New Order took the title for "Blue Monday" from an illustration, which read "Goodbye Blue Monday," in the Kurt Vonnegut book Breakfast Of Champions. The image referred to the invention of the washing machine improving housewives' lives.
Bobby Freeman's '50s hit "Do You Want To Dance" was also a Hot 100 hit for Del Shannon, The Beach Boys, The Mamas & the Papas, Bette Midler and the Ramones.
Michael Jackson's "Human Nature" was written by the keyboard player from Toto, who was working on the Thriller album.
Paul McCartney based the "Eleanor Rigby" story on old ladies he met at his housing estate. He saw how sometimes when they died, nobody really noticed.
"A Hard Day's Night" was the title song to The Beatles' first movie, which was surprisingly good: it was nominated for two Oscars.
The actor Dan Aykroyd sang on "We Are The World." LaToya Jackson did too, so we know they weren't all that picky.
One of Canada's most popular and eclectic performers, Hawksley tells stories about his oldest songs, his plentiful side projects, and the ways that he keeps his songwriting fresh.
Laura Nyro talks about her complex, emotionally rich songwriting and how she supports women's culture through her art.
The former Dead Kennedys frontman on the past, present and future of the band, what music makes us "pliant and stupid," and what he learned from Alice Cooper.
The outlaw country icon talks about the spiritual element of his songwriting and his Bob Dylan mention.
Ron Nevison explains in very clear terms the Quadrophenia concept and how Heart staged their resurgence after being dropped by their record company.
With the rise of Kindie rock, more musicians are embracing their inner child with tunes for tots - here, we look at pop stars who recorded kids' albums.
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