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.
The line in John Mellencamp's "Cherry Bomb" that sounds like "that's when a smoke was a smoke" is actually "that's when a sport was a sport," according to the published lyric. In that sense, "sport" is an endearment for someone of good nature.
Rihanna was Pitbull's first choice to sing on "Timber," but she wasn't available at the time so he enlisted his RCA labelmate Kesha instead.
Joni Mitchell wrote "Woodstock" - the most popular song about the festival - but didn't attend the event because she was booked on The Dick Cavett Show.
"Never Tear Us Apart" was a live favorite for INXS, who would often extend the second pause for a while as the crowd went crazy.
The bedrock of David Guetta's Nicki Minaj-featuring single "Hey Mama" is a sample of "Rosie," a 1940s prison recording from folk archivist Alan Lomax that songwriter Esther Dean first showed the French DJ on YouTube.
How a gym teacher, a janitor, and a junkie became part of some very famous band names.
Call us crazy, but we like it when an artist comes around who doesn't mesh with the status quo.
The outlaw country icon talks about the spiritual element of his songwriting and his Bob Dylan mention.
Tom talks about the evolution of Cinderella's songs through their first three albums, and how he writes as a solo artist.
How well do you know your protest songs (including the one that went to #1)?
Bob was the bass player and lyricist for the first two Ozzy Osbourne albums. Here's how he wrote songs like "Crazy Train" and "Mr. Crowley" with Ozzy and Randy Rhoads.