"Lean On" was originally sent by Major Lazer to both Rihanna and Nicki Minaj's camps as a slower reggae track. After both parties rejected the tune, Major Lazer recruited Danish singer MØ to supply vocals and they recorded it themselves.
Shaboozey's "A Bar Song (Tipsy)" is a country reworking of J-Kwon's hip-hop hit "Tipsy," with the setting changed from a club to a dive bar.
Pitbull's line "I got it locked up like Lindsay Lohan" in his 2011 song "Give Me Everything (Tonight)" didn't go over well with Lohan, who sued him for defamation. Around this time, she was in a downward spiral and often getting arrested. Her case was thrown out, but she did get her life back together.
The riff for The Sex Pistols' "Pretty Vacant" was pinched from a very unpunk song, the ABBA ballad "S.O.S."
The idea for "The Man Comes Around" came to Johnny Cash from a dream he had where he was in Buckingham Palace and the Queen said to him, "Johnny Cash, you're just like a thorn tree in a whirlwind."
Jack White titled "Seven Nation Army" after how he would mispronounce "Salvation Army" when he was little.
An interview with Dr. John Covach, music professor at the University of Rochester whose free online courses have become wildly popular.
Long before Eminem, Justin Bieber and Nicki Minaj created alternate personas, David Bowie, Bono, Joni Mitchell and even Hank Williams took on characters.
The country hitmaker talks about his debut album, A Rock, and how a nursery rhyme inspired his hit single "One Beer."
How did The Edge get his name? Did they name a song after a Tolkien book? And who is "Angel of Harlem" about?
