When "Baby Love" reached the top spot, The Supremes became the first Motown act with two #1 hits on the Hot 100.
2001 was when collaborations between rappers and singers became commonplace, leading to a new Grammy category: Best Rap/Sung Collaboration. The first winner was "Let Me Blow Ya Mind" by Eve and Gwen Stefani. This was before Stefani put out her first solo album.
"Piano Man" was inspired by Billy Joel's time playing at a piano bar in Los Angeles. The "real estate novelist" was a guy who always talked about writing a book, but spent all his spare time in the bar.
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."
The Squeeze song "Tempted" is one of their few with lead vocals by Paul Carrack, who sang the Ace song "How Long" and was in Mike + The Mechanics.
John Legend wrote "All Of Me" about his fiancée Chrissy Teigen. He sang it to her at their wedding ceremony in Como, Italy.
He's a singer and an actor, but as a songwriter Paul helped make Kermit a cultured frog, turned a bank commercial into a huge hit and made love both "exciting and new" and "soft as an easy chair."
P.F. was a teenager writing hits and playing on tracks for Jan & Dean when he wrote a #1 hit that got him blackballed.
The Garbage drummer/songwriter produced the Nirvana album Nevermind, and Smashing Pumpkins' Gish and Siamese Dream.
Dan cracked the Top 40 with "Ritual," then went to India and spent 2 hours with the Dalai Lama.
Evelyn McDonnell, editor of the book Women Who Rock, on why the Supremes are just as important as Bob Dylan.
How well do you know your protest songs (including the one that went to #1)?