Angus Young created the distinctive opening guitar part for AC/DC's "Thuderstruck" by playing with all the strings taped up except the B. He learned the studio trick from his older brother George Young, who was the rhythm guitarist for The Easybeats.
Jethro Tull lead singer Ian Anderson wrote "Aqualung" after looking at pictures of homeless men that his wife took. She got a co-writing credit on the song.
"Virginia" in "Only The Good Die Young" is named after a real girl Billy Joel was trying to impress.
Madonna didn't write "Papa Don't Preach," which deals with abortion. What drew her to the song was the singer standing up to male authority.
Yoko Ono has always denied requests to cover "Imagine" with the line "no religion, too" omitted or changed.
Pete Townshend never had a #1 UK hit with The Who or as a solo artist, but he did produce and play on a song that hit the top spot there: "Something In The Air" by Thunderclap Newman, a group he assembled.
Phone booths are nearly extinct, but they provided storylines for some of the most profound songs of the pre-cell phone era.
Bowie's "activist" days of 1964 led to Ziggy Stardust.
The outlaw country icon talks about the spiritual element of his songwriting and his Bob Dylan mention.
Was a Beatles song a TV theme? And who came up with those Fresh Prince and Sopranos songs?
Tom talks about the evolution of Cinderella's songs through their first three albums, and how he writes as a solo artist.
Songs that seem to glorify violence against women are often misinterpreted - but not always.