David Bowie was in a mystical state when he wrote "The Man Who Sold The World," which he said happened during his "15 minutes of Buddhism."
It really was so easy for Linda Ronstadt to score a hit with her Buddy Holly cover of "It's So Easy." She would sometimes change the lyric to: "It's so easy to have a hit, all you have to do is recycle it."
"Everywhere" wasn't a huge hit for Fleetwood Mac, but it's one of their most popular songs in the streaming era. It was written and sung by Christine McVie, who wrote these kind of catchy tunes in contrast to mystical Stevie Nicks songs like "Rhiannon" and "Gold Dust Woman."
Ronnie Van Zant wrote the Lynyrd Skynyrd classic "Gimme Three Steps" after making the mistake of dancing with a girl whose boyfriend was in the bar and probably had a gun. He asked for a 3-step head start.
After a devastating car accident, the actor Montgomery Clift had to be filmed from "The Right Profile" to look good - that provided the name of The Clash song.
Madonna wrote a song called "Love Won't Wait" that she didn't want, but became a UK #1 hit for Gary Barlow.
When he was asked to write a song for the Singles soundtrack, Mark thought the Seattle grunge scene was already overblown, so that's what he wrote about.
When he was playing Ozzfest with Black Label Society, a kid told Zakk he was the best Ozzy guitarist - Zakk had to correct him.
Guitarist Tony Iommi on the "Iron Man" riff, the definitive Black Sabbath song, and how Ozzy and Dio compared as songwriters.
Known in America for the hit "If You Leave," OMD is a huge influence on modern electronic music.
The Stax legend on how he cooked up "Green Onions," the first time he and Otis Redding saw hippies, and if he'll ever play a digital organ.
