According to a 1990 interview with Don Henley in issue #587 of Rolling Stone magazine, the Eagles were fascinated with Native American culture in their early days, which inspired them to head out to the desert and do Native American peyote rituals. Said Henley: "That photo of us on our first album was taken when we were ripped on peyote."

The first big hit by an X Factor winner was "Bleeding Love" by Leona Lewis, who won the British version of the show in 2008. The song was intended for Jesse McCartney, who wrote it with Ryan Tedder.

R.E.M. got the title "Shiny Happy People" from a Chinese propaganda poster.

"Fight The Power" was written for the Spike Lee movie Do The Right Thing. It opens the film and serves as the motif.

"Won't Get Fooled Again" by The Who is about a revolution, but it doesn't have a happy ending, since in the end the new regime becomes just like the old one. Pete Townshend thought that whoever was in power was destined to become corrupt.

Cher was 43 in 1989 when she landed one of her biggest hits: "If I Could Turn Back Time." It made her an unlikely MTV star thanks to a video shot on the battleship USS Missouri where she's entertaining the troops in fishnet stockings and a thong.

John Legend wrote "All Of Me" about his fiancée Chrissy Teigen. He sang it to her at their wedding ceremony in Como, Italy.
Switchfoot's frontman and main songwriter on what inspires the songs and how he got the freedom to say exactly what he means.
Not everyone can be a superhero, but that hasn't stopped generations of musicians from trying to be Superman.
After studying in Paris with a famous composition teacher, Charles became the most successful writer of TV theme songs.
Steve Cropper on the making of "In the Midnight Hour," the chicken-wire scene in The Blues Brothers, and his 2021 album, Fire It Up.
"25 or 6 to 4" to "Semi-Charmed Life" - see if you can spot the songs that are really about drugs.
Have you got the smarts to know which of these graduation song stories are real?