The album cover for Rage Against The Machine shows a Buddhist monk immolating himself, which is a very extreme form of protest.
"Strawberry Letter 23" by The Brothers Johnson was written by Shuggie Otis, whose girlfriend would send him letters written on strawberry-scented paper.
Madonna's hit "Don't Tell Me" was written by her brother-in-law, Joe Henry, who has produced albums by Hugh Laurie and Bonnie Raitt.
Paula Abdul's "Forever Your Girl" was written by Oliver Leiber, who despite being the son of Jerry Leiber from Leiber & Stoller, was an unknown songwriter.
If you have a whole day to kill, you can check out the full version of Pharrell Williams' "Happy" music video, the world's first 24-hour music video.
"Do They Know It's Christmas?" by Band-Aid was the first big group charity single. It was organized by Bob Geldof, who a year later put together "We Are The World" and Live Aid.
Before the game when he hit a famous shot to win a playoff series against the Cleveland Cavaliers, Michael Jordan was listening to Anita Baker's "Giving You The Best That I Got."
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.
Since emerging from MySpace with her hit "Bubbly," Colbie has become a top songwriter, even crafting a hit with Taylor Swift.
The renown rock singer talks about "The House of the Rising Sun" and "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood."
The Scorpions and UFO guitarist is also a very prolific songwriter - he explains how he writes with his various groups, and why he was so keen to get out of Germany and into England.
"Missing You" was a spontaneous outpouring of emotion triggered by a phone call. John tells that story and explains what MTV meant to his career.
Our chat with Barney Hoskyns, who covers the wild years of Woodstock - the town, not the festival - in his book Small Town Talk.