When you flip the cover of Boston's first album, you see that the UFOs are actually guitars. Boston leader Tom Scholz wanted a guitar on the cover, but Paula Scher, who designed covers for their label, Epic Records, wanted something less cliché. She came up with a concept of a guitar-spaceship invading Earth, but Scholz thought it should be saving the planet, not attacking it. The spacecraft became part of Boston's iconography and was used on their subsequent album covers.
Before it was part of a Pink Floyd album title, James Taylor put the line "still I'm on the dark side of the moon" in his 1968 song "Carolina In My Mind." He was living in London and missing his home in North Carolina.
Sir Mix-A-Lot says he's earned over $100 million from "Baby Got Back." He wrote the song and owns the publishing rights, so he can authorize its use in movies, TV shows and commercials, which he often does.
"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."
The original "Enter Sandman" lyric was about crib death, with the "sandman" killing a baby.
"Call Me Maybe" by Carly Rae Jepsen was the song of the summer in 2012 and a major meme. It got some help from her fellow Canadian Justin Bieber, who tweeted that it was "possibly the catchiest song I've ever heard."
When he was asked to write a song for the Singles soundtrack, Mark thought the Seattle grunge scene was already overblown, so that's what he wrote about.
Richie talks about the impact of "Amazed," and how his 4-year-old son inspired another Lonestar hit.
Collaborating with T Bone Burnett, Leslie Phillips changed her name and left her Christian label behind - Robert Plant, who recorded one of her songs on Raising Sand, is a fan.
The Christian rapper talks about where his trip to Haiti and his history of addiction fit into his songs.
You may not recognize his name, but you will certainly recognize Peter Lord's songs. He wrote the bevy of hits from Paula Abdul's second album, Spellbound.
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.
