Van Halen's first #1 hit was "Jump," an unusual song for the band because the lead instrument was synthesizer, not guitar.
Dexys Midnight Runners' "Come on Eileen" is based on a real girl called Eileen that the band's Kevin Rowland had a relationship with in his early teenage years.
Kiss sing about "movin' fast on 95" in "Detroit Rock City," but I-95 doesn't go through Detroit (I-75 does) so they published the lyric as "Movin' fast, doin' 95."
Mariah Carey's song "The Roof" is about her first kiss with Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter.
"Cleveland Rocks" was written by an Englishman. Ian Hunter wrote the song after touring America in the late '70s and finding that Cleveland was by far the most receptive city to his brand of Glam Rock.
Vincent Price did the spooky narration on "Thriller." He was paid a flat fee of $20,000, turning down a percentage of the royalties that would have paid him far more.
An original member of Depeche Mode, Vince went on to form Erasure and Yaz.
A top New York studio musician, Ralph played guitar on many '60s hits, including "Lightnin' Strikes," "A Lover's Concerto" and "I Am A Rock."
Did this Eagle come up with the term "Parrothead"? And what is it like playing "Hotel California" for the gazillionth time?
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.
Where words like "email," "thirsty," "Twitter" and "gangsta" first showed up in songs, and which songs popularized them.
