Jay-Z did the rap on Beyoncé's "Crazy In Love" at the last minute. They had just started dating; she asked him to feature on the track the night before she had to turn in her album.
Thanks to the line "shake it like a Polaroid picture," Outkast's "Hey Ya!" made Polaroid cameras cool again. Many other artists have since mentioned Polaroid in their lyrics, including Eminem, Imagine Dragons, Keith Urban, Gorillaz and Tim McGraw.
Elton John's classic "Levon" runs 5:22, and Elton wouldn't let his record company edit it down for the single. His next single was "Tiny Dancer," which is even longer, running 6:12.
"Cleveland Rocks" was written by an Englishman. Ian Hunter wrote the song after touring America in the late '70s and finding that Cleveland was by far the most receptive city to his brand of Glam Rock.
Neil Young wrote the CSN&Y song "Ohio" about the Kent State Shootings, when the National Guard opened fire on students at Kent State University in Ohio, killing four.
Rob Reiner named his 1986 movie "Stand By Me" after the song, since he thought The Body, a Stephen King story on which it was based, sounded like a horror movie.
The co-writer/guitarist on many Alice Cooper hits, Dick was also Lou Reed's axeman on the Rock n' Roll Animal album.
A top New York studio musician, Ralph played guitar on many '60s hits, including "Lightnin' Strikes," "A Lover's Concerto" and "I Am A Rock."
Shows like Dawson's Creek, Grey's Anatomy and Buffy the Vampire Slayer changed the way songs were heard on TV, and produced some hits in the process.
His keyboard work helped define the Muscle Shoals sound and make him an integral part of many Neil Young recordings. Spooner is also an accomplished songwriter, whose hits include "I'm Your Puppet" and "Cry Like A Baby."
Their frontman (Chris Cornell) started out as their drummer, so Soundgarden takes a linear approach when it comes to songwriting. Kim explains how they do it.
