Rod Stewart wrote "Maggie May" about the woman who deflowered him when he was 16.
Al Green's "Take Me to the River" describes a baptism. Two years later, he became a reverend.
Billy Joel is surprised that "Piano Man" is so successful. He called it "an old, long song about a guy at a depressing piano bar."
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.
Kacey Musgraves offered "Follow Your Arrow" to her friend Katy Perry, but Perry thought Musgraves should record the song herself, telling Kacey it seemed "like something that you would totally say."
Imagine Dragons lead singer Dan Reynolds says their 2012 hit "Radioactive" is "a song about having an awakening; kind of waking up one day and deciding to do something new, and see life in a fresh way."
Call us crazy, but we like it when an artist comes around who doesn't mesh with the status quo.
Richard explains how Joe Walsh kickstarted his career, and why he chose Hazard, Nebraska for a hit.
Newman makes it look easy these days, but in this 1974 interview, he reveals the paranoia and pressures that made him yearn for his old 9-5 job.
Lita talks about how they wrote songs in The Runaways, and how she feels about her biggest hit being written by somebody else.
Steppenwolf frontman John Kay talks about "Magic Carpet Ride," "Born To Be Wild," and what he values more than awards and accolades.
Nick made some of the biggest videos on MTV, including "The Final Countdown," "Heaven" and "Don't Know What You Got (Till It's Gone)."