David Bowie's "Ziggy Stardust" was likely based on various musicians in his ambit, including Iggy Pop (zIGGY), and Jimi Hendrix, who played guitar left-handed ("He played it left hand").
The eerie percussion and guitar for Portsihead's "Sour Times was sampled from Lalo Schifrin's "Danube Incident," music composed by the Argentine composer for an episode of Mission Impossible.
Billy Joel wrote "We Didn't Start The Fire" after a 21-year-old told him, "everyone knows that nothing happened in the '50s."
Mike Nesmith wrote Linda Ronstadt's first hit, "Different Drum," before he joined The Monkees. He played an intentionally bad version of it on the show.
Tina Turner hated "What's Love Got To Do With It" but when her manager convinced her to record it anyway, it became her big comeback hit.
Ozzy Osbourne's "Shot In The Dark" is titled after a Pink Panther movie.
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.
Did Rivers Cuomo grow up on a commune? Why did they name their albums after colors? See how well you know your Weezer in this Fact or Fiction.
Roger reveals the songwriting formula Clive Davis told him, and if "Eight Miles High" is really about drugs.
With his X-wife Exene, John fronts the band X and writes their songs.
Daniel Lanois on his album Heavy Sun, and the inside stories of songs he produced for U2, Peter Gabriel, and Bob Dylan.
Emilio talks about what it's like to write and perform with the Tower of Power horns, and why every struggling band should have a friend like Huey Lewis.