The band Simple Minds took their name from the line "He's so simple minded he can't drive his module" in David Bowie's "The Jean Genie."
MC Skat Kat was created for the remix of "Opposites Attract," which was released as the last single from her Forever Your Girl album. The team that created the Kat also did a-ha's "Take On Me" video.
Teen Spirit was a kind of deodorant marketed to young girls. That's where Kurt Cobain got the title "Smells Like Teen Spirit."
Jimmy Webb was inspired to write "Up-Up and Away" by a balloon that his friend William F. Williams flew on promotions for radio station KMEN.
The third verse of "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm" by Crash Test Dummies ("they shook and lurched all over the church floor...") was inspired by girl whose parents would speak in tongues at their Pentecostal service.
"I Won't Back Down" is a very personal song for Tom Petty. "I thought it wasn't that good because it was so naked," he said.
Bob was the bass player and lyricist for the first two Ozzy Osbourne albums. Here's how he wrote songs like "Crazy Train" and "Mr. Crowley" with Ozzy and Randy Rhoads.
Laura Nyro talks about her complex, emotionally rich songwriting and how she supports women's culture through her art.
Faith No More's bassist, Billy Gould, chats to us about his two new experimental projects, The Talking Book and House of Hayduk, and also shares some stories from the FNM days.
On the "schizoid element" of his lyrics, and a famous line from "Everything Zen."
How the American gangsta rappers made history by getting banned in the UK.
