Jack & Diane started off as an interracial couple; Mellencamp took race references out of the song at the request of his record company.
The voice of Waldo in Van Halen's "Hot For Teacher" video was the late Phil Hartman of Saturday Night Live Fame.
Ricky Martin's "Livin' La Vida Loca" was the first #1 hit created entirely in Pro Tools.
KT Tunstall's "Suddenly I See" was inspired by Robert Mapplethorpe's photograph of Patti Smith on the cover of her album Horses.
In Gary Numan's "Cars," the message is that cars lead to a mechanical society devoid of personal interaction. This didn't stop automakers from using it in commercials. Both Nissan and Oldsmobile have used it in ads.
The Oasis song "Live Forever" was written in response to "I Hate Myself And I Want To Die" by Nirvana. "Kids don't need to hear that nonsense," said Noel Gallagher.
"Great songwriters don't necessarily have hit songs," says Chris. He's written a bunch, but his fans are more interested in the intricate jams.
Faith No More's bassist, Billy Gould, chats to us about his two new experimental projects, The Talking Book and House of Hayduk, and also shares some stories from the FNM days.
Established as a redoubtable singer-songwriter, the Men At Work frontman explains how religion, sobriety and Jack Nicholson play into his songwriting.
Paul Stanley on his soul music project, the Kiss songs with the biggest soul influence, and the non-make-up era of the band.
Wolfgang Van Halen breaks down the songs on his debut album, Mammoth WVH, and names the definitive Van Halen songs from the Sammy and Dave eras.
Joe talks about the challenges of of making a Duke Ellington tribute album, and tells the stories behind some of his hits.