"Personal Jesus," a song about "being a Jesus for somebody else," was inspired by Elvis and Priscilla Presley.
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.
Sia Furler originally sent "Pretty Hurts" to Katy Perry, but she didn't see the email, so Beyonce ended up recording it instead.
"Tenderness" by General Public was partly inspired by the outbreak of AIDS, which at the time was thought to be contagious.
"Call Me Maybe" by Carly Rae Jepsen was the song of the summer in 2012 and a major meme. It got some help from her fellow Canadian Justin Bieber, who tweeted that it was "possibly the catchiest song I've ever heard."
Richard Marx' debut single "Don't Mean Nothing" features Joe Walsh on guitar.
The lead singer on "Da Doo Ron Ron" and "Then He Kissed Me," La La explains how and why Phil Spector replaced The Crystals with Darlene Love on "He's A Rebel."
Songwriters have used cards and card games to make sense of heartache, togetherness, and even Gonorrhea.
Did this Eagle come up with the term "Parrothead"? And what is it like playing "Hotel California" for the gazillionth time?
Does Angus really drink himself silly? Did their name come from a sewing machine? See if you can spot the real stories about AC/DC.
Kelly Keagy of Night Ranger tells the "Sister Christian" story and explains why he started sweating when he saw it in Boogie Nights.
Into the vaults for this talk with Bolton from the '80s when he was a focused on writing songs for other artists.