Christine McVie wrote "Songbird" for Fleetwood Mac's Rumours album in just half a hour after she woke up in the middle of the night with the song in her head.
Billy Idol's "Eyes Without A Face" has a gruesome inspiration. It's based on a 1959 French movie about a surgeon who abducts young women and removes their facial features.
Angus Young created the distinctive opening guitar part for AC/DC's "Thuderstruck" by playing with all the strings taped up except the B. He learned the studio trick from his older brother George Young, who was the rhythm guitarist for The Easybeats.
Chaka Khan's hit "I Feel For You" was written and originally recorded by Prince four years before she covered it.
Joni Mitchell's "Big Yellow Taxi" is about the commercialization of Hawaii. On her first trip to the islands, she looked out of her hotel window and saw a parking lot as far as the eye could see.
The flautist frontman talks about touring with Led Zeppelin, his contribution to "Hotel California", and how he may have done the first MTV Unplugged.
'80s music ambassadors Wang Chung pick their top tracks of the decade, explaining what makes each one so special.
Lyrics don't always follow the rules of grammar. Can you spot the ones that don't?
Did Marvin try out with the Detroit Lions? Did he fake crazy to get out of military service? And what about the cross-dressing?
Where words like "email," "thirsty," "Twitter" and "gangsta" first showed up in songs, and which songs popularized them.
Producer Rupert Hine talks about crafting hits for Tina Turner, Howard Jones and The Fixx.
