"Baby One More Time," the breakout song for Britney Spears, was originally offered to TLC but they passed on it. The R&B trio didn't feel comfortable singing the line, "hit me baby one more time."
"Yellow" by Coldplay is a deep, meaningful song, but the title has a rather prosaic origin: it came from the phone directory, known as "the yellow pages."
"St. Elmo's Fire (Man In Motion)" was not written for the movie, but for Rick Hanson, a wheelchair athlete whose 1985 "Man In Motion" tour logged 24,856 miles on his wheelchair in 34 countries while raising $26 million for spinal cord research.
"Should I Stay or Should I Go?" by The Clash features some Spanish lines by the Texas singer Joe Ely.
Two tears roll down Sinead O'Connor's face toward the end of the video for "Nothing Compares 2 U." They were shed because she associated the song's lyrics of love and loss with her mother, who was killed in a car accident in 1985.
Grazing In The Grass by The Friends Of Distinction was the first big hit to use the phrase "dig it" in the lyric.
An interview with Ray and Derek Shulman of the progressive rock band Gentle Giant to discuss counterpoint, polyrhythms, and... Bon Jovi.
The renown rock singer talks about "The House of the Rising Sun" and "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood."
U2, Carly Simon, Joanna Newsom, Brian Wilson and Fiona Apple have all gone to Van Dyke Parks to make their songs exceptional.
Taylor talks about "The Machine" - the hits, the videos and Clive Davis.
The country hitmaker talks about his debut album, A Rock, and how a nursery rhyme inspired his hit single "One Beer."
Ron Nevison explains in very clear terms the Quadrophenia concept and how Heart staged their resurgence after being dropped by their record company.