The first #1 hit with a rap was "Rapture" by Blondie in 1980. Debbie Harry's rhymes left lots of room for improvement.
"Amarillo By Morning" got its title from a Fed Ex commercial that promised to deliver packages the next day to places like Amarillo. It's George Strait's most famous song, but was written and originally released by Terry Stafford nine years earlier.
The first popular song to use the phrase "Heavy Metal" was "Born To Be Wild" by Steppenwolf, which was featured in the movie Easy Rider.
Eddie Van Halen played the guitar solo on "Beat It" as a favor to Quincy Jones, who produced the album.
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."
Kelly Rowland was the first Destiny's Child member to have a hit away from the group: her Nelly duet "Dilemma."
Dennis DeYoung explains why "Mr. Roboto" is the defining Styx song, and what the "gathering of angels" represents in "Come Sail Away."
"25 or 6 to 4" to "Semi-Charmed Life" - see if you can spot the songs that are really about drugs.
The "A Thousand Miles" singer on what she thinks of her song being used in White Chicks and how she captured a song from a dream.
Laura Nyro talks about her complex, emotionally rich songwriting and how she supports women's culture through her art.
Who writes a song about a name they found in a phone book? That's just one of the everyday things these guys find to sing about. Anything in their field of vision or general scope of knowledge is fair game. If you cross paths with them, so are you.
In this quiz, spot the artist who put Romeo into a song lyric.