The UK band The Lightning Seeds of "Pure" fame got their name from a misheard line in Prince's "Raspberry Beret," mistaking "thunder drowns out what the lightning sees" for "thunder drowns out the lightning seeds."
It wasn't one of her biggest hits, but "La Isla Bonita" (from 1986) emerged as one of Madonna's top songs in the age of streaming thanks to widespread usage on TikTok. Creators who visit an island or just want that mood often use it as a soundtrack.
The Kenny G instrumental "Songbird" owes much of its success to VH1, which launched a year earlier and played the video to death.
"99 Luftballons" by Nena is about a Cold War scare when balloons showed up on radar and were mistaken as a nuclear threat.
The TV show Cheers was nearly canceled after its first season, but the theme song, "Where Everybody Knows Your Name," was very popular. To satisfy viewer demand, the theme was made into a full song and released as a single.
"Irreplaceable" wasn't specifically penned for Beyonce - in fact, Ne-Yo wrote it more as a country song and had Faith Hill and Shania Twain in mind.
"When seeds that you sow grow by the wicked moon/Be sure your sins will find you out/Your past will hunt you down and turn to tell on you."
Daniel Lanois on his album Heavy Sun, and the inside stories of songs he produced for U2, Peter Gabriel, and Bob Dylan.
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 hitmaking songwriter/producer Sam Hollander with stories about songs for Weezer, Panic! At The Disco, Train, Pentatonix, and Fitz And The Tantrums.
The stories behind "Whole Of The Moon" and "Red Army Blues," and why rock music has "outlived its era of innovation."
In this quiz, spot the artist who put Romeo into a song lyric.