Meghan Trainor and her producer Kevin Kadish originally wrote "All About That Bass" for another artist to record. However, after Epic Records boss LA Reid heard Meghan play a demo of the song on a ukulele, he signed the young songwriter to his label and told her she should sing it.
"One Week" by Barenaked Ladies was a #1 hit in America - for exactly one week in 1998.
Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits wrote "Private Dancer," which went to Tina Turner when he realized it wasn't a song for a man to sing.
"Panama" by Van Halen is not about the country or the canal, but about a stripper David Lee Roth met in Arizona.
Florida Georgia Line's "Cruise" was the first-ever country single to earn diamond certification (10 million units sold) from the RIAA.
When Marc Cohn played "True Companion" to his girlfriend, she thought he was proposing. He wasn't, but he did eventually marry her.
How a goofy detective movie, a disenchanted director and an unlikely songwriter led to one of the biggest hits in pop history.
Songs that seem to glorify violence against women are often misinterpreted - but not always.
Doubt led to drive for Francis, who still isn't sure why one of Status Quo's biggest hits is so beloved.
Bowie's "activist" days of 1964 led to Ziggy Stardust.
The guy who brought us "Stacy's Mom" also wrote the Jane Lynch Emmy song and Stephen Colbert's Christmas songs.