Musically, the Twisted Sister song "We're Not Gonna Take It" is based on the Christmas tune "O Come All Ye Faithful."
In the UK, the first #1 hit with a rap was "Candy Girl" by the American boy band New Edition in 1983.
"Diamonds From Sierra Leone" by Kanye West is about the "blood diamonds" mined using child labor in Africa. It also serves as a shout-out to Roc-A-Fella records, known for a diamond-shaped hand signal.
Jessie J had a lyric from her song "Who You Are" tattooed on her hip, but she spelled "lose" incorrectly so it reads: "Don't loose who you are in the blur of the stars."
Ed Sheeran wrote the 2014 love song "Thinking Out Loud" about his girlfriend at the time, Athina Andrelos. They split the following year, and Ed started seeing Cherry Seaborn, whom he married in 2019; songs like "Perfect" and "No Strings" are about her.
"Crank That (Soulja Boy)" was the most successful digital track of 2007 in the US with 2,909,000 downloads. On January 6, 2008 it became the first song ever to sell 3 million digital copies in the States.
When Judd Apatow needed under-appreciated rockers for his Knocked Up sequel, he immediately thought of Parker, who just happened to be getting his band The Rumour back together.
You may not recognize his name, but you will certainly recognize Peter Lord's songs. He wrote the bevy of hits from Paula Abdul's second album, Spellbound.
The Kiss rocker covers a lot of ground in this interview, including why there are no Kiss collaborations, and why the Rock Hall has "become a sham."
When he joined Guns N' Roses in 1990, Matt helped them craft an orchestral sound; his mezzo fortes and pianissimos are all over "November Rain."
Laura Nyro talks about her complex, emotionally rich songwriting and how she supports women's culture through her art.
The Bush frontman on where he finds inspiration for lyrics, if his "machine head" is a guitar tuner, and the stories behind songs from the album The Kingdom.