"How Sweet It Is To Be Loved By You" by Marvin Gaye was inspired by Jackie Gleason's saying, "How Sweet It Is!"
The first big hit by an X Factor winner was "Bleeding Love" by Leona Lewis, who won the British version of the show in 2008. The song was intended for Jesse McCartney, who wrote it with Ryan Tedder.
The Ben Folds Five song "Brick" is about a difficult time when Folds' girlfriend got an abortion.
Ed Sheeran wrote the 2014 love song "Thinking Out Loud" about his girlfriend at the time, Athina Andrelos. They split the following year, and Ed started seeing Cherry Seaborn, whom he married in 2019; songs like "Perfect" and "No Strings" are about her.
"Cigarettes And Chocolate Milk" describes a time in Rufus Wainwright's life when he found himself hungover and pounding chocolate milk to feel better. It didn't work, so he smoked a cigarette, which is when he realized his addictive personality could be a problem.
Tired of X-Factor winners getting the UK Christmas #1, British Facebook users staged a successful campaign to download "Killing In The Name" by Rage Against The Machine enough times to boost the song to the top in 2009, blocking the X-Factor single by Joe McElderry.
After cutting his teeth on hardcore punk videos, Paul defined the grunge look with his work on "Hunger Strike" and "Man in the Box."
Ian talks about his 3 or 4 blatant attempts to write a pop song, and also the ones he most connected with, including "Locomotive Breath."
How did The Edge get his name? Did they name a song after a Tolkien book? And who is "Angel of Harlem" about?
The first of Billy's five #1 hits was the song that propelled Madonna to stardom. You'd think that would get you a backstage pass, wouldn't you?
Did Al play on a Beach Boys record? Did he have beef with George Lucas and Coolio? See if you can spot weird but true stories.
The longtime BS&T frontman tells the "Spinning Wheel" story, including the line he got from Joni Mitchell.