Michael Stipe hadn't finished the lyrics when R.E.M. recorded "Radio Free Europe." He calls the vocal "complete babbling."
Bryan Adams' 1987 song "Heat Of The Night" has the distinction of being the first commercially released cassette single in the US.
Meghan Trainor and her producer Kevin Kadish wrote "All About That Bass" for another artist to record, but after Epic Records boss LA Reid heard Meghan play a demo of the song on a ukulele, he signed her to his label and told her she should sing it.
The Hollies hit "The Air That I Breathe" was written in part as a reaction to the smog in Los Angeles.
The "Ms. Jackson" in the OutKast song is Erykah Badu's mother. Andre 3000 had a child with Badu, and felt she was portraying him as a lousy dad.
The line in John Mellencamp's "Cherry Bomb" that sounds like "that's when a smoke was a smoke" is actually "that's when a sport was a sport," according to the published lyric. In that sense, "sport" is an endearment for someone of good nature.
Dennis DeYoung explains why "Mr. Roboto" is the defining Styx song, and what the "gathering of angels" represents in "Come Sail Away."
Shears does very little promotion, which has kept him secluded from the spotlight. What changed when Cyndi Lauper had a hit with his song? Not much, really.
Billy Joel and Hall & Oates hated making videos, so they chose a director with similar contempt for the medium. That was Jay Dubin, and he has a lot to say on the subject.
With the rise of Kindie rock, more musicians are embracing their inner child with tunes for tots - here, we look at pop stars who recorded kids' albums.
Here's what happens when an opening act is really out of place with the headliner, like when Beastie Boys opened for Madonna.
A look at the good (Diana Ross, Eminem), the bad (Madonna, Bob Dylan) and the peculiar (David Bowie, Michael Jackson) film debuts of superstar singers.