Paul McCartney based the "Eleanor Rigby" story on old ladies he met at his housing estate. He saw how sometimes when they died, nobody really noticed.
Mike Nesmith wrote Linda Ronstadt's first hit, "Different Drum," before he joined The Monkees. He played an intentionally bad version of it on the show.
Cheap Trick's original version of "I Want You To Want Me" was countrified and kind of hokey. When they sped it up for their Live At Budokan album, it became a huge hit.
Michael Jackson's 1995 song "You Are Not Alone" was the first single in US history to enter the Billboard Hot 100 chart at #1
"Here I Go Again" was a #1 hit for Whitesnake in 1987, but it was first released in 1982 with the lyric, "Like a hobo I was born to walk alone."
"It Wasn't Me" by Shaggy was based on an Eddie Murphy comedy bit where he would deny everything no matter how badly he was caught.
"Mr. Jones" took on new meaning when the song about a misguided view of fame made Adam famous.
When he was playing Ozzfest with Black Label Society, a kid told Zakk he was the best Ozzy guitarist - Zakk had to correct him.
On Glen's résumé: hit songwriter, Facebook dominator, and member of Styx.
Jon Anderson breaks down the Yes classic "Seen All Good People" and talks about his 1000 Hands album, which features Chick Corea, Rick Derringer, Ian Anderson, and many other luminaries.
"Mony Mony," "Crimson and Clover," "Draggin' The Line"... the hits kept coming for Tommy James, and in a plot line fit for a movie, his record company was controlled by the mafia.
"London Bridge," "Ring Around the Rosie" and "It's Raining, It's Pouring" are just a few examples of shockingly morbid children's songs.