Eminem sampled a song by Labi Siffre on "My Name Is." Siffre, a gay activist, made Em take out some gay humor in the lyric before allowing it.
The lyric to "Hold On" by Wilson Phillips was inspired by Chynna Phillips' struggles with addiction. "Hold on for one more day" is something she heard in AA meetings.
Steely Dan's engineer, Roger Nichols, built one of the first drum machines, which they used on "Hey Nineteen."
Shaboozey's "A Bar Song (Tipsy)" is a country reworking of J-Kwon's hip-hop hit "Tipsy," with the setting changed from a club to a dive bar.
YouTube had to upgrade after PSY's "Gangnam Style" broke their hit counter in 2012. Once the video reached 2,147,483,647 views, the maximum positive value for a 32-bit signed binary integer in computing, the view-counter could no longer work.
Christina Aguilera did her "Beautiful" vocal in one take; the opening line, "Don't look at me," is something she said to her friend in the studio who was there to offer support.
Michael tells the story of "Send Me On My Way," and explains why some of the words in the song don't have a literal meaning.
Since his debut single "I'm On Fire" in 1975, Dwight has been providing Spinal-Tap moments and misadventure.
Tom stopped performing Thompson Twins songs in 1987, in part because of their personal nature: "Hold Me Now" came after an argument with his bandmate/girlfriend Alannah Currie.
One of rock's top photographers talks about artistry in photography, raising funds for a documentary, and enjoying a County Fair with Tom Waits.
Songs that seem to glorify violence against women are often misinterpreted - but not always.
Bowie's "activist" days of 1964 led to Ziggy Stardust.