
A 1989 track by Kenny G, "Going Home," is the unofficial national closing song in China. The tune is played at the end of train rides, the end of school days, and when malls are about to close.

"If It Makes You Happy" by Sheryl Crow is about the sour grapes some of her collaborators from her first album expressed to the media when they felt slighted.

Coolio's "Gangsta's Paradise" was the #1 single in Australia for 13 weeks. It holds the record for the longest running chart topper Down Under since the first ever ARIA Chart was listed in 1983.

"It's the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)" was inspired by a dream where Michael Stipe conjured up images of people with the initials L.B.: Lester Bangs, Leonid Breshnev, Lenny Bruce and Leonard Bernstein.

"99 Luftballons" by Nena is about a Cold War scare when balloons showed up on radar and were mistaken as a nuclear threat.

Al Green's "Take Me to the River" describes a baptism. Two years later, he became a reverend.
An original member of Depeche Mode, Vince went on to form Erasure and Yaz.
The guy who brought us "Stacy's Mom" also wrote the Jane Lynch Emmy song and Stephen Colbert's Christmas songs.
When you have a song called "Fire," it's tempting to set one - these guys did.
'80s music ambassadors Wang Chung pick their top tracks of the decade, explaining what makes each one so special.
Does he have beef with Gaga? Is he Sean Lennon's godfather? See if you can tell fact from fiction in the Elton John edition.
One of the first successful female singer-songwriters, Janis had her first hit in 1967 at age 15.