Mike Nesmith wrote Linda Ronstadt's first hit, "Different Drum," before he joined The Monkees. He played an intentionally bad version of it on the show.
The voice is that says "here we go" in the AJR song "Bang!" belongs to Charlie Pellett, the announcer on the New York City subway ("stand clear of the closing doors, please").
The Ben Folds Five song "Brick" is about a difficult time when Folds' girlfriend got an abortion.
"Party Rock Anthem" by LMFAO was only the second #1 hit on the Hot 100 with "Party" in the title. The first was Lesley Gore's "It's My Party."
War got the idea for "Why Can't We Be Friends?" when they were traveling in Japan and found they had a kinship with the citizens even though they didn't speak the same language.
The songs on Lady Gaga's The Fame Monster album represent a "fear" of some "monster." "Alejandro" is her "fear of sex" monster.
Keyboard great David Sancious talks about his work with Sting, Seal, Springsteen, Clapton and Aretha, and explains what quantum physics has to do with making music.
Rufus Wainwright on "Hallelujah," his album Unfollow The Rules, and getting into his "lyric trance" on 12-hour walks.
Queen, Phish and The Stones are among our picks for the best band logos. Here are their histories and a design analysis from an expert.
Joe talks about the challenges of of making a Duke Ellington tribute album, and tells the stories behind some of his hits.
Soul music legend Bill Withers on how life experience and the company you keep leads to classic songs like "Lean On Me."
Dean wrote the screenplay and lyrics to all the songs in Footloose. His other hits include "Fame" and "All The Man That I Need."