"Sunday Girl" was written by Blondie guitarist Chris Stein to cheer up Debbie Harry after her cat had run away whilst they were away on tour. The gray cat was called Sunday Man.
It really was so easy for Linda Ronstadt to score a hit with her Buddy Holly cover of "It's So Easy." She would sometimes change the lyric to: "It's so easy to have a hit, all you have to do is recycle it."
Guns N' Roses' Appetite For Destruction album includes a song called "Rocket Queen," identified in the liner notes as Barbi Von Greif. Axl Rose says she "kind of kept me alive for a while."
"The Reason" by Hoobastank took off on TikTok in 2021 when it soundtracked confessional #NotAPerfectPerson videos about mistakes and regrets. The band made one of their own with the caption: "Realizing 20 years later that you named your band Hoobastank."
Creedence Clearwater Revival's first single was a cover of a rockabilly song called "Susie Q." When it became a hit, group leader John Fogerty went into a songwriting frenzy so they wouldn't be one-hit wonders, resulting in hits like "Proud Mary" and "Lodi."
The first single from the Thriller album was "The Girl Is Mine," chosen over "Billie Jean" and "Beat It" because it was a duet with Paul McCartney and thus guaranteed airplay.
One of the most dynamic bass player/songwriters of his time, Chris is the only member of Yes who has been with the band since they formed in 1968.
The Garbage drummer/songwriter produced the Nirvana album Nevermind, and Smashing Pumpkins' Gish and Siamese Dream.
Taylor talks about "The Machine" - the hits, the videos and Clive Davis.
Newman makes it look easy these days, but in this 1974 interview, he reveals the paranoia and pressures that made him yearn for his old 9-5 job.
Jim talks about the impact of "The Middle" and uses a tree metaphor to describe his songwriting philosophy.
The man who created Yacht Rock with "Sailing" wrote one of his biggest hits while on acid.