The first hit song that was used in a commercial before it was released as a single was "I'd Like To Teach The World To Sing," which was written for a Coke ad.
Barry Sonnenfeld, who would later direct the movies Get Shorty and Men in Black, was the director of photography on the "Rock the Casbah" video for The Clash.
Kacey Musgraves originally offered "Follow Your Arrow" to her friend Katy Perry. However, Perry thought Musgraves should record the song herself as it seemed, "like something that you would totally say."
The Spacehog song "In The Meantime" samples an obscure recording of telephone noise, which is used at the beginning of the song.
Prince Markie Dee of The Fat Boys co-wrote the Mary J. Blige hit "Real Love."
Jay-Z's "Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem)" is based on the song "It's A Hard Knock Life" from the Broadway play Annie.
Mike is lead guitarist with Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, and co-writer of classic songs like "Boys Of Summer," "Refugee" and "The Heart Of The Matter."
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.
The Celtic music maker Loreena McKennitt on finding musical inspiration, the "New Age" label, and working on the movie Tinker Bell.
An interview with Dr. John Covach, music professor at the University of Rochester whose free online courses have become wildly popular.
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.