
Eddie Van Halen played the guitar solo on "Beat It" as a favor to Quincy Jones, who produced the album.

The kid in Madonna's "Open Your Heart" video became a successful songwriter. His songs include Amy Winehouse's "You Sent Me Flying" and James Blunt's "1973."

"Veronica" was inspired by Elvis Costello's grandmother, who suffered from Alzheimer's disease.

Most of us only know "Bad Boys" by Inner Circle from the 25 seconds used as the Cops theme, but it's a full song telling the story of a Jamaican youth who doesn't accept family support and ends up a criminal.

Pink wrote "Just Give Me A Reason" about how one partner can feel jilted over something trivial, like how her boyfriend passes her the butter.
The evolution of the symbol that was Prince's name from 1993-2000.
Bradley Cooper, Michael J. Fox, Rami Malek, Reese Witherspoon, Gwyneth Paltrow and George Clooney: Which actors really sang in their movies?
Switchfoot's frontman and main songwriter on what inspires the songs and how he got the freedom to say exactly what he means.
The top chant artist in the Western world, Krishna Das talks about how these Hindu mantras compare to Christian worship songs.
Who writes a song about a name they found in a phone book? That's just one of the everyday things these guys find to sing about. Anything in their field of vision or general scope of knowledge is fair game. If you cross paths with them, so are you.
How well do you know your David Bowie lyrics? Take this quiz to find out.