The horn flourish at the beginning of House Of Pain's "Jump Around" comes from Bob and Earl's "Harlem Shuffle"; the squeal throughout the song might be a Prince sample.
Songwriter Wayne Carson came up with the Willie Nelson classic "Always On My Mind" while on the phone to his wife when he was apologizing to her for being stuck at the office.
Tom Cochrane wrote "Life Is A Highway" to pull himself out of a funk following an exhausting humanitarian trip to Africa.
On Metallica's "The Unforgiven," James Hetfield modeled his vocals on Chris Isaak.
Prince Markie Dee of the comic rap trio The Fat Boys co-wrote the Mary J. Blige hit "Real Love."
Lou Reed's "Walk On The Wild Side" tells the story of real people who were part of Andy Warhol's "factory," including Holly Woodlawn and Candy Darling.
Kelly Keagy of Night Ranger tells the "Sister Christian" story and explains why he started sweating when he saw it in Boogie Nights.
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.
Lots of life lessons in these Eagles lyrics - can you match them to the correct song?
We've heard of artists putting their hearts into their music, but some take it literally.
When singers started spoofing their own songs on Sesame Street, the results were both educational and hilarious - here are the best of them.
Is Owl City on a quest for another hit like "Fireflies?" Adam answers that question and explains the influences behind many others.