
Until December 5, 1998, a song had to be issued as a single to make the Hot 100. Aaliyah's "Try Again" was the first tune to top the chart based on airplay alone, without any sales figures being included.

"Paper Planes" was inspired by M.I.A.'s hassles trying to get a visa to enter America.

The Dave Matthews Band song "Crash Into Me" seems pretty romantic, but the guy in the song is kind of a stalker. Matthews calls him "the kind of man you'd call the police on."

Blur's "There Are Too Many of Us" was inspired in part by a siege in an Australian chocolate café that Damon Albarn witnessed, which resulted in the death of the gunman and two hostages.

"What A Wonderful World," released in 1967 four years before Louis Armstrong died, didn't find an audience in America until 1988 when it was used in the movie Good Morning, Vietnam.
Producer Rupert Hine talks about crafting hits for Tina Turner, Howard Jones and The Fixx.
Writing great prog metal isn't easy, especially when it's for 60 musicians.
Wolfgang Van Halen breaks down the songs on his debut album, Mammoth WVH, and names the definitive Van Halen songs from the Sammy and Dave eras.
Have you got the smarts to know which of these graduation song stories are real?
It started with a bouncy MTV classic. Nirvana and MCR made them scary, then Gwen, Avril and Madonna put on the pom poms.
The guy who brought us "Stacy's Mom" also wrote the Jane Lynch Emmy song and Stephen Colbert's Christmas songs.