"Tammy" by Debbie Reynolds was the only US #1 single by a female act between July 1956 and February 1958.
Rascal Flatts is one of those bands whose most famous song is a cover. "Life Is A Highway," which they recorded for the movie Cars in 2006, was written and originally released by Tom Cochrane in 1991.
The Rick James song "Cold Blooded" is about Linda Blair from The Exorcist, his girlfriend at the time. In James' lingo, "cold blooded" means sexy, not cruel.
Ariana Grande's hit "Problem" started off as a track written by One Direction songwriter Savan Kotecha. He gave it the working title of "The Whisper Song," after a 2005 Ying Yang Twins hit.
The first release of "The Sound Of Silence" was acoustic, and went nowhere. It became Simon & Garfunkel's first hit when a producer at their label overdubbed it with electric instruments.
"Ain't Nobody" by Rufus & Chaka Khan was one of the first big hits to use a sequencer, which is how that distinctive keyboard loop was created. The song almost landed on Michael Jackson's Thriller album, but the group decided to keep it.
Graham Nash tells the stories behind some of his famous songs and photos, and is asked about "yacht rock" for the first time.
Rob Halford, Richie Faulkner and Glenn Tipton talk twin guitar harmonies and explain how they create songs in Judas Priest.
Steve Cropper on the making of "In the Midnight Hour," the chicken-wire scene in The Blues Brothers, and his 2021 album, Fire It Up.
Jim talks about the impact of "The Middle" and uses a tree metaphor to describe his songwriting philosophy.
Daniel Lanois on his album Heavy Sun, and the inside stories of songs he produced for U2, Peter Gabriel, and Bob Dylan.
An interview with Dr. John Covach, music professor at the University of Rochester whose free online courses have become wildly popular.