The death of John Lennon was an influence on the Stevie Nicks hit "Edge Of Seventeen." He's the one with the "words of a poet and voice from a choir."
Most of us only know "Bad Boys" by Inner Circle from the 25 seconds used as the Cops theme, but it's a full song telling the story of a Jamaican youth who doesn't accept family support and ends up a criminal.
Before recording "Boom Clap" herself, Charli XCX offered the song to Hilary Duff, but her people turned down the tune because it "wasn't cool enough for Hilary."
"Ho Hey" by The Lumineers is about New York City, where lead singer Wesley Schultz moved to make it in music. He was dismayed to find many "trust fund kids" in the music scene while he struggled to pay the rent.
Paula Abdul's "Forever Your Girl" was written by Oliver Leiber, who despite being the son of Jerry Leiber from Leiber & Stoller, was an unknown songwriter.
It has long been speculated that the Soundgarden song "Black Hole Sun" came from the name of a sculpture in Seattle, but according to their frontman Chris Cornell the title came from a phrase he misheard on the news. The band's name did come from a sculpture.
John Lennon, Paul Simon and Lynyrd Skynyrd are some of the artists who have written revenge songs. Do you know who they wrote them about?
The author of Help! 100 Songwriting, Recording And Career Tips Used By The Beatles, explains how the group crafted their choruses so effectively.
Wolfgang Van Halen breaks down the songs on his debut album, Mammoth WVH, and names the definitive Van Halen songs from the Sammy and Dave eras.
Don breaks down "Hotel California" and other songs he wrote as a member of the Eagles. Now we know where the "warm smell of colitas" came from.
These Three famous songs actually describe how they were written - late into the evening.
Tom stopped performing Thompson Twins songs in 1987, in part because of their personal nature: "Hold Me Now" came after an argument with his bandmate/girlfriend Alannah Currie.