Members of the San Francisco 49ers, including Dwight Clark, Joe Montana and Ronnie Lott, sang backup on "Hip to Be Square" by Huey Lewis and the News.
The horn flourish at the beginning of "Jump Around" comes from Bob and Earl's "Harlem Shuffle"; the squeal throughout the song might be a Prince sample.
The opening lines to "Free Bird," "If I leave here tomorrow, would you still remember me?" came from the girlfriend of Lynyrd Skynyrd guitarist Allen Collins, who asked him that question during an argument.
"Talk To Ya Later" proved the power of MTV when sales of Tubes albums picked up in markets like Tulsa, Oklahoma, where the network was available.
"No Scrubs" introduced the term "scrub" to the popular lexicon, and defined it in the opening lines ("a scrub is a guy that think he's fine...").
"Forever" by Chris Brown was written for a Wrigley's Doublemint Gum commercial. The full song contains the gum's tagline: "Double your pleasure, double your fun."
With his X-wife Exene, John fronts the band X and writes their songs.
Go beyond The Beatles to see what you know about the British Invasion.
David Gray explains the significance of the word "Babylon," and talks about how songs are a form of active imagination, with lyrics that reveal what's inside us.
The man who created Yacht Rock with "Sailing" wrote one of his biggest hits while on acid.
Deep Purple frontman Ian Gillan explains the "few red lights" in "Smoke On The Water" and talks about songs from their 2020 album Whoosh!
Writing great prog metal isn't easy, especially when it's for 60 musicians.