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.
Roger Daltrey stutters the vocal on "My Generation" by The Who. The idea was to sound like a British kid on speed.
"Light My Fire" was the first song Doors guitarist Robby Krieger wrote. Looking for a universal theme, he decided to write about one of the four elements (air, earth, water, fire).
"We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" by Taylor Swift earned an entry in the 2014 edition of the Guinness Book of Records for the fastest-selling digital single. It reached the #1 spot on iTunes just 50 minutes after its release.
When "Theme From Shaft" won an Oscar in 1972, Isaac Hayes became the first African American to win in the Best Song category.
"Just Dance" was Lady Gaga's first hit, and it also brought the techno-synth sound that had been popular in Europe for the previous decade to the United States.
The drummer for Anthrax is also a key songwriter. He explains how the group puts their songs together and tells the stories behind some of their classics.
Some album art was at least "inspired" by others. A look at some very similar covers.
With Bernie Taupin, Martin co-wrote the #1 hits "We Built This City" and "These Dreams." After writing the Pretty Woman song for Go West, he had his own hit with "In the House of Stone and Light."
Brenda talks about the inspiration that drove her to write hit songs like "Get Here" and "Piano in the Dark," and why a lack of formal music training can be a songwriter's best asset.
The lead singer/lyricist of The Beach Boys talks about coming up with the words for "Good Vibrations," "Fun, Fun, Fun," "Kokomo" and other classic songs.
Richie talks about producing the first two Kiss albums, recording "Brother Louie," and the newfound appreciation of his rock band, Dust.