"1979" by Smashing Pumpkins is about Billy Corgan entering adulthood. A more accurate year would be 1983, but 1979 was easier to rhyme.
Carla Thomas became the first woman to achieve a Top 10 hit on the Hot 100 with a song she wrote herself when "Gee Whiz (Look At His Eyes)" reached #10 in 1961. Thomas was just 16 years old when she wrote it.
After Cher revived "The Shoop Shoop Song (It's In His Kiss)" in 1990, Salt-N-Pepa released "Shoop" and Whitney Houston had a #1 hit with "Exhale (Shoop Shoop)."
Radiohead's "Paraonid Android" was written after a confrontation in a Los Angeles bar with an irate woman.
Billy Joel's song "Allentown" was written as "Levittown," which is the town in Long Island where he grew up. He got the idea to change it after taking a trip to Pennsylvania.
Kenny Loggins co-wrote the Doobie Brothers hit "What a Fool Believes," which is about a guy who just can't accept that an affair from long ago was meaningless to her.
Starting in Virginia City, Nevada and rippling out to the Haight-Ashbury, LSD reshaped popular music.
Rufus Wainwright on "Hallelujah," his album Unfollow The Rules, and getting into his "lyric trance" on 12-hour walks.
Rockers, rappers and pop stars have been known to quote the Bible in their songs. See if you match the artist to the biblical lyric.
Keyboard great David Sancious talks about his work with Sting, Seal, Springsteen, Clapton and Aretha, and explains what quantum physics has to do with making music.
Franti tells the story behind his hit "Say Hey (I Love You)" and explains why yoga is an integral part of his lifestyle and his Soulshine tour.
Songs about drugs, revolution and greed that have been used in commercials for sneakers, jeans, fast food, cruises and cars.