Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova starred in the movie Once, which featured their song "Falling Slowly." Bob Dylan liked the song and movie so much he gave them an opening slot on his tour.
It really was so easy for Linda Ronstadt to score a hit with her Buddy Holly cover of "It's So Easy." She would sometimes change the lyric to: "It's so easy to have a hit, all you have to do is recycle it."
The Sam & Dave classic "Soul Man" was re-recorded by Sam Moore and Lou Reed for the 1986 movie Soul Man, about a white guy who pretends to be black so he can get a scholarship to Harvard.
Richard Marx' debut single "Don't Mean Nothing" features Joe Walsh on guitar.
Stephens Stills played timbales on the Bee Gees hit, "You Should Be Dancing." He was in the next door studio laying down a Crosby, Stills and Nash album and could hear Saturday Night Fever being recorded. Stills recognized its potential to be a monster hit and he wanted to contribute.
"End Of The Road" by Boyz II Men comes off a bit thirsty, especially when we find out the girl cheated on him. In Living Color parodied at as "Boyz II Wimps."
The former Metallica bassist talks about his first time writing a song with James Hetfield, and how a hand-me-down iPad has changed his songwriting.
Yngwie Malmsteen and Steve Vai were two of Graham's co-writers for some '80s rock classics.
Dean wrote the screenplay and lyrics to all the songs in Footloose. His other hits include "Fame" and "All The Man That I Need."
Rob Halford, Richie Faulkner and Glenn Tipton talk twin guitar harmonies and explain how they create songs in Judas Priest.
Bridesmaids, Reservoir Dogs, Willy Wonka - just a few of the flicks where characters discuss specific songs, sometimes as a prelude to murder.
"Lullaby" singer Shawn Mullins on "Beautiful Wreck," beating the Devil, and his writing credit on the Zac Brown Band song "Toes."