Iggy Pop wrote "Lust For Life" with David Bowie, who came up with the music on a ukulele.
"Burning Down The House" by Talking Heads was inspired by chant band members heard at a P-Funk show where the crowd yelled, "burn down the house... burn down the house."
"Strawberry Letter 23" by The Brothers Johnson was written by Shuggie Otis, whose girlfriend would send him letters written on strawberry-scented paper.
Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck, Keith Moon and John Paul Jones recorded "Beck's Bolero" and almost formed a band. They couldn't find a lead singer, so Page and Jones formed Led Zeppelin.
"Handle With Care" started as a George Harrison song with guest appearances by Roy Orbison, Bob Dylan, Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne, but it went so well the five of them decided to form a group - The Traveling Wilburys - and record an entire album.
"Mother" by Danzig is about censorship, specifically the Parents Music Resource Center, which pushed record labels to put warning stickers on albums with explicit lyrics.
She thinks of herself as a "song interpreter," but back in the '80s another country star convinced Emmylou to take a crack at songwriting.
Charlotte was established in the LA punk scene when a freaky girl named Belinda approached her wearing a garbage bag.
Since his debut single "I'm On Fire" in 1975, Dwight has been providing Spinal-Tap moments and misadventure.
Did Eric Clapton really write "Cocaine" while on cocaine? This question and more in the Clapton edition of Fact or Fiction.
How well do you know this shock-rock harbinger who's been publicly executed hundreds of times?
Roger reveals the songwriting formula Clive Davis told him, and if "Eight Miles High" is really about drugs.