Geffen Records made history on June 27, 1994 when Aerosmith's "Head First" became the first major label song made available for exclusive digital download. Download speeds at the time were so slow it took around 75 minutes to download the track.
The Doobie Brothers' swampy #1 hit "Black Water" is about the Mississippi River, evoking the rafting adventures Mark Twain and Huckleberry Finn.
The instrumental "YYZ" by Rush got its title from the transmitter code for Lester B. Pearson International Airport in Toronto, near where the band is from.
The eerie percussion and guitar for Portsihead's "Sour Times" was sampled from Lalo Schifrin's "Danube Incident," music composed by the Argentine composer for an episode of Mission Impossible.
Part of Elton John's '80s resurgence was "Sad Songs (Say So Much)," which got a lot of exposure in commercials for Sasson jeans, reworked as "Sasson Says So Much." This was Elton's idea - he even got Sasson to sponsor his American tour.
The first big hit to blend EDM with country music was "Wake Me Up" by the Swedish DJ Avicii. He put the song together with Mike Einziger of Incubus and with Aloe Blacc, who sings on it.
It took him seven years to recover from his American hit "Fool (If You Think It's Over)," but Chris Rea became one of the top singer-songwriters in his native UK.
Bowie's "activist" days of 1964 led to Ziggy Stardust.
Cain talks about the divine inspirations for "Don't Stop Believin'" and "Faithfully."
Inspired by his dear friend, "Seasons in the Sun" paid for Terry's boat, which led him away from music and into a battle with Canadian paper mills.
Do you know the girl singer on Eminem's "Stan"? If so, this quiz is for you.
These overtly religious songs crossed over to the pop charts, despite resistance from fans, and in many cases, churches.