"Stay" by Lisa Loeb was the first #1 hit by an unsigned artist. Ethan Hawke got it in the movie Reality Bites.
Paul McCartney wrote "Hey Jude" to comfort John Lennon's 5-year-old son Julian, whose parents were getting a divorce.
Elton John's "Crocodile Rock" borrows a bit from Don McLean's "American Pie." Both songs feature a Chevy, and are about young people who are heartbroken when their music "dies."
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.
The only cover of "American Pie" to chart is by Madonna, whose 2000 version was a minor hit in America but went to #1 in the UK.
David Gray explains the significance of the word "Babylon," and talks about how songs are a form of active imagination, with lyrics that reveal what's inside us.
The first of Billy's five #1 hits was the song that propelled Madonna to stardom. You'd think that would get you a backstage pass, wouldn't you?
Billy Joel and Hall & Oates hated making videos, so they chose a director with similar contempt for the medium. That was Jay Dubin, and he has a lot to say on the subject.
The Scorpions and UFO guitarist is also a very prolific songwriter - he explains how he writes with his various groups, and why he was so keen to get out of Germany and into England.
With $50 and a glue stick, Bruce Pavitt created Sub Pop, a fanzine-turned-label that gave the world Nirvana and grunge. He explains how motivated individuals can shift culture.
Starting in Virginia City, Nevada and rippling out to the Haight-Ashbury, LSD reshaped popular music.
