
One of the first hit songs used in a major marketing campaign was "Start Me Up" by The Rolling Stones. Microsoft paid $3 million to use it in commercials for Windows '95.

Rihanna claims that "S&M" is about her love/hate relationship with the media. Apparently her paparazzi are using whips and chains.

"Yellow" by Coldplay is a deep, meaningful song, but the title has a rather prosaic origin: it came from the phone directory, known as "the yellow pages."

Sly & the Family Stone's "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)" was a huge hit in 1970 and found new life when Janet Jackson sampled the bass riff on her 1989 hit "Rhythm Nation."

The 2001 Dirty Vegas hit "Days Go By" was written by their lead singer when he was longing for his ex-girlfriend. The sad song gave him a happy ending though: They got back together after it was released and eventually got married.

The most famous pop song featuring a bassoon: "The Tears of a Clown" by Smokey Robinson & the Miracles.
Not everyone can be a superhero, but that hasn't stopped generations of musicians from trying to be Superman.
What happens when Kurt Cobain, Iron Maiden and Johnny Lydon are told to lip-synch? Some hilarious "performances."
Into the vaults for this talk with Bolton from the '80s when he was a focused on writing songs for other artists.
Bridesmaids, Reservoir Dogs, Willy Wonka - just a few of the flicks where characters discuss specific songs, sometimes as a prelude to murder.
"Come On Eileen" was a colossal '80s hit, but the band - far more appreciated in their native UK than stateside - released just three albums before their split. Now, Dexys is back.
The renown Texas songwriter has been at it for 40 years, with tales to tell about The Flatlanders and The Clash - that's Joe's Tex-Mex on "Should I Stay or Should I Go?"