"Crank That (Soulja Boy)" was the most successful digital track of 2007 in the US with 2,909,000 downloads. On January 6, 2008 it became the first song ever to sell 3 million digital copies in the States.
One of the first hit songs used in a major marketing campaign was "Start Me Up" by The Rolling Stones. Microsoft paid $3 million to use it in commercials for Windows '95.
"Heaven" by The Psychedelic Furs sounds upbeat, but is about an impending nuclear bombardment.
Cheap Trick hated the ballad "The Flame" but recorded it because they needed a hit, and the song delivered, going to #1.
Judas Priest's "Evening Star" is a Christmas carol that describes the journey of the Magi from a first person perspective.
The eerie percussion and guitar for Portsihead's "Sour Times" was sampled from Lalo Schifrin's "Danube Incident," music composed by the Argentine composer for an episode of Mission Impossible.
The story of the legendary lupine DJ through the songs he inspired.
His keyboard work helped define the Muscle Shoals sound and make him an integral part of many Neil Young recordings. Spooner is also an accomplished songwriter, whose hits include "I'm Your Puppet" and "Cry Like A Baby."
Charlotte was established in the LA punk scene when a freaky girl named Belinda approached her wearing a garbage bag.
Pete produced Dwight Yoakam, Michelle Shocked, Meat Puppets, and a very memorable track for Roy Orbison.
Shears does very little promotion, which has kept him secluded from the spotlight. What changed when Cyndi Lauper had a hit with his song? Not much, really.
A talk with Martin Popoff about his latest book on Rush and how he assessed the thousands of albums he reviewed.