Janet Jackson wrote the lyric to "Nasty" in response to random guys calling her "baby."
Despite his hit "Forever In Blue Jeans," Neil Diamond was rarely seen in denim. He said the jeans are a symbol for how "the simple things are really the important things."
"Mickey" by Toni Basil was originally a song called "Kitty" by a male group. She picked the new name after Micky Dolenz of The Monkees.
Rod Stewart wrote "Maggie May" about the woman who deflowered him when he was 16.
"99 Luftballons" by Nena is about a Cold War scare when balloons showed up on radar and were mistaken as a nuclear threat.
When "Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)" climbed to #1 on the Hot 100, Katy Perry became the first woman to send five songs from one album to the top of the charts. The four previous chart-toppers from her Teenage Dream set were "California Gurls," "Teenage Dream," "Firework" and "E.T."
The country hitmaker talks about his debut album, A Rock, and how a nursery rhyme inspired his hit single "One Beer."
Shows like Dawson's Creek, Grey's Anatomy and Buffy the Vampire Slayer changed the way songs were heard on TV, and produced some hits in the process.
P.F. was a teenager writing hits and playing on tracks for Jan & Dean when he wrote a #1 hit that got him blackballed.
Inspired by his dear friend, "Seasons in the Sun" paid for Terry's boat, which led him away from music and into a battle with Canadian paper mills.
The Kiss rocker covers a lot of ground in this interview, including why there are no Kiss collaborations, and why the Rock Hall has "become a sham."
Holly Knight talks about some of the hit songs she wrote, including "The Warrior," "Never" and "The Best," and explains some songwriting philosophy, including how to think of a bridge.