"Do They Know It's Christmas?" by Band-Aid was the first big group charity single. It was organized by Bob Geldof, who a year later put together "We Are The World" and Live Aid.

Eddie Van Halen played the guitar solo on "Beat It" as a favor to Quincy Jones, who produced the album.

Avril Lavigne's 2011 song "Darlin" was written much earlier; she says it's the second song she ever wrote, composed when she was an unsigned 15-year-old living in Napanee, Ontario. The song reflects those years when she was "trying to figure it all out."

Elvis Presley' first #1 on any chart was "I Forgot To Remember To Forget." It arrived at the top of the Country tally on February 25, 1956 and stayed there for two weeks.

It wasn't one of her biggest hits, but "La Isla Bonita" (from 1986) emerged as one of Madonna's top songs in the age of streaming thanks to widespread usage on TikTok. Creators who visit an island or just want that mood often use it as a soundtrack.

One of the great "we're all going down" songs is "Ship Of Fools" by World Party, written when Margaret Thatcher was in power in England.
'80s music ambassadors Wang Chung pick their top tracks of the decade, explaining what makes each one so special.
A selection of songs made to be terrible - some clearly achieved that goal.
The Canadian superstar talks about his sudden rise to fame, and tells the stories behind his hits "Sunglasses At Night," "Boy In The Box" and "Never Surrender."
Bowie's "activist" days of 1964 led to Ziggy Stardust.
Yngwie Malmsteen and Steve Vai were two of Graham's co-writers for some '80s rock classics.
Newman makes it look easy these days, but in this 1974 interview, he reveals the paranoia and pressures that made him yearn for his old 9-5 job.