"Criminal" is Fiona Apple's only chart hit. Royalties from it allow her to make music on her terms, releasing albums several years apart.
Tom Petty was a big star on MTV, but he ran afoul of their policies with the line "let's roll another joint" in "You Don't Known How It Feels." The network ended up reversing the word "joint" so it was unintelligible, then giving the video a VMA for Best Male Video.
Don't play "I Will Always Love You" at your wedding - Dolly Parton wrote it about leaving someone behind to strike out on her own.
Lily Allen wrote "Something's Not Right" for the soundtrack of the Peter Pan prequel, Pan. The song was inspired by the heartache that Allen experienced after suffering a miscarriage when she was six months pregnant with her first child by husband Sam Cooper in 2010.
The first line of "Papa Was A Rollin' Stone" is "It was the 3rd of September," which is the day lead singer Dennis Edwards' father died.
"Anaconda" was originally recorded by Missy Elliott in 2012, but she decided to shelf the track so it went to Nicki Minaj, who released it two years later.
Here's what happens when an opening act is really out of place with the headliner, like when Beastie Boys opened for Madonna.
Brenda talks about the inspiration that drove her to write hit songs like "Get Here" and "Piano in the Dark," and why a lack of formal music training can be a songwriter's best asset.
How a country weeper and a blues number made "rolling stone" the most popular phrase in rock.
Some songs get a second life when they find a new audience through a movie, commercial, TV show, or even the Internet.
For songwriters, Johnny represents the American man. He has been angry, cool, magic, a rebel and, of course, marching home.
