Guess the Rock Song From One Freeze Frame

Sometimes, the accompanying music videos can be just as memorable as the songs themselves.

Let’s put that to the test, or rather: let’s put you to the test. Below you’ll find 20 screenshots taken from various rock song music videos, ranging in release date and style.

None of the screenshots contain clear images of the artists themselves — one visual puzzle piece pulled from a bigger picture. How many of them can you guess correctly from just one single freeze frame? And can you get both the song and the artist? Play on.

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ANSWER: “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This),” Eurythmics (1983)

Sweet dreams are evidently made of cows and computers, according to the Eurythmics‘ music video from 1983. “We wanted our visual statements to be strong and powerful, because we knew they’d be there forever,” Annie Lennox explained to The Guardian in 2017. “I wore a suit in the video with my cropped hair. I was trying to be the opposite of the cliche of the female singer. I wanted to be as strong as a man, equal to Dave [Stewart] and perceived that way.”

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ANSWER: “Let’s Dance,” David Bowie (1983)

Would it have helped if we had told you to put on your red shoes and dance the blues? Filmed in Australia, the video for “Let’s Dance” featured Terry Roberts and Joelene King, students from Sydney’s Aboriginal Islander Dance Theatre. “It was so alien for both sides, Bowie and the locals,” Peter Lawless, the shoot’s location manager, said to the BBC in 2014. “They didn’t believe who he was. It was so off the wall. It was kind of weird.”

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ANSWER: “Bohemian Rhapsody,” Queen (1975)

We thought we might be able to fool you by starting the list with two songs from 1983, though to be fair, the golden age of music videos didn’t really get going until the ’80s. Frankly, Queen is largely to thank for that. They didn’t invent the music video, but after spending a modest £4,500 on a video for “Bohemian Rhapsody” —then referred to as a “pop promo” — the astronomical success of the song prompted other artists to utilize the same marketing approach.

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ANSWER: “Don’t Come Around Here No More,” Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers (1985)

Alice fell down the rabbit hole, but she also fell into Tom Petty’s 1985 music video for “Don’t Come Around Here No More.” Actress Louise Foley played the blonde-haired, blue-eyed young woman who comes face to face with Petty as the Mad Hatter.

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ANSWER: “Strawberry Fields Forever,” The Beatles (1967)

As mentioned above, Queen was by no means the first rock band to make a music video, only that their work was some of the first to be considered a major marketing propellent. The Beatles made videos for much of their brief time together, ranging from straight-forward performance footage to more experimental video-making like the kind seen in “Strawberry Fields Forever.”

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ANSWER: “Paranoid,” Black Sabbath (1970)

Leave it to Black Sabbath to use an awfully unsettling image at the start of their “Paranoid” music video, a labyrinth-like space that appears to be part dungeon, part sewer system. Shot in black and white against headache-inducing moving backgrounds, it’s quite the video considering it was for the band’s very first single release.

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ANSWER: “Black Hole Sun,” Soundgarden (1994)

If you’re feeling sort of paranoid after watching Black Sabbath’s video above, maybe skip this video for “Black Hole Sun” by Soundgarden. Something tells us images of Barbie dolls being grilled, cockroaches being burned with magnifying glasses and people with grotesque smiles will not exactly calm you down.

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ANSWER: “One,” Metallica (1989)

Those of you who have seen the 1971 film adaptation of Johnny Got His Gun had a leg up here, since Metallica used several clips from it for their “One” music video. It’s intercut with footage of the band performing in a cavernous warehouse.

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ANSWER: “Money for Nothing,” Dire Straits (1985)

These days, animation, special effects and all sorts of other visual achievements are common in music videos. But there was very much a time when those things were novel and groundbreaking. In 1985, Dire Straits’ music video for “Money for Nothing” became one of the very first examples of early computer animation. Mark Knopfler had to be talked into the idea, but it clearly paid off: the single spent three weeks at the top of the U.S. Billboard chart.

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ANSWER: “Land of Confusion,” Genesis (1986)

We’re not sure how many of you out there have ever wondered what Genesis would look like as Jim Henson-like puppets, but for those of you that have, here’s their video for “Land of Confusion.” Oh and there’s also puppets of Margaret Thatcher, Ronald Reagan and Henry Kissinger.

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ANSWER: “Losing My Religion,” R.E.M. (1991)

What do you mean you didn’t recognize the gold-winged man from R.E.M.’s “Losing My Religion” video? Or perhaps you did, in which case: well done. Singer Michael Stipe had wanted to do a simple performance style video, but was coaxed into something more elaborate by the video’s director Tarsem Singh. That turned out to be an excellent decision as it earned R.E.M. an MTV award for Video of the Year.

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ANSWER: “Gimme All Your Lovin,'” ZZ Top (1983)

Sure, lots of music videos have flashy cars in them, but ZZ Top fans likely recognized this specific vehicle, unmistakable with its fire engine red color, from the 1983 video for “Gimme All Your Lovin.'” Fun fact: the video was directed by Tim Newman, a cousin of Randy Newman.

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ANSWER: “Beautiful Day,” U2 (2000)

If you got this one, either you really love U2 or you’ve spent a lot of time traveling through the Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris. Maybe it’s a combination of both. In any case, U2’s “Beautiful Day” is music for airports in this sense.

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ANSWER: “Kiss,” Prince (1986)

Have you seen this woman? She was last seen in Prince’s 1986 music video for “Kiss.” Okay, that’s not true. Her name is Monique Mannen and she went on to appear in films like Coming to America (1988) and The Adventures of Ford Fairlane (1990).

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ANSWER: “Subterranean Homesick Blues,” Bob Dylan (1965)

Would it have helped you if we had said the bearded man in the above screenshot was one of the most famous American poets of his time? That’s Allen Ginsberg casually standing off to the left in Bob Dylan’s “Subterranean Homesick Blues” video, again, then referred to as a “promotional film clip.”

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ANSWER: “November Rain,” Guns N’ Roses (1992)

Here comes the bride. More specifically: Axl Rose‘s then-girlfriend Stephanie Seymour in the music video for “November Rain.” Rose and Seymour did get engaged for real in February of 1993, a year after this single came out, but they broke up a mere three weeks later.

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ANSWER: “Sledgehammer,” Peter Gabriel (1986)

We left an awfully big hint in that screenshot: a literal sledgehammer that comes down and bashes Peter Gabriel’s head. Except it’s not literal. Like Dire Straits’ “Money for Nothing,” Gabriel’s “Sledgehammer” video featured what were then very new techniques: claymation, stop motion animation and pixilation.

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ANSWER: “We’re Not Gonna Take It,” Twisted Sister (1984)

If you recognized the domineering figure in the above screenshot, maybe you yourself know something about what it’s like to dream of becoming a rockstar even when your parents disapprove. That’s the premise of Twisted Sister’s “We’re Not Gonna Take It” music video, directed by Marty Callner.

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ANSWER: “Nothing Compares 2 U,” Sinead O’Connor (1990)

Even people who aren’t familiar with the Sinead O’Connor’s work have probably seen clips from the Irish singer’s music video for “Nothing Compares 2 U.” It’s mostly of just her pale face against a dark background, so if you recognize the video from just the opening shot of a cloaked figure walking down a desolate lane, props to you. This video earned O’Connor three MTV awards: Video of the Year, Best Female Video and Best Post-Modern Video.

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ANSWER: “Africa,” Toto (1982)

That’s Jenny Douglas-McRae as the bespectacled librarian in Toto’s “Africa” music video. She also was a member of the funk group Dayton, and a live back-up singer for acts like Janet Jackson, Cher and Rob Thomas.