"Surf City" was recorded by Jan & Dean, but written by Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys. It was the first #1 hit Wilson wrote.
Elton John's "Rocket Man" is based on a Ray Bradbury story called The Rocket Man published in 1951.
Carla Thomas became the first woman to achieve a Top 10 hit on the Hot 100 with a song she wrote herself when "Gee Whiz (Look At His Eyes)" reached #10 in 1961. Thomas was just 16 years old when she wrote it.
After the Beastie Boys sampled a bunch of Led Zeppelin songs, Robert Plant did it himself on his 1988 solo hit "Tall Cool One," which sampled "Whole Lotta Love," "Black Dog" and "The Ocean."
"The Reason" by Hoobastank took off on TikTok in 2021 when it soundtracked confessional #NotAPerfectPerson videos about mistakes and regrets. The band made one of their own with the caption: "Realizing 20 years later that you named your band Hoobastank."
"The Night Chicago Died" was written and recorded by the British group Paper Lace. They talk about Al Capone in the song, but got a lot of details wrong - understandable since they wrote it based on gangster movies.
A look at the good (Diana Ross, Eminem), the bad (Madonna, Bob Dylan) and the peculiar (David Bowie, Michael Jackson) film debuts of superstar singers.
"I'll Be" was what Edwin called his "Hail Mary" song. He says it proves "intention of the songwriter is 180 degrees from potential interpretation by an audience."
From the cowbell on "Mississippi Queen" to recording with The Who when they got the wrong Felix, stories from one of rock's master craftsmen.
Kelly Keagy of Night Ranger tells the "Sister Christian" story and explains why he started sweating when he saw it in Boogie Nights.
David talks about videos he made for Prince, Alabama, Big & Rich, Sheryl Crow, DMB, Melissa Etheridge and Sisters of Mercy.
