Damon Albarn found inspiration for Blur's Britpop classic "Girls & Boys" while on holiday in Majorca. He noted that in the club scene there was "no morality involved."
The '60s hit "Then He Kissed Me" was covered by The Beach Boys as "Then I Kissed Her."
Whitesnake's "Here I Go Again" is a very inspiring song, but it's really about heartbreak: David Coverdale wrote it when his first marriage was falling apart.
Psy's "Gangnam Style" refers to a section of Seoul, South Korea, that is very fashionable. The guy in the song has all the right moves and loves the ladies.
"I Got You Babe" made Sonny Bono the only person to perform on a #1 hit and also get elected to congress.
"Cult of Personality" by Living Colour incorporates speeches by John F. Kennedy, Malcolm X and Franklin D. Roosevelt.
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.
Shears does very little promotion, which has kept him secluded from the spotlight. What changed when Cyndi Lauper had a hit with his song? Not much, really.
The "All I Want" singer went through a long depression, playing some shows when he didn't want to be alive.
With Bernie Taupin, Martin co-wrote the #1 hits "We Built This City" and "These Dreams." After writing the Pretty Woman song for Go West, he had his own hit with "In the House of Stone and Light."
The leader of the Modern A Cappella movement talks about the genre.
Long before Eminem, Justin Bieber and Nicki Minaj created alternate personas, David Bowie, Bono, Joni Mitchell and even Hank Williams took on characters.