"Baby One More Time," the breakout song for Britney Spears, was originally offered to TLC but they passed on it. The R&B trio didn't feel comfortable singing the line, "hit me baby one more time."
"Oh Happy Day" was recorded in a church and sold to raise money for the choir. It's the only genuine gospel song to become a pop hit.
Billy Joel is surprised that "Piano Man" is so successful. He called it "an old, long song about a guy at a depressing piano bar."
Jay-Z was going to ask Mary J. Blige to duet on "Empire State of Mind," but he decided on Alicia Keys when he heard the piano stabs on the track.
Fall Out Boy's "The Phoenix" samples the classical work "Allegro Non Troppo," which was composed by Dmitri Shostakovich in 1941. Vocalist Patrick Stump was inspired by "the creepiness" of the strings.
Katherine Heigl played Josh Kelley's love interest in the video for his 2005 song "Only You." They met on the shoot, became a real-life couple, and got married two years later. That's good casting!
The Creed lead singer reveals the "ego and self-fulfillment" he now sees in one of the band's biggest hits.
A founding member of the band War, Harold gives a first-person account of one of the most important periods in music history.
How a goofy detective movie, a disenchanted director and an unlikely songwriter led to one of the biggest hits in pop history.
Oliver Leiber talks about writing and producing hits for Paula Abdul, and explains his complicated relationship with his father, the songwriter Jerry Leiber.
With Bernie Taupin, Martin co-wrote the #1 hits "We Built This City" and "These Dreams." After writing the Pretty Woman song for Go West, he had his own hit with "In the House of Stone and Light."
Julian tells the stories behind his hits "Valotte" and "Too Late for Goodbyes," and fills us in on his many non-musical pursuits. Also: what MTV meant to his career.