The Foo Fighters song "Everlong" isn't about Kurt Cobain, but Dave Grohl's girlfriend at the time, Veruca Salt frontwoman Louise Post.
"Instant Karma" is one of John Lennon's most hopeful songs, written and recorded in one day at a time when he felt people were pulling together in a positive direction.
The Mary J. Blige song "No More Drama" samples the theme to the appropriately dramatic soap opera The Young And The Restless.
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."
One of the most successful cover songs is Fugees' "Killing Me Softly," a 1996 reworking of Roberta Flack's 1973 hit. Originally, Fugees wanted to change the title to "Killing Him Softly" and make it about the dangers of drug abuse.
The line, "Gotta keep 'em separated" in "Come Out And Play" by The Offspring came to lead singer Dexter Holland when he was a medical student and needed to keep bacteria samples away from each other.
The 10 biggest "retirement tours" that didn't take.
Tom stopped performing Thompson Twins songs in 1987, in part because of their personal nature: "Hold Me Now" came after an argument with his bandmate/girlfriend Alannah Currie.
Songs that seem to glorify violence against women are often misinterpreted - but not always.
The evolution of the symbol that was Prince's name from 1993-2000.
Harry is Derek Smalls in Spinal Tap, Mark Shubb in The Folksmen, and Mr. Burns on The Simpsons.
