The Men Without Hats lead singer wrote "The Safety Dance" after getting kicked out of a bar for dancing too aggressively. The song is literally about being safe to dance if you want to.
Blur's "There Are Too Many of Us" was inspired in part by a siege in an Australian chocolate café that Damon Albarn witnessed, which resulted in the death of the gunman and two hostages.
"Magic" was the first word to serve as both the title of a #1 hit (Olivia Newton-John's 1980 tune "Magic") and the name of an artist behind a chart-topping song (Magic!'s 2014 hit "Rude").
"Dude (Looks Like A Lady)" by Aerosmith was inspired by Vince Neil from Motley Crue.
"Hangin' Tough" came at the peak of New Kids On The Block mania (1988). Their writer/producer Maurice Starr wrote it about the struggles the band faced early on. It was a #1 hit in both America and the UK.
"Do You Really Want To Hurt Me?" was written by Boy George about his relationship with Culture Club's drummer Jon Moss.
Dean's saga began with "Ariel," a song about falling in love with a Jewish girl from New Jersey.
The revered singer-songwriter talks inspiration and explains why she put a mahout in "Drop the Pilot."
Lita talks about how they wrote songs in The Runaways, and how she feels about her biggest hit being written by somebody else.
The outlaw country icon talks about the spiritual element of his songwriting and his Bob Dylan mention.
How a goofy detective movie, a disenchanted director and an unlikely songwriter led to one of the biggest hits in pop history.
A talented lyricist, Philip helped revive Neil Sedaka's career with the words to "Laughter In The Rain" and "Bad Blood."