The Kenny G instrumental "Songbird" owes much of its success to VH1, which launched a year earlier and played the video to death.
In the 1999 Destiny's Child song "Bug A Boo," they complain about a guy who bugs them on MCI, AOL, and their pagers.
Tone-Loc's "Wild Thing" samples Eddie Van Halen's guitar riff from "Jaime's Cryin'."
The death of John Lennon was an influence on the Stevie Nicks hit "Edge Of Seventeen." He's the one with the "words of a poet and voice from a choir."
Lil Wayne does an unlikely rap in a remix of the Joe Jonas song "Just In Love." The pair met at the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards.
One of the great "we're all going down" songs is "Ship Of Fools" by World Party, written when Margaret Thatcher was in power in England.
Cain talks about the divine inspirations for "Don't Stop Believin'" and "Faithfully."
Charlotte was established in the LA punk scene when a freaky girl named Belinda approached her wearing a garbage bag.
Armed with a childhood spent devouring books, Mike Scott's heart was stolen by the punk rock scene of 1977. Not surprisingly, he would go on to become the most literate of rockers.
For songwriters, Johnny represents the American man. He has been angry, cool, magic, a rebel and, of course, marching home.
"When seeds that you sow grow by the wicked moon/Be sure your sins will find you out/Your past will hunt you down and turn to tell on you."
Ian talks about his 3 or 4 blatant attempts to write a pop song, and also the ones he most connected with, including "Locomotive Breath."