Neil Diamond wrote "I'm A Believer" early in his career. It was a hit for The Monkees and revived by Smash Mouth in 2001 for the movie Shrek, helping make Diamond cool again.
Snow Patrol had a huge hit in 2006 with the love song "Chasing Cars." The title alludes to how dogs chase cars just for the thrill of it, the same way two people deeply in love will embark on open-ended adventures, content to be in each others' company with no clear destination.
"Killing An Arab" by The Cure was inspired by Albert Camus' book The Stranger.
Ed Sheeran wrote the 2014 love song "Thinking Out Loud" about his girlfriend at the time, Athina Andrelos. They split the following year, and Ed started seeing Cherry Seaborn, whom he married in 2019; songs like "Perfect" and "No Strings" are about her.
Taylor Swift used a line from "Blank Space" on party favors at her wedding to Travis Kelce: "So it's gonna be forever..." It's Kelce's favorite Taylor Swift song.
"Torn" by Natalie Imbruglia was first recorded by the group Ednaswap in 1993. It was written by Ednaswap's Anne Previn and Scott Cutler, who went on to write some hits for Miley Cyrus.
The 5-octave voice of the classical rock band Renaissance, Annie is big on creative expression. In this talk, she covers Roy Wood, the history of the band, and where all the money went in the '70s.
Ozzy, Guns N' Roses, Judas Priest and even Michael Bolton show up in this Classic Metal quiz.
MTV, a popular TV theme song and Madonna all show up in this '80s music quiz.
Do you know who wrote Patti Smith's biggest hit? How about the Grease theme song? See if you can match the song to the writer.
Joe talks about the challenges of of making a Duke Ellington tribute album, and tells the stories behind some of his hits.
The 10 biggest "retirement tours" that didn't take.