John Mellencamp considers "Pink Houses" an "anti-American song," laying bare the struggles of the poor and working class.
"Light My Fire" was the first song Doors guitarist Robby Krieger wrote. Looking for a universal theme, he decided to write about one of the four elements (air, earth, water, fire).
Stevie Nicks got the title for the Fleetwood Mac song "Silver Springs" from the city of Silver Spring, Maryland, but the song has nothing to do with the city - it's a message to her bandmate Lindsey Buckingham following their split.
Ronnie Dunn wrote "Boot Scootin' Boogie" before he teamed up with Kix Brooks to form Brooks & Dunn. It was originally recorded by the country group Asleep At The Wheel, but Brooks & Dunn did it themselves when it got its own line dance.
The line "satellite of love" in the Def Leppard song "Rocket" came from the title of a 1972 Lou Reed song.
"Stay" by Lisa Loeb was the first #1 hit by an unsigned artist. It got a boost from Ethan Hawke, who got it into a movie he starred in called Reality Bites.
He wrote "She Blinded Me With Science" so he could direct a video about a home for deranged scientists.
Greg talks about writing songs of "universal truth" for King Crimson and ELP, and tells us about his most memorable stage moment (it involves fireworks).
How Bing Crosby, Les Paul, a US Army Signal Corps Officer, and the Nazis helped shape rock and Roll.
Who writes a song about a name they found in a phone book? That's just one of the everyday things these guys find to sing about. Anything in their field of vision or general scope of knowledge is fair game. If you cross paths with them, so are you.
The drummer and one of the primary songwriters in Grand Funk talks rock stardom and Todd Rundgren.
Starting in Virginia City, Nevada and rippling out to the Haight-Ashbury, LSD reshaped popular music.