The "pompatus of love" from the Steve Miller song "The Joker" comes from a line in a '50s doo-wop song Miller misheard: "puppetutes of love."
Neil Young later apologized for "Southern Man," calling it "accusatory and condescending" in its portrayal of the American South.
Paul McCartney's favorite song that he wrote for someone else is Cilla Black's 1968 UK Top 10 hit "Step Inside Love."
The idea for "The Man Comes Around" came to Johnny Cash from a dream he had where he was in Buckingham Palace and the Queen said to him, "Johnny Cash, you're just like a thorn tree in a whirlwind."
The bedrock of David Guetta's Nicki Minaj-featuring single "Hey Mama" is a sample of "Rosie," a 1940s prison recording from folk archivist Alan Lomax that songwriter Esther Dean first showed the French DJ on YouTube.
Bob Marley's backup singers, The I Threes, claim they are the "Three Little Birds" in his famous song.
How a country weeper and a blues number made "rolling stone" the most popular phrase in rock.
Queen, Phish and The Stones are among our picks for the best band logos. Here are their histories and a design analysis from an expert.
The trail runs from flying saucer songs in the '50s, through Bowie, blink-182 and Katy Perry.
The lead singer/lyricist for Anberlin breaks down "Impossible" and covers some tracks from their 2012 album Vital.
Did this Eagle come up with the term "Parrothead"? And what is it like playing "Hotel California" for the gazillionth time?
