
On Metallica's "The Unforgiven," James Hetfield modeled his vocals on Chris Isaak.

There really is a China Grove (in Texas), but Tom Johnston didn't know about it when he wrote the Doobie Brothers song.

"Anaconda" was originally recorded by Missy Elliott in 2012, but she decided to shelf the track so it went to Nicki Minaj, who released it two years later.

"Nuclear Device (The Wizard of Aus)" by The Stranglers was written about the then Premier of Queensland, Joh Bjelke-Petersen. His political shenanigans were observed by the band during their first tour of Australia.
Lily Allen wrote "Something's Not Right" for the soundtrack of the Peter Pan prequel, Pan. The song was inspired by the heartache that Allen experienced after suffering a miscarriage when she was six months pregnant with her first child by husband Sam Cooper in 2010.

A gospel choir appears in Sam Smith's "Stay With Me" video, but the vocals on the song are all Smith - about 20 tracks of his voice were used to make him sound like a chorus.
Bowie's "activist" days of 1964 led to Ziggy Stardust.
Rufus Wainwright on "Hallelujah," his album Unfollow The Rules, and getting into his "lyric trance" on 12-hour walks.
A top session musician, Carol played on hundreds of hits by The Beach Boys, The Monkees, Frank Sinatra and many others.
Steppenwolf frontman John Kay talks about "Magic Carpet Ride," "Born To Be Wild," and what he values more than awards and accolades.
Michael tells the story of "Send Me On My Way," and explains why some of the words in the song don't have a literal meaning.
Not everyone can be a superhero, but that hasn't stopped generations of musicians from trying to be Superman.