
The UK band The Lightning Seeds of "Pure" fame got their name from a misheard line in Prince's "Raspberry Beret," mistaking "thunder drowns out what the lightning sees" for "thunder drowns out the lightning seeds."

Jonah Hill directed the video for Sara Bareilles' song "Gonna Get Over You." It's a mash-up of Grease and West Side Story.

Taylor Swift became the first woman in the history of the Hot 100 to succeed herself at #1 when "Blank Space" dethroned her previous single, "Shake It Off," from the top spot in 2014.

Lucinda Williams' track "Compassion" is based on a poem by her father, lauded Arkansas poet Miller Williams.

The Naughty by Nature hit "O.P.P." doesn't have any curse words, but many oversensitive radio stations played a "clean" version with the word "kitten" edited out, surely the first time that word was censured.

"I Can See Clearly Now" by Johnny Nash was the first reggae song to hit #1 in America on the Hot 100.
How well do you know your protest songs (including the one that went to #1)?
The former Dead Kennedys frontman on the past, present and future of the band, what music makes us "pliant and stupid," and what he learned from Alice Cooper.
With Bernie Taupin, Martin co-wrote the #1 hits "We Built This City" and "These Dreams." After writing the Pretty Woman song for Go West, he had his own hit with "In the House of Stone and Light."
When Dave recorded the first version of the song with his group the Blasters, producer Nick Lowe gave him some life-changing advice.
The king of Christian worship music explains talks about writing songs for troubled times.
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.