
Until December 5, 1998, a song had to be issued as a single to make the Hot 100. Aaliyah's "Try Again" was the first tune to top the chart based on airplay alone, without any sales figures being included.

"We Will Become Silhouettes" by The Postal Service sounds happy and fun, but it's a very bleak song about a nuclear winter. Lead singer Ben Gibbard wrote the lyric while ruminating over 9/11.

"Kashmir" is the only Led Zeppelin song to use outside musicians, as it needed strings and horns.

The Steve Miller song "Abracadabra" was inspired by Diana Ross and The Supremes. Miller first met the girl group when they performed together on NBC's Hullabaloo in 1966, and he wrote the lyrics after spotting Diana Ross skiing years later.

Taylor Swift's "Shake It Off" was inspired by how she'd learned to deal with all the false rumors that circulated about her. She realized she could either let it get to her or "just shake it off."

"Mercedes Boy" by Pebbles is about a real guy she fell in love with - they both drove Mercedes when she wrote it.
A talk with Martin Popoff about his latest book on Rush and how he assessed the thousands of albums he reviewed.
Known in America for the hit "If You Leave," OMD is a huge influence on modern electronic music.
Some songs get a second life when they find a new audience through a movie, commercial, TV show, or even the Internet.
Rock Stars - especially those in the metal realm - are often enlisted for horror movies. See if you know can match the rocker to the role.
Fishbone has always enjoyed much more acclaim than popularity - Angelo might know why.
Talking Heads drummer Chris Frantz on where the term "new wave" originated, the story of "Naive Melody," and why they never recorded another cover song after "Take Me To The River."