The bedrock of David Guetta's Nicki Minaj-featuring single "Hey Mama" is a sample of "Rosie," a 1940s prison recording from folk archivist Alan Lomax that songwriter Esther Dean first showed the French DJ on YouTube.
Bernie Taupin was 17 when he wrote the lyrics to Elton John's "Your Song." Looking back, he says it's "one of the most naïve and childish lyrics in the entire repertoire of music."
After the Beastie Boys sampled a bunch of Led Zeppelin songs, Robert Plant did it himself on his 1988 solo hit "Tall Cool One," which sampled "Whole Lotta Love," "Black Dog" and "The Ocean."
Bob Seger got inspired to write "Night Moves" after watching the movie American Graffiti, which showed young people growing up in his "neck of the woods."
Jean-Claude Van Damme was an extra in the video for Ollie & Jerry's “Breakin'... There's No Stopping Us” and he can be seen at point dancing in the background.
Rob Reiner named his 1986 movie "Stand By Me" after the song, since he thought The Body, a Stephen King story on which it was based, sounded like a horror movie.
Did this Eagle come up with the term "Parrothead"? And what is it like playing "Hotel California" for the gazillionth time?
Howard explains his positive songwriting method and how uplifting songs can carry a deeper message.
The leader of the Modern A Cappella movement talks about the genre.
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.
When you free your mind, your ass may follow, but you have to make sure someone else doesn't program it while it's wide open.
The Celtic music maker Loreena McKennitt on finding musical inspiration, the "New Age" label, and working on the movie Tinker Bell.
