The Red Hot Chili Peppers' biggest hit is "Under The Bridge," a ballad not typical of their sound. Frontman Anthony Kiedis wrote the lyric after an acute bout of loneliness.
Judas Priest's "Evening Star" is a Christmas carol that describes the journey of the Magi from a first person perspective.
"Who Let The Dogs Out" won a Grammy. It took the award for Best Dance Recording in 2000.
Otis Day And The Knights, the fictional band created to perform "Shout" in the movie Animal House, became a real band, performing the song at colleges and other venues.
The Texas songwriter Jerry Jeff Walker wrote "Mr. Bojangles" after a weekend in jail where a fellow inmate told him his life story.
The phrase "Mamma Mia" was big in 1976. It was the name of a popular Abba song, and also showed up in the lyrics to "Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen.
The man who ran Nirvana's first label gets beyond the sensationalism (drugs, Courtney) to discuss their musical and cultural triumphs in the years before Nevermind.
Pool balls, magpies and thorns without roses - how well do you know your Tom Waits lyrics?
The man who created Yacht Rock with "Sailing" wrote one of his biggest hits while on acid.
The former Dead Kennedys frontman on the past, present and future of the band, what music makes us "pliant and stupid," and what he learned from Alice Cooper.
The former Metallica bassist talks about his first time writing a song with James Hetfield, and how a hand-me-down iPad has changed his songwriting.
Before he was the champ, Ali released an album called I Am The Greatest!, but his musical influence is best heard in the songs he inspired.