Billy Joel wrote "We Didn't Start The Fire" after a 21-year-old told him, "everyone knows that nothing happened in the '50s."
"(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding" was written by Nick Lowe in 1974. The original version with his group Brinsley Schwarz was kind of somber, but Elvis Costello made it a classic with his 1978 uptempo take.
Madonna's hit "Don't Tell Me" was written by her brother-in-law, Joe Henry, who has produced albums by Hugh Laurie and Bonnie Raitt.
"Margaritaville" is a state of mind, but it's most associated with Key West, Florida, where Jimmy Buffett moved when he was 24.
"Run To You" by Bryan Adams was written for Blue Oyster Cult, and the guitar part is modeled after "Don't Fear The Reaper." BOC turned it down, so Adams recorded it for his album Reckless.
Damon Albarn found inspiration for Blur's Britpop classic "Girls & Boys" while on holiday in Majorca. He noted that in the club scene there was "no morality involved."
Devo founders Mark Mothersbaugh and Jerry Casale take us into their world of subversive performance art. They may be right about the De-Evoloution thing.
Wilder's hit "Break My Stride" had an unlikely inspiration: a famous record mogul who rejected it.
Where words like "email," "thirsty," "Twitter" and "gangsta" first showed up in songs, and which songs popularized them.
Wes Edwards takes us behind the scenes of videos he shot for Jason Aldean, Dierks Bentley and Chase Bryant. The train was real - the airplane was not.
Director Mark Pellington on Pearl Jam's "Jeremy," and music videos he made for U2, Jon Bon Jovi and Imagine Dragons.
A selection of songs made to be terrible - some clearly achieved that goal.