Billy Joel's "My Life" was used as the theme song to the 1980 TV show Bosom Buddies, which starred a young Tom Hanks as a guy who lives in a hotel for women by dressing up as a girl.
A key line in "Africa" is "I seek to cure what's deep inside, frightened of this thing that I've become," which is about drifting away from what you really want in life. Toto keyboard player David Paich, who wrote the song, felt his work was consuming him.
Katherine Heigl played Josh Kelley's love interest in the video for his 2005 song "Only You." They met on the shoot, became a real-life couple, and got married two years later. That's good casting!
"(I've Had) The Time of My Life" was a huge hit from the movie Dirty Dancing. It was used in the climactic dance scene at the end, which was actually the first scene shot for the movie.
An unexpected guest vocal: Marianne Faithfull on the Metallica song "The Memory Remains." A star in the '60s, this collaboration helped revive her career.
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.
Elvis, Little Richard and Cheryl Cole have all sung about Teddy Bears, but there is also a terrifying Teddy song from 1932 and a touching trucker Teddy tune from 1976.
For songwriters, Johnny represents the American man. He has been angry, cool, magic, a rebel and, of course, marching home.
Eddie (played by Johnny Depp in the video) found fame fleeting, but Chuck Berry's made-up musician fared better.
In the name of song explanation, Al talks about scoring heroin for William Burroughs, and that's not even the most shocking story in this one.
Jim talks about the impact of "The Middle" and uses a tree metaphor to describe his songwriting philosophy.
