"Yellow" by Coldplay is a deep, meaningful song, but the title has a rather prosaic origin: it came from the phone directory, known as "the yellow pages."
The Flaming Lips' "Do You Realize??" was named in March 2009 the official Rock Song of Oklahoma. Four years later, Oklahoma's governor Mary Fallin pulled the tune as the state's official rock song in a move her office said had more to do with priorities than musical taste.
Over 60 famous guys, including Joe Jonas, Ezra Koenig and Wiz Khalifa, show up in the 2017 video for "Boys" by Charli XCX. She directed it herself, instructing the boys to "do all the sexy things that girls usually do in videos."
Shinedown lead singer Brent Smith had a band before Shinedown that was dropped by Atlantic Records, but the label offered him a development deal - that was his "Second Chance."
Bing Crosby debuted the song "White Christmas" in the 1942 movie Holiday Inn, where he plays a New Yorker stuck in Southern California for Christmas and missing the snow. The song became a Christmas classic and the basis for the 1954 movie White Christmas, also starring Crosby.
The eerie percussion and guitar for Portsihead's "Sour Times" was sampled from Lalo Schifrin's "Danube Incident," music composed by the Argentine composer for an episode of Mission Impossible.
Many unusual folks appear in Grateful Dead songs. Can you identify them?
Was Janet secretly married at 18? Did she gain 60 pounds for a movie role that went to Mariah Carey? See what you know about Ms. Jackson.
Songwriters have used cards and card games to make sense of heartache, togetherness, and even Gonorrhea.
The Jayhawks' song "Big Star" has special meaning to Gary, who explains how longevity and inspiration have trumped adulation.
Where words like "email," "thirsty," "Twitter" and "gangsta" first showed up in songs, and which songs popularized them.
Chris Stein of Blondie shares photos and stories from his book about the New York City punk scene.