Bob Marley's "I Shot The Sheriff" deals with police brutality in the Trenchtown section of Jamaica, where he grew up. He felt that police assumed young men in the area were all criminals.
"Cult of Personality" by Living Colour incorporates speeches by John F. Kennedy, Malcolm X and Franklin D. Roosevelt.
"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.
A section of verse lyrics in Rihanna's "SOS" is made up of titles from '80s hits - check out the part that starts, "Take me on, I could just die up in your arms tonight."
When Petula Clark reached #1 in the US with "Downtown" in 1965, she became the first female singer from England to hit #1 in the US during the Rock Era (after 1955).
Sheriff had been disbanded for years when "When I'm With You" hit #1 in America thanks to rediscovery by radio stations. The group never re-formed and never made a video for the song.
These Three famous songs actually describe how they were written - late into the evening.
The Def Leppard frontman talks about their "lamentable" hit he never thought of as a single, and why he's juiced by his Mott The Hoople cover band.
Into the vaults for Bruce Pollock's 1984 conversation with the esteemed bluesman. Hooker talks about transforming a Tony Bennett classic and why you don't have to be sad and lonely to write the blues.
Shows like Dawson's Creek, Grey's Anatomy and Buffy the Vampire Slayer changed the way songs were heard on TV, and produced some hits in the process.
The trail runs from flying saucer songs in the '50s, through Bowie, blink-182 and Katy Perry.
Lita talks about how they wrote songs in The Runaways, and how she feels about her biggest hit being written by somebody else.