Ronnie Van Zant wrote the Lynyrd Skynyrd classic "Gimme Three Steps" after making the mistake of dancing with a girl whose boyfriend was in the bar and probably had a gun. He asked for a 3-step head start.
The phrase "Mamma Mia" was big in 1976. It was the name of a popular Abba song, and also showed up in the lyrics to "Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen.
Pete Townshend wrote The Who's "Pinball Wizard" to coax a good review for the Tommy album out of a rock critic who loved pinball. It worked.
The video for Iggy Azalea's "Fancy" pays homage to the classic 1995 film Clueless with the rapper playing Cher and featured singer Charli XCX portraying Tai. It was filmed at some of the same locations used in the movie.
"Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" was Michael Jaskson's attack on the tabloid press: "They eat off of you, you're a vegetable."
Journey lead singer Steve Perry wrote the rather dramatic "Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin'" with the opening lyrics, "You make me weep, I wanna die," after seeing his girlfriend kissing another man.
The drummer for Anthrax is also a key songwriter. He explains how the group puts their songs together and tells the stories behind some of their classics.
MTV, a popular TV theme song and Madonna all show up in this '80s music quiz.
Writing with Phil Lynott, Scott saw their ill-fated frontman move to a darker place in his life and lyrics.
An original member of Depeche Mode, Vince went on to form Erasure and Yaz.
The Brazilian rocker sees pictures in his riffs. When he came up with one of his gnarliest songs, there was a riot going on.
A Soul Train dancer takes us through a day on the show, and explains what you had to do to get camera time.