How the Song Came to Be
The Doobie Brothers’ ‘What a Fool Believes’: Behind Their #1 Hit
The song almost didn’t happen. Michael McDonald’s sister told him it sounded like ‘circus music’ and to forget it. Good thing he didn’t listen to her!
Read MoreHow Dr. Hook Got on the ‘Cover of the Rolling Stone’
A band records a song about its burning desire to make it to the cover of the leading music magazine. We’ve got the backstory. Do you know who wrote it?
Read MoreElton John’s ‘Levon’: A Pauper to a Pawn
The first single from 1971’s Madman Across the Water is “one of our finest moments lyrically and melodically” and includes Paul Buckmaster’s soaring orchestral arrangements.
Read MoreFirst Banger: The Shredding Delight of the Beatles’ ‘Can’t Buy Me Love’
This is the first Beatles guitar solo that shreds, and it’s hard to fathom/estimate how many kids decided they wanted to be guitar heroes upon hearing Harrison’s thrilling break.
Read MoreThe Jaggerz’ ‘The Rapper’: You Know What He’s After
“The song was something that I wrote watching people in nightclubs. You’d see these dudes go over and start rapping to chicks,” said the band’s Donnie Iris.
Read MoreThe Ides of March and the Story of ‘Vehicle’
They took their band name from a Shakespeare classic, their biggest hit from a real-life incident, and they drove their way up the charts in the year 1970.
Read MoreJohnny Cash—’A Boy Named Sue’: Behind the Song
“That’s the most cleverly written song I’ve ever heard,” Cash told the song’s composer. It became Cash’s biggest hit single.
Read More‘Dancing in the Moonlight’—The Circuitous Path of the One and Only King Harvest Hit
Everybody was “Dancing in the Moonlight” in the early ’70s, but who was the band that recorded this catchy one-hit wonder? We decided to find out.
Read More‘Dueling Banjos’ From ‘Deliverance’: An Unlikely Hit
The song, featured prominently in the 1972 thriller, was used without the permission of its composer. There’s actually only one banjo used
Read MoreBon Jovi’s Game-Changing ‘Livin’ on a Prayer’
Guess who didn’t much care for the song that made the band a major force of rock for decades to come? And who’s just fine with it now…
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