"All Star" was written as a confidence builder for fans who were bullied for liking Smash Mouth.
A 1989 track by Kenny G, "Going Home," is the unofficial national closing song in China. The tune is played at the end of train rides, the end of school days, and when malls are about to close.
Quincy Jones wanted to change the title of "Billie Jean" to "Not My Lover" so it wouldn't be confused with the tennis star Billie Jean King. Michael Jackson refused.
Clarence Clemons, who played the sax in Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band, had the biggest solo hit of anyone in the group - aside from Springsteen - when "You're A Friend Of Mine" hit #18 in 1985.
"Love Is A Battlefield" was written as a ballad, but Pat Benatar's guitarist/husband turned it into an uptempo song.
"Little Talks," released in 2011 during the folk-rock boom, was the big hit for the Icelandic group Of Monsters And Men. The song is delivered as a conversation between a longtime married couple, but the woman might be going crazy and talking to a ghost.
On Glen's résumé: hit songwriter, Facebook dominator, and member of Styx.
Dave explains how the video appropriated the meaning of "Runaway Train," and what he thought of getting parodied by Weird Al.
The former Metallica bassist talks about his first time writing a song with James Hetfield, and how a hand-me-down iPad has changed his songwriting.
The 10 biggest "retirement tours" that didn't take.
P.F. was a teenager writing hits and playing on tracks for Jan & Dean when he wrote a #1 hit that got him blackballed.
Greg talks about writing songs of "universal truth" for King Crimson and ELP, and tells us about his most memorable stage moment (it involves fireworks).