"Paranoid" reflects a feeling Black Sabbath bass player Geezer Butler often felt after using drugs.
Pete Townshend wrote The Who's "Pinball Wizard" to coax a good review for the Tommy album out of a rock critic who loved pinball. It worked.
"Open Arms" was a pioneering power ballad. Stadium rock bands like Journey shied away from slow songs, but when they reluctantly agreed to record the song, it became their biggest chart hit.
"Ain't No Sunshine" by Bill Withers was inspired by the Jack Lemmon movie Days of Wine and Roses.
Kylie Minogue's "Can't Get You Out Of My Head" received more airplay during the 2000s than any other song in the UK.
The songwriting team Leiber and Stoller wrote "Hound Dog" for a blues singer named Big Mama Thronton, who first recorded the song in 1953. Elvis covered it in 1956, and it became his biggest hit.
Webb talks about his classic songs "By the Time I Get to Phoenix," "Wichita Lineman" and "MacArthur Park."
Songs about drugs, revolution and greed that have been used in commercials for sneakers, jeans, fast food, cruises and cars.
Christopher Cross with Deep Purple? Kenny Loggins in Caddyshack? A Fact or Fiction all about yacht rock and those who made it.
Before "Rap" was a form of music, it was something guys did to pick up girls in nightclubs. Donnie talks about "The Rapper" and reveals the identity of Leah.
Where words like "email," "thirsty," "Twitter" and "gangsta" first showed up in songs, and which songs popularized them.
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.