
Jay-Z did the rap on Beyoncé's "Crazy In Love" at the last minute. They had just started dating; she asked him to feature on the track the night before she had to turn in her album.

The dirty version of Cee-Lo Green's "Forget You" contains 16 F-bombs. He recorded a clean version as an afterthought, "just in case."

The K-pop hit "Gangnam Style" became the most-viewed video in YouTube history months after it was released in 2012, a title it held until "See You Again" by Wiz Khalifa overtook it in 2017.

It was never a big hit, but "She's A Rainbow" became one of the most popular Rolling Stones songs in the digital age when it started showing up in commercials (iMac, Photoshop), and TV shows (American Horror Story: Coven, Ted Lasso).
The lyrics to "Heartbreak Hotel" were written by a steel guitar player who was once a dishwasher repairman. He was inspired by a newspaper story about a man who killed himself and left behind a note saying only, "I walk a lonely street."

Diane Warren originally wrote Aerosmith's hit tune "I Don't Want To Miss A Thing" for Celine Dion.
She thinks of herself as a "song interpreter," but back in the '80s another country star convinced Emmylou to take a crack at songwriting.
It took him seven years to recover from his American hit "Fool (If You Think It's Over)," but Chris Rea became one of the top singer-songwriters in his native UK.
Based on criteria like girlfriend tension, stage mishaps and drummer turnover, these are the 10 bands most like Spinal Tap.
Michelob commercials generated hits for Eric Clapton, Genesis and Steve Winwood in the '80s, even as some of these rockers were fighting alcoholism.
Eddie (played by Johnny Depp in the video) found fame fleeting, but Chuck Berry's made-up musician fared better.
Long before Eminem, Justin Bieber and Nicki Minaj created alternate personas, David Bowie, Bono, Joni Mitchell and even Hank Williams took on characters.