Alan Lomax, along with his father John, helped catalogue, record and preserve folk music from every corner of the globe. He could also play; in this photo from the Library of Congress, he's playing the Mountain Music Festival in Asheville, North Carolina.
The White Stripes song "We're Going To Be Friends" is very innocent, but Jack White feared it would be interpreted cynically. It wasn't, and was even adapted into a children's book.
The game Lana Del Rey sings about in "Video Games" is World of Warcraft - her ex used to play it all the time.
"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.
Avril Lavigne's 2011 song "Darlin" was written much earlier; she says it's the second song she ever wrote, composed when she was an unsigned 15-year-old living in Napanee, Ontario. The song reflects those years when she was "trying to figure it all out."
The lead singer and pianist for Procol Harum, Gary talks about finding the musical ideas to match the words.
Before "Rap" was a form of music, it was something guys did to pick up girls in nightclubs. Donnie talks about "The Rapper" and reveals the identity of Leah.
The 2011 Artist of the Year at the Dove Awards isn't your typical gospel diva, and she thinks that's a good thing.
The Kiss rocker covers a lot of ground in this interview, including why there are no Kiss collaborations, and why the Rock Hall has "become a sham."
Stage urinals, flute devices, and the real Aqualung in this Fact or Fiction.
Switchfoot's frontman and main songwriter on what inspires the songs and how he got the freedom to say exactly what he means.
