70s Music Quiz
Disco grooves, arena rock and funk from ABBA, Led Zeppelin and Donna Summer. How well do you know the 70s?
Top 5 Scores
- #1Nope701
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- #3Tina657
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- #5alice613
Scores are valid for 15 days.
The 70s at a glance
- Years
- 1970 to 1979
- What defined it
- A decade torn between the dance floor and the arena: mirror-ball disco packed clubs such as Studio 54, glam rock brought costume and theatre to the stage, and stadium rock plus sprawling progressive suites filled the seats and the FM airwaves
- Dominant sounds
- Four-on-the-floor disco laced with lush string sections · syncopated funk basslines · thunderous hard rock riffs · gentle soft rock harmonies · raw two-minute punk bursts
- Key genres
- Disco · funk · hard rock · progressive rock · glam rock · soul and R&B · punk rock · reggae · country · early hip hop
- Signature instruments and tech
- Moog and other synthesizers · orchestral strings and horns for the disco wall of sound · wah-wah guitar pedals for funk · the electric bass promoted to lead voice · the twelve-inch single made for club play
- Essential artists
- Led Zeppelin · Pink Floyd · ABBA · Bee Gees · Stevie Wonder · Elton John · Fleetwood Mac · Queen · David Bowie · Donna Summer · Black Sabbath · Earth, Wind & Fire
- Songs to know
- Dancing Queen · I Feel Love · Stayin' Alive · Bohemian Rhapsody · Hotel California · American Pie · Imagine · Sir Duke
- The industry
- Vinyl albums and the new twelve-inch single ruled record shops, FM radio pushed the long-player as a complete artwork, Motown kept the hits coming after the Jackson 5 landed four straight number ones, and the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack turned a movie tie-in into a fifty-million-copy phenomenon
- Why the 1970s is fun to guess
- A single round can leap from a Studio 54 disco groove to a Led Zeppelin riff to a Ramones sprint to a Stevie Wonder soul number, so guessing keeps you darting between wildly different textures, tempos and moods
- Where to start
- Begin with the household names: ABBA, the Bee Gees, Queen, Elton John and Fleetwood Mac hand you quick wins before the deeper cuts and cult acts arrive
- The tricky ones
- One-hit disco floor-fillers and short-lived punk outfits are where scores slip, while nascent hip hop, heavy dub reggae and outlaw country from Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings can stump even seasoned listeners
The Artists Who Defined the 70s
Led Zeppelin and Queen filled the arenas, ABBA and the Bee Gees ruled the charts, and Donna Summer lit up the disco. Three scenes, one decade. How many of its stars can you name?
Donna Summer
'I Feel Love' is almost nothing but a looping synthesizer, and you name it before a lyric lands. Guess the Donna Summer song from the groove, not the chorus.Led Zeppelin
The 'Whole Lotta Love' riff gives it away before Plant sings, but the acoustic deep cuts hand you nothing. Guess the Led Zeppelin song by ear.Eagles
'Hotel California' is Don Henley; 'Take It Easy' is Glenn Frey. Guess the Eagles song, then work out which member is actually singing.Fleetwood Mac
Three songwriters, one record, each singing only their own: 'Dreams' is Nicks, 'Go Your Own Way' Buckingham. Guess the Fleetwood Mac song, then name the singer.Queen
'Another One Bites the Dust' is pure disco-funk, not the arena rock you expect from Queen. Guess the Queen song across their 70s and 80s hits and deep cuts.David Bowie
Bowie killed off Ziggy Stardust live on stage, barely a year after inventing the alien. Guess the David Bowie song, then name the persona singing it.Pink Floyd
'Money' runs on a looped cash register in an odd 7/4 beat. Guess the Pink Floyd song from its sound, then name the album.Black Sabbath
Tony Iommi lost two fingertips in a factory accident, then down-tuned his guitar to keep playing. Guess the Black Sabbath song from the riff alone.AC/DC
'Highway to Hell' and 'Back in Black' sound like twins, yet each has a different singer. Guess the AC/DC song, then name the voice.The Songs That Defined the 70s
From the string-swept pulse of 'I Feel Love' to the riff of 'Hotel California', the decade's biggest tracks give themselves away from the opening bar. These are the songs that open any 70s round.
- 01
Stayin' Alive
1977
- 02
Bohemian Rhapsody
1975
- 03
Imagine
1971
- 04
Hotel California
1976
- 05
Money
1973
- 06
I Feel Love
1977
- 07
Heroes
1977
- 08
Maggie May
1971
70s Music Trivia
The Dark Side of the Moon's 741-week chart run, a Moog synth that built a disco hit, the night Disco Demolition tipped the genre over. The 70s hides some of the game's best trivia.
- Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon, released in 1973, stayed on the Billboard chart for 741 weeks and sold roughly 50 million copies worldwide, a band any guess the artist round starts with.
- Donna Summer and producer Giorgio Moroder built I Feel Love in 1977 almost entirely on a Moog synthesizer, one of the earliest disco hits driven by electronics instead of a live band.
- Debby Boone's You Light Up My Life logged the most weeks at number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 of any single released during the 1970s.
- Disco Demolition Night on July 12, 1979 detonated a crate of disco records between two baseball games in Chicago and helped tip the genre into a rapid decline, a fact worth keeping for when you challenge your friends.
- Hip hop was born at 1970s block parties in the Bronx, yet it stayed underground and would not turn into a mainstream force until the late 1980s.
The 70s: the full story
The 1970s split the charts between the dance floor and the arena, and a great 70s music quiz has to cover both. Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon spent 741 weeks on the chart, Fleetwood Mac's Rumours became the best-selling album of the decade, and the Bee Gees powered Saturday Night Fever past 50 million copies. Led Zeppelin, ABBA, Stevie Wonder, Elton John and Donna Summer ruled the radio, while the Sex Pistols and Ramones tore punk wide open in 1977. Play our 70s music quiz to name Dancing Queen or I Feel Love from the opening bar, and prove how well you really know the disco, funk, soul and rock that defined the decade. Browse more quizzes on music by decade or switch to a music genre quiz.
70s Music Quiz FAQ
What is the 70s music quiz?
It is not a single game but a whole collection of quizzes built around the music of 1970 to 1979. Every round drops you into the decade's biggest sounds, from disco floor-fillers by the Bee Gees and Donna Summer to arena rock by Led Zeppelin and Queen. You hear a clip, guess the 70s song or the artist behind it, and race the clock for a higher score. Since the era stretched from Pink Floyd to the Sex Pistols, no two sets feel identical, and another playlist is always queued.
Which artists and songs appear most often?
Expect the acts that shaped the era. ABBA turn up with Dancing Queen, the Bee Gees with Stayin' Alive, Queen with Bohemian Rhapsody, the Eagles with Hotel California and Donna Summer with I Feel Love. You will also cross paths with Led Zeppelin, Fleetwood Mac fresh off Rumours, Stevie Wonder, Elton John and David Bowie. Deeper rounds reach into punk from the Ramones, funk grooves, reggae and country. That spread is what makes 70s music trivia so rewarding: chart titans and cult heroes sharing one lineup.
Is it free to play?
Yes. The whole collection is free and needs no signup, so you can jump in, choose a round, start guessing from the first clip or guess the song with friends in multiplayer, with nothing to install and no account to create. If you decide to sign in, your stats are saved between sessions and you can climb the weekly league against other players chasing the same hits. Signing in is the only reason to register, and every quiz stays open whether you drop by once or return day after day.
How hard is it to guess the 70s song?
Difficulty scales with what you already know. The mega-hits are kind: most players name Dancing Queen or Stayin' Alive from one bar. The 1970s songs quiz sharpens quickly once it reaches one-hit disco wonders, short-lived punk bands, deep album tracks from Pink Floyd, and fledgling hip hop or dub reggae that rarely hit heavy rotation. Timing counts as well, since faster correct answers earn more points. That broad range lets the game welcome both casual listeners and people who lived through every year of the decade.
What makes 1970s tracks so recognizable?
The production gives them away. Disco rides a steady four-on-the-floor beat, syncopated basslines and sweeping orchestral strings, the wall of sound that filled Studio 54. Funk shoves the electric bass and wah-wah guitar to the front, while I Feel Love proved a lone Moog synthesizer could carry an entire record. Rock pulls the opposite way with towering guitars and thunderous live drums. Once your ear locks onto those textures, 70s music trivia becomes pattern recognition, and you begin naming the era from the opening bar.
Sources & methodology
Sources consulted
Wikipedia · AllMusic · Pitchfork · Billboard · Songtrivia editorial team.
Our methodology
Each topic is curated by a Quiz Master with category expertise. Selection crosses cultural impact, chart performance, recognition potential and era variety.