Duran Duran's "Wild Boys" is based on the book of the same name by William Burroughs.
"Sloop John B" is a traditional West Indian folk song, and it was a huge hit for The Beach Boys in 1966. They tweaked the lyric, "This is the worst trip since I've been born" to "...I've ever been on" as a wink to acid culture.
The Ozzy Osbourne song "Mr. Crowley" is about Aleister Crowley, a British practitioner of dark magic in the early 1900s.
The first single to simultaneously top the UK and US charts was The Everly Brothers' "Cathy's Clown" in May 1960.
John Lennon got the title of the Beatles song "Happiness Is A Warm Gun" from an article in a magazine published by the National Rifle Association.
Tom stopped performing Thompson Twins songs in 1987, in part because of their personal nature: "Hold Me Now" came after an argument with his bandmate/girlfriend Alannah Currie.
Did Eric Clapton really write "Cocaine" while on cocaine? This question and more in the Clapton edition of Fact or Fiction.
"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."
Some songs get a second life when they find a new audience through a movie, commercial, TV show, or even the Internet.
Even before Soundgarden wrote a song about him, Artis was the most famous spoon player of all time. So why has he always been broke?
