The Simpsons theme song was composed by Danny Elfman, who went on to write music for films like Edward Scissorhands and Men In Black. He had a band at the time called Oingo Boingo, which did the theme song to the 1985 movie Weird Science.
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."
Iggy Pop wrote "Lust For Life" with David Bowie, who came up with the music on a ukulele.
Shakira calls her sons Milan and Sasha her "Waka Kids" because she met their father, Spanish soccer star Gerard Piqué, on the video shoot for "Waka Waka (This Time For Africa)," the official song of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa.
"Everywhere" wasn't a huge hit for Fleetwood Mac, but it's one of their most popular songs in the streaming era. It was written and sung by Christine McVie, who wrote these kind of catchy tunes in contrast to mystical Stevie Nicks songs like "Rhiannon" and "Gold Dust Woman."
The rockabilly sound was big in the late 1950s, when Buddy Holly was popular. One of the biggest hits in that genre was the #1 "Party Doll" by Buddy Knox, which used a cardboard box filled with cotton as the drums.
Shears does very little promotion, which has kept him secluded from the spotlight. What changed when Cyndi Lauper had a hit with his song? Not much, really.
Waters tells the "Gypsy Woman" story, shares some of her songwriting insights, and explains how Dennis Rodman ended up on one of her songs.
Have you got the smarts to know which of these graduation song stories are real?
Jon Fratelli talks about the band's third album, and the five-year break leading up to it.
The singer/bassist for Concrete Blonde talks about how her songs come from clairvoyance, and takes us through the making of their hit "Joey."
"Mony Mony," "Crimson and Clover," "Draggin' The Line"... the hits kept coming for Tommy James, and in a plot line fit for a movie, his record company was controlled by the mafia.