The seemingly inoffensive song, "Deep In The Heart Of Texas," was banned by the BBC when it was released in 1942. They deemed the song too catchy, with authorities in wartime Britain concerned that factory workers would be distracted if they heard it during a shift.
ABBA's Bjorn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson conceived "Dancing Queen" as a dance song with the working title "Boogaloo," drawing inspiration from the 1974 George McCrae disco hit "Rock Your Baby." Their manager Stig Anderson came up with the title "Dancing Queen."
The longest-running #1 US hit for a member of the Jackson family is Janet's "That's The Way Love Goes," with eight weeks on top.
"Cigarettes And Chocolate Milk" describes a time in Rufus Wainwright's life when he found himself hungover and pounding chocolate milk to feel better. It didn't work, so he smoked a cigarette, which is when he realized his addictive personality could be a problem.
Don Johnson, who starred as Sonny Crockett in Miami Vice, had a #5 hit in 1986 with "Heartbeat."
Billy Joel's song "Allentown" was written as "Levittown," which is the town in Long Island where he grew up. He got the idea to change it after taking a trip to Pennsylvania.
Starting in Virginia City, Nevada and rippling out to the Haight-Ashbury, LSD reshaped popular music.
Foreigner's songwriter/guitarist tells the stories behind the songs "Juke Box Hero," "I Want To Know What Love Is," and many more.
When you have a song called "Fire," it's tempting to set one - these guys did.
An interview with Frankie Valli, who talks about why his songs - both solo and with The Four Seasons - have endured, and reflects on his time as Rusty Millio on The Sopranos.
Who writes a song about a name they found in a phone book? That's just one of the everyday things these guys find to sing about. Anything in their field of vision or general scope of knowledge is fair game. If you cross paths with them, so are you.
Devo founders Mark Mothersbaugh and Jerry Casale take us into their world of subversive performance art. They may be right about the De-Evoloution thing.
