The title of Al Stewart's "Year Of The Cat" comes from Vietnamese astrology. The Year of the Cat comes every 12 Years: 1975, 1987, 1999, 2011, 2023...
When singing "Cradle Of Love" in concert, Billy Idol often changes a line to, "This song is so cheesy."
Al Gore chose an inspiring but obscure campaign song when he ran for president in 2000: "Let The Day Begin" by The Call.
"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.
The phrase "Mamma Mia" was big in 1976. It was the name of a popular Abba song, and also showed up in the lyrics to "Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen.
All The Young Dudes "carry the news" in the Mott The Hoople song because it was intended for a David Bowie concept album where Ziggy Stardust spreads the news through songs in a world with no electricity.
Brian has unearthed outtakes by Fleetwood Mac, Aretha Franklin, Elvis Costello and hundreds of other artists for reissues. Here's how he does it.
A selection of songs made to be terrible - some clearly achieved that goal.
Beef with Bon Jovi? An unfortunate Spandex period? See if you can spot the true stories in this Metallica version of Fact or Fiction.
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.
Mike Rutherford talks about the "Silent Running" storyline and "Land Of Confusion" in the age of Trump.
These Three famous songs actually describe how they were written - late into the evening.