R.E.M. got the title "Shiny Happy People" from a Chinese propaganda poster.
When "Believe" hit #1 in America, it made Cher, age 52, the oldest woman ever to top the chart.
Pink wrote "Just Give Me A Reason" about how one partner can feel jilted over something trivial, like how her boyfriend passes her the butter.
Katy Perry says her 2008 song "Ur So Gay" is about "guys who wear the guyliner, steal your jeans, and that whole almost hipster emo scene."
The eerie percussion and guitar for Portsihead's "Sour Times was sampled from Lalo Schifrin's "Danube Incident," music composed by the Argentine composer for an episode of Mission Impossible.
"This Must Be The Place" is a rare love song by the Talking Heads, with a very personal lyric from David Byrne likely inspired by the woman who became his first wife.
Yngwie Malmsteen and Steve Vai were two of Graham's co-writers for some '80s rock classics.
A band so baffling, even their names were contrived. Check your score in the Ramones version of Fact or Fiction.
Dan cracked the Top 40 with "Ritual," then went to India and spent 2 hours with the Dalai Lama.
The outlaw country icon talks about the spiritual element of his songwriting and his Bob Dylan mention.
Switchfoot's frontman and main songwriter on what inspires the songs and how he got the freedom to say exactly what he means.
Inspired by his dear friend, "Seasons in the Sun" paid for Terry's boat, which led him away from music and into a battle with Canadian paper mills.
