The songwriting team Leiber and Stoller wrote "Hound Dog" for a blues singer named Big Mama Thronton, who first recorded the song in 1953. Elvis covered it in 1956, and it became his biggest hit.
Tired of X-Factor winners getting the UK Christmas #1, British Facebook users staged a successful campaign to download "Killing In The Name" by Rage Against The Machine enough times to boost the song to the top in 2009, blocking the X-Factor single by Joe McElderry.
Lady Gaga says that "Poker Face" is about her personal experience with bisexuality; being with a man but thinking about a woman.
Duran Duran's "Wild Boys" is based on the book of the same name by William Burroughs.
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."
"Hot n Cold" by Katy Perry is about a real guy - an ex who would seem really interested at times but would then just disappear.
A founding member of the band War, Harold gives a first-person account of one of the most important periods in music history.
The Creed lead singer reveals the "ego and self-fulfillment" he now sees in one of the band's biggest hits.
The guy who brought us "Stacy's Mom" also wrote the Jane Lynch Emmy song and Stephen Colbert's Christmas songs.
What are the biggest US hits with French, Spanish (not "Rico Suave"), Italian, Scottish, Greek, and Japanese titles?
Ron Nevison explains in very clear terms the Quadrophenia concept and how Heart staged their resurgence after being dropped by their record company.
Rob Halford, Richie Faulkner and Glenn Tipton talk twin guitar harmonies and explain how they create songs in Judas Priest.