The events described in Alanis Morissette's song "Ironic," like rain on your wedding day, are not examples of irony. Irony is the use of words to convey the opposite of their literal meaning.
Ian Anderson wrote "Aqualung" after looking at pictures of homeless men that his wife took. She got a co-writing credit on the song.
The Isley Brother's song, "Contagious," peaked at #19 on the Billboard Hot 100. This meant that the band of brothers became the first group to score a Top 50 hit in six consecutive decades on the chart.
The Oasis song "Live Forever" was written in response to "I Hate Myself And I Want To Die" by Nirvana. "Kids don't need to hear that nonsense," said Noel Gallagher.
Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova starred in the movie Once, which featured their song "Falling Slowly." Bob Dylan liked the song and movie so much he gave them an opening slot on his tour.
The man who brought us "Red Skies" and "Saved By Zero" is now an organic farmer in France.
"Lullaby" singer Shawn Mullins on "Beautiful Wreck," beating the Devil, and his writing credit on the Zac Brown Band song "Toes."
Writing great prog metal isn't easy, especially when it's for 60 musicians.
In the name of song explanation, Al talks about scoring heroin for William Burroughs, and that's not even the most shocking story in this one.
10 Questions for the author of Precious Metal: Decibel Presents the Stories Behind 25 Extreme Metal Masterpieces
A drummer for one of the most successful metal bands of the last decade, Chris talks about what it's like writing and performing with Slipknot. Metal-neck is a factor.
