
Stevie Wonder wrote his own version of "Happy Birthday" in an attempt to get Martin Luther King's birthday declared a national holiday.

Steely Dan's engineer, Roger Nichols, built one of the first drum machines, which they used on "Hey Nineteen."

The 1986 Kenny G instrumental "Songbird" owes much of its success to VH1, which launched a year earlier and played the video to death.
"Zoot Suit Riot" isn't just a Cherry Poppin' Daddies song - the Zoot Suit Riots were real riots in Los Angeles that took place in 1943 and inspired the song's lyrics.

In the late '70s, John Lennon slowed his roll, becoming a househusband who baked bread and took care of his young son Sean. This inspired his song "Watching The Wheels," where he discovers the benefits of taking it easy.

The "Gunter Glieben Glauten Globen" intro in Def Leppard's "Rock Of Ages" is something their producer Mutt Lange came up with when he got tired of counting them "1, 2, 3, 4..."
Chris Stein of Blondie shares photos and stories from his book about the New York City punk scene.
Some album art was at least "inspired" by others. A look at some very similar covers.
Daryl Hall's TV show is a hit, and he's been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame - only one of these developments excites him.
Known in America for the hit "If You Leave," OMD is a huge influence on modern electronic music.
Established as a redoubtable singer-songwriter, the Men At Work frontman explains how religion, sobriety and Jack Nicholson play into his songwriting.
Faith No More's bassist, Billy Gould, chats to us about his two new experimental projects, The Talking Book and House of Hayduk, and also shares some stories from the FNM days.