
Rapper Memphis Bleek's 2005 album track "The One" is notable for featuring a then-unknown Rihanna on the hook. It was the Barbadian singer's first-ever major-label appearance.

"Twilight Zone" by Golden Earring was inspired by the Robert Ludlum novel The Bourne Identity, not by the TV show.

The "Gunter Glieben Glauten Globen" intro in Def Leppard's "Rock Of Ages" is something their producer Mutt Lange came up with when he got tired of counting them "1, 2, 3, 4..."

Jack & Diane started off as an interracial couple; Mellencamp took race references out of the song at the request of his record company.

The first #1 hit with a rap was "Rapture" by Blondie in 1980. Debbie Harry's rhymes left lots of room for improvement.

On Missy Elliott's "Work It," the backward vocal is the previous line, "Put my thing down, flip it, and reverse it," in reverse. She stumbled on it when the engineer played it backward by mistake.
Harry is Derek Smalls in Spinal Tap, Mark Shubb in The Folksmen, and Mr. Burns on The Simpsons.
The stories behind "Whole Of The Moon" and "Red Army Blues," and why rock music has "outlived its era of innovation."
The co-writer/guitarist on many Alice Cooper hits, Dick was also Lou Reed's axeman on the Rock n' Roll Animal album.
In 1986, a Stephen King novella was made into a movie, with a classic song serving as title, soundtrack and tone.
The hitmaking songwriter/producer Sam Hollander with stories about songs for Weezer, Panic! At The Disco, Train, Pentatonix, and Fitz And The Tantrums.
A history of songs dealing with transgender issues, featuring Pink Floyd, David Bowie, Morrissey and Green Day.