Elton John's "Rocket Man" is based on a Ray Bradbury story called The Rocket Man published in 1951.
"Mickey" by Toni Basil was originally a song called "Kitty" by a male group. She picked the new name after Micky Dolenz of The Monkees.
According to the song's writer, Diane Warren, Cher hated the song and she had to force it on her by holding her leg down during a session until she recorded it.
The bedrock of David Guetta's Nicki Minaj-featuring single "Hey Mama" is a sample of "Rosie," a 1940s prison recording from folk archivist Alan Lomax that songwriter Esther Dean first showed the French DJ on YouTube.
Kylie Minogue's "Can't Get You Out Of My Head" received more airplay during the 2000s than any other song in the UK.
"Nuclear Device (The Wizard of Aus)" was written about the then Premier of Queensland, Joh Bjelke-Petersen. His political shenanigans were observed by the band during their first tour of Australia.
Jim talks about the impact of "The Middle" and uses a tree metaphor to describe his songwriting philosophy.
The singer/bassist for Concrete Blonde talks about how her songs come from clairvoyance, and takes us through the making of their hit "Joey."
Armed with a childhood spent devouring books, Mike Scott's heart was stolen by the punk rock scene of 1977. Not surprisingly, he would go on to become the most literate of rockers.
Michael tells the story of "Send Me On My Way," and explains why some of the words in the song don't have a literal meaning.
Devo founders Mark Mothersbaugh and Jerry Casale take us into their world of subversive performance art. They may be right about the De-Evoloution thing.
A renowned guitarist and rock revivalist, Dave took "I Hear You Knocking" to the top of the UK charts and was the first to record Elvis Costello's "Girls Talk."
