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.
"Sing" was inspired by a girl that Ed Sheeran met in Las Vegas in the summer of 2013, when "one thing led to another and now she's kissing my mouth."
"Free Fallin'" by Tom Petty is set in Los Angeles, as he mentions Reseda, Mulholland and Ventura Boulevard.
Neil Young rarely allows his songs to be sampled, but he let the Canadian group Redlight King use "Old Man" in their 2011 song, also called "Old Man."
With his song "The G.O.A.T.," as in Greatest Of All Time, LL Cool J popularized that saying in hip-hop. He credits the boxer Muhammad Ali, who called himself "The Greatest," as inspiration.
"Mercedes Boy" by Pebbles is about a real guy she fell in love with - they both drove Mercedes when she wrote it.
Rob Halford, Richie Faulkner and Glenn Tipton talk twin guitar harmonies and explain how they create songs in Judas Priest.
A top session musician, Carol played on hundreds of hits by The Beach Boys, The Monkees, Frank Sinatra and many others.
The 10 biggest "retirement tours" that didn't take.
Deep Purple frontman Ian Gillan explains the "few red lights" in "Smoke On The Water" and talks about songs from their 2020 album Whoosh!
Some album art was at least "inspired" by others. A look at some very similar covers.
Michelob commercials generated hits for Eric Clapton, Genesis and Steve Winwood in the '80s, even as some of these rockers were fighting alcoholism.