"Panama" by Van Halen is not about the country or the canal, but about a stripper David Lee Roth met in Arizona.
The seemingly inoffensive song "Deep In The Heart Of Texas" was banned by the BBC when it was released in 1942. They deemed the song too catchy, with authorities in wartime Britain concerned that factory workers would be distracted if they heard it during a shift.
Bono came up with the idea of focusing on a soldier's last thoughts as he dies from his wounds in the U2 song "White As Snow" after reading William Golding's 1956 novel Pincher Martin.
"Constant Craving" by k.d. lang deals with principles of Buddhism, including the cycles of birth and death.
"Forever" by Chris Brown was written for a Wrigley's Doublemint Gum commercial. The full song contains the gum's tagline: "Double your pleasure, double your fun."
Bobby Freeman's '50s hit "Do You Want To Dance" was also a Hot 100 hit for Del Shannon, The Beach Boys, The Mamas & the Papas, Bette Midler and the Ramones.
Into the vaults for this talk with Bolton from the '80s when he was a focused on writing songs for other artists.
With $50 and a glue stick, Bruce Pavitt created Sub Pop, a fanzine-turned-label that gave the world Nirvana and grunge. He explains how motivated individuals can shift culture.
Jim talks about the impact of "The Middle" and uses a tree metaphor to describe his songwriting philosophy.
Brian has unearthed outtakes by Fleetwood Mac, Aretha Franklin, Elvis Costello and hundreds of other artists for reissues. Here's how he does it.
After cutting his teeth on hardcore punk videos, Paul defined the grunge look with his work on "Hunger Strike" and "Man in the Box."
If the name Citizen Dick means anything to you, there's a chance you'll get some of these right.