Puff Daddy didn't get permission to sample the Police song "Every Breath You Take" on his Notorious B.I.G. tribute "I'll Be Missing You," but he later reached an agreement and even performed the song with Sting.
On Missy Elliott's "Work It," the backward vocal is the previous line, "Put my thing down, flip it, and reverse it," in reverse. She stumbled on it when the engineer played it backward by mistake.
Michael Jackson wrote the Diana Ross hit "Muscles," which he named after his pet boa constrictor.
"Panama" by Van Halen is not about the country or the canal, but about a stripper David Lee Roth met in Arizona.
A one-ton bell was custom made for AC/DC's "Hell's Bells." The recording was slowed to half speed to make it sound like a more ominous two-ton bell.
Gina in Bon Jovi's "Livin' On A Prayer" is based on a singer named Maria Vidal, who was working as a singing waitress using the name Gina Velvet.
A renowned guitarist and rock revivalist, Dave took "I Hear You Knocking" to the top of the UK charts and was the first to record Elvis Costello's "Girls Talk."
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.
With the band in danger of being dropped from their label, Alice Cooper drummer Neal Smith co-wrote the song that started their trek from horror show curiosity to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
P.F. was a teenager writing hits and playing on tracks for Jan & Dean when he wrote a #1 hit that got him blackballed.
Toto's keyboard player explains the true meaning of "Africa" and talks about working on the Thriller album.
Tom talks about the evolution of Cinderella's songs through their first three albums, and how he writes as a solo artist.