casual listeners from people who owned the cassettes.

Scores, the leaderboard, and what takers see at the end

Scoring is simple: ten correct answers earns a perfect 100. The leaderboard is switched on in this template, so takers can see how their score stacks up against everyone else who has played, which turns a solo quiz into a light competition. There is no countdown clock; timing is disabled, so nobody gets rushed while deciding whether it was Madonna or Cyndi Lauper who sang "Like a Prayer" in 1989.

On your side, Uplup records every response. The analytics view shows completions and how each individual question performed, so you can spot the item everyone misses and the ones that are too easy. Results export to CSV, and webhooks or Zapier can push new entries wherever you need them.

Who actually runs an 80s trivia round

Pub quiz and trivia night hosts use it as a themed round they don't have to research themselves. Radio stations and music newsletters run it as an audience piece, often with a lead capture step in front so a casual player becomes a subscriber. And it does honest work at 40th and 50th birthday parties, class reunions, and office socials, where the gap between people who remember 1984 firsthand and people who don't is half the fun.

Make it your decade

Everything in the template is editable. Swap "Sweet Child O' Mine" for a deeper cut, retitle the quiz for a specific event, change point values, or trim the set down for a faster round. You can restyle the whole thing with your own colors and a logo, or flip on conversational mode, which presents each prompt on its own screen. Takers get a visible progress indicator, and you decide whether they can step back to revise earlier answers.

Sharing works however your audience does: a direct link, a QR code on table cards at trivia night, social posts, an embed snippet for your site, or a shortcode if the site runs WordPress with the Uplup plugin. The template lives on Uplup's free tier, so you can publish it and collect responses without paying anything. Retake settings are yours as well, so choose whether players get one shot at the leaderboard or unlimited attempts to chase a perfect score.