New Order took the title for "Blue Monday" from an illustration, which read "Goodbye Blue Monday," in the Kurt Vonnegut book Breakfast Of Champions. The image referred to the invention of the washing machine improving housewives' lives.
"Head Over Heels" by The Go-Go's is a metaphor for how things were getting out of control for the band; they broke up a year later.
Billy Ocean's "Caribbean Queen" was originally released as "European Queen," and it underperformed. When it was issued in America as "Caribbean Queen" it went to #1 and revived his career.
Eric Clapton wrote "Layla" about his love for Pattie Harrison, who was married to George Harrison at the time. He eventually married Pattie, and managed to stay friends with George.
"St. Elmo's Fire (Man In Motion)" was not written for the movie, but for Rick Hanson, a wheelchair athlete whose 1985 "Man In Motion" tour logged 24,856 miles on his wheelchair in 34 countries while raising $26 million for spinal cord research.
Kesha (known at the time as Ke$ha) was still pretty wild when she released her song "Crazy Kids" in 2012. It's about one of her birthday parties that got a little out of hand.
The king of Christian worship music explains talks about writing songs for troubled times.
Steppenwolf frontman John Kay talks about "Magic Carpet Ride," "Born To Be Wild," and what he values more than awards and accolades.
Was Long Tall Sally a cross-dresser? Did he really set his piano on fire? See if you know the real stories about one of rock's greatest innovators.
The Canadian superstar talks about his sudden rise to fame, and tells the stories behind his hits "Sunglasses At Night," "Boy In The Box" and "Never Surrender."
Jim talks about the impact of "The Middle" and uses a tree metaphor to describe his songwriting philosophy.
Rick has a surprising dark side, a strong feminine side and, in a certain TV show, a naked backside. But he still hasn't found Jessie's Girl.