Robinson thought Barrett Strong should record "Shop Around," but Gordy persuaded Smokey that he was the right man for the song. After it came out, Gordy heard it on the radio and found it way too slow. He woke Robinson at 3 a.m. and called him back to the studio to re-cut it — faster and with Robinson's vocal more prominent. That one worked.

Appears on:The Ultimate Collection (Motown)

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In the early 1990s, Cuomo had an awkward girlfriend who was routinely picked on. His efforts to stick up for her inspiredWeezer's breakthrough, a track whose bubble-grunge hooks and lines such as "I look just like Buddy Holly/And you're Mary Tyler Moore" helped the band reach a nation of pop-minded suburban punks. It also earned Weezer autographed photos from the real Mary Tyler Moore.

Appears on:Weezer (Geffen)

The Stones were in Toronto, rehearsing for their classic gigs at the El Mocambo Club, whenJagger, jamming with R&B legend Billy Preston, came up with "Miss You." With a disco groove and a touch of the blues via a harmonica player they found in a Paris subway, it became the band's first Number One hit in five years. "It's not really about a girl," Jagger said. "The feeling of longing is what the song is."

Appears on:Some Girls (Virgin)

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Springsteen wrote the track about 9/11, taking the viewpoint of a firefighter entering one of the Twin Towers ("Can't see nothin' in front of me …") before unleashing the gospel-tinged chorus. It was the title track from an album intended to help his fans cope with the tragedy. "The fundamental thing I hear from fans is, 'Man, you got me through' — whatever it is," he toldRolling Stone in 2002.

Appears on:The Rising (Columbia)

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TheRunning on Empty album wasBrowne's grand experiment: a set of all-new songs recorded onstage, in hotel rooms and on the tour bus. The title track was actually written while Browne was driving to the studio each day to makeThe Pretender. "I was always driving around with no gas in the car," he said. "I just never bothered to fill up the tank because — how far was it anyway? Just a few blocks."

Appears on:Running on Empty (Elektra)

The Stones take on slavery, sadomasochism, interracial sex — and make it catchy as hell. At Muscle Shoals studios,Jagger scrawled three verses on a pad, andRichards supplied an impossibly raunchy riff. Add some exultant punctuations and you have a Stones concert staple.

Appears on:Sticky Fingers (Virgin)

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R. Kelly's automotive metaphors for booty-knockin' in "Ignition" are subtler than they might've been; the lyrics were toned down at the request of a Chicago radio station. OnChocolate Factory, the original version of the song segued immediately into the hit remix.

Appears on:Chocolate Factory (Jive)

Appears on:Oracular Spectacular (Columbia)

Attempting to jump-start a solo career after her stint in the Runaways,Jett had her demo tape to "I Love Rock 'N Roll" rejected by 23 record labels. Tiny Boardwalk Records finally bit, but the label sold her the radio rights to the track for $2,500. Today, the song is worth nearly $20 million.

Appears on:I Love Rock 'N Roll (Blackheart)

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Coldplay were scrambling to finish their second album and wanted to save "Clocks," with a churning piano riff inspired by the bandMuse, for a later album. Luckily, a friend intervened. "He said, 'You're going on [in the lyrics] about urgency, and you're talking about keeping this song back,' " said Chris Martin. " 'That doesn't make sense.' "

Appears on:A Rush of Blood to the Head (Capitol)

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"I've never been a big fan of irony," Smith said, which might be why this reverie of love, cut at a vineyard in the South of France, is his favoriteCure song. The band's girlfriends influenced the music. "The girls would sit on the sofa in the back of the control room and give the songs marks out of 10," he said. "So there was a really big female input."

Appears on:Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me (Elektra)

Before "I'm Eighteen,"Cooper was just another hairy rock oddball. But this proto-punk smash defined the age when, in Cooper's words, you're "old enough to be drafted but not old enough to vote." A few years later, Johnny Rotten sang this at his audition for theSex Pistols; by then, Cooper was a guest onThe Muppet Show.

Appears on:Love It to Death (Warner Bros.)

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In 1975,Bowie traded his glammed-out Ziggy Stardust persona for an exploration of what he called "plastic soul." Yet this R&B homage is one of his warmest, wildest tales, recorded in Philadelphia with a then-unknownLuther Vandross on backing vocals and David Sanborn wailing on sax. "It's about a newlywed couple who don't know if they really like each other," Bowie said.

Appears on:Young Americans (Virgin)

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Appears on:Nightbirds (Epic)

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This breakup aria marked the formation of theTimberlake–Timbaland team, a match made in pop heaven. The stunning video — in which Justin stalks an actress dressed to look like his exBritney Spears — made clear the inspiration for "River." "It's a good-ass video," Timberlake toldRolling Stone. "I didn't want anyone to come off smelling like roses."

Appears on:Justified (Jive)

"White Rabbit" was a trippy rock & roll bolero written byAirplane vocalist Slick. "Our parents read us stories likePeter Pan,Alice in Wonderland andThe Wizard of Oz," Slick said. "They all have a place where children get drugs, and are able to fly or see an Emerald City or experience extraordinary animals and people… And our parents are suddenly saying, 'Why are you taking drugs?' Well,hello!"

Appears on:Surrealistic Pillow (RCA)

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Pop gurus Max Martin and Lukasz "Dr. Luke" Gottwald wrote this indignant track withPink in mind, butClarkson's A&R rep snatched it up for the first-ever American Idol. The result was a career-making hit that gave teen pop a feisty new template. "I went to seeFoo Fighters when I was off in Texas," Clarkson said, "and the first thing Dave Grohl said to me was, 'I love that song!' "

Appears on:Breakaway (RCA)

James wasn't exactly modest about his ambitions. As he declared in 1981, "I wanna makePaul McCartney white-boy money!" He got it with the self-described "punk funk" of "Super Freak," from his breakthrough album,Street Songs. James enlisted theTemptations for background vocals. The song got a second life when MC Hammer jacked it for the 1990 megasmash "U Can't Touch This."

Appears on:Street Songs (Motown)

Adam "MCA" Yauch came up with the killer fuzz-bass riff at Manhattan's Tin Pan Alley studio, but it wasn't until a year later that the song was finished in L.A. With two weeks to go beforeIll Communication was completed, Adam "Ad-Rock" Horovitz got all hot and bothered about paparazzi on the mike and came out of the song's breakdown with a scream for the ages.

Appears on:Ill Communication (Capitol)

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Youthful angst on the Lower East Side:Lou Reed vocals and cool confusion, driven by the surging, garage-band sound that would go on to define early-2000s rock.The Strokes supposedly nicked the opening riff fromTom Petty's "American Girl." "I saw an interview with them where they admitted it," Petty toldRolling Stone. "I was like, 'OK, good for you.' It doesn't bother me."

Appears on:Is This It (RCA)

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Morrissey cribbed lyrics from George Eliot, but guitarist Marr cited another reference: Derek and the Dominos. "I wanted an intro that was almost as potent as 'Layla,'" he said. "When [it] plays in a club or a pub, everyone knows what it is."

Appears on:Meat Is Murder (Warner Bros.)

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Franklin disappeared after a 1967 session in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, leaving this simmering ballad unfinished. A few weeks later, she resurfaced in New York. The resulting vocal, said producer Wexler, was "perfection."

Appears on:I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You (Rhino)

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After eight flop singles, the trio were known as the "No-HitSupremes." The Marvelettes — Motown's top girl group at that point — passed on this song, and the Supremes didn't like their own recording. Until it hit Number One, that is. That foot-stomping beat is actually two boards banged together.

Appears on:The Ultimate Collection (Motown)

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"Into the Mystic" is one ofMorrison's warmest ballads, anOtis Redding-style reverie with acoustic guitar and horns. The lyrics are truly mysterious: "People say, 'What does this mean?' " said Morrison. "A lot of times I have no idea what I mean. That's what I like about rock & roll — the concept. LikeLittle Richard — what does he mean? You can't take him apart; that's rock & roll to me."

Appears on:Moondance (Warner Bros.)

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Slash's Seventies-metal crunch andAxl's hell-bound shriek brought brutal realism to the L.A. glam-metal scene. "They're real-life stories, these fuckin' songs," bassist Duff McKagan said. "Jungle" beckoned listeners into theGunners' sordid Hollywood milieu, but Rose's inspiration came from getting lost during his first trip to New York.

Appears on:Appetite for Destruction (Geffen)

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Cheap Trick provided the ultimate Seventies teen anthem in "Surrender," with a verse about a kid who catches his parents making out and gets stoned to hisKiss records. Guitarist- songwriter Nielsen's secret? "I [had] to go back and put myself in the head of a 14-year-old."

Appears on:Heaven Tonight (Epic)

Like so many other Motown hits, "Standing" features the popping bass of James Jamerson. He was such a monster player, his fellow musicians called him "Igor";Marvin Gaye called him a genius.

Appears on:The Ultimate Collection (Motown)

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The B side of “Paperback Writer” wasLennon‘s response to people moaning about the wet British weather. It featured one of the earliest uses of backward tape, which Lennon said was the result of being stoned and spooling up the tape wrong. It also included virtuoso drumming fromRingo Starr. “I feel as though that was someone else playing,” Starr said. “I was possessed!”

Appears on:Past Masters (Capitol/Apple)

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For this thumping ode to conspicuous consumption, the king of New York rap hooked up with Houston rap dons UGK over a beat that sounds like it was cut in Cairo.Timbaland allegedly based the melody on a 1957 song by Egyptian Abdel Halim Hafez.

Appears on:Vol. 3: Life and Times of S. Carter (Roc-A-Fella)

Elliott was convinced thatMiss E needed one more track. SoTimbaland cooked up a stuttering, tabla-laden beat based onbhangra, an Indian dance genre he heard while traveling, and plucked out the signature six-note riff on atumbi, a one-stringed Punjabi guitar.

Appears on:Miss E … So Addictive (Atlantic/ATG)

For Chess Records' first single,Waters turned Mississippi bluesman Robert Petway's "Catfish Blues" into a spare track he named "Rollin' Stone." "We wouldn't do it exactly like those older fellows," Waters said. "We put the beat with it, put a little drive to it."The Rolling Stones took their name from it, as did, in part, this magazine.

Appears on:The Anthology: 1947-1972 (Chess/MCA)

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The Paisley Park band Mazarati askedPrince for a song, so he dashed off a bluesy acoustic demo for them. Mazarati added a funk groove, and Prince was smart enough to take the song back.

Appears on:Parade (Warner Bros.)

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Written in the L.A. apartmentCobain shared with Courtney Love, this haunting meditation on remorse was originally produced by punk malcontent Albini, but thenR.E.M. producer Scott Litt was brought in to smooth it out — the original had a long stream of feedback on it. Cobain's shredded vocals maintain the punk edge in the hushedMTV Unplugged in New York rendition.

Appears on: In Utero (Geffen)

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This was cut twice: first as a single that was rushed to radio and became one of theRamones' few modest hits, then in a slightly souped-up version for the band's album Rocket to Russia. "I combined Sheena, Queen of the Jungle, with the primalness of punk rock," said Joey Ramone. "It was funny, because all the girls in New York seemed to change their names to Sheena after that."

Appears on:Rocket to Russia (Rhino)

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The first hit for an ex-Beatle, it featuresHarrison's teardrop slide licks and a melody virtually identical to the Chiffons' "He's So Fine." After a lawsuit, Harrison had to pay $587,000 to his former manager Allen Klein, who then owned the rights to "He's So Fine." "It made me so paranoid about writing," Harrison said. "I thought, 'I don't even want to touch the guitar, in case I'm touching somebody's note.'"

Appears on:All Things Must Pass (Capitol)

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For nearly seven minutes,Axl Rose expounds on the joys of green grass, pretty girls and toxic chemicals. The song was written in the back of a van as the band drove home to L.A. after a gig in San Francisco, with all the members tossing in lines. In a typically tastefulG n' R move, the video has footage of the band's 1988 gig at Castle Donington in the U.K. — where two fans were crushed to death.

Appears on:Appetite for Destruction (Geffen)

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Cooke's producers had asked him to write a song for a girl they had seen on a Perry Como TV show — but once they heard her sing, they kept "Cupid" for Cooke to do himself. It was Cooke's idea to drop in the sound of an arrow being fired "straight to my lover's heart."

Appears on:Greatest Hits (RCA)

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AfterLennon composed "Strawberry Fields Forever,"McCartney wrote his own snappy memoir. Penny Lane was a Liverpool bus stop where Lennon and McCartney often met. "John came over and helped me with the third verse, as was often the case," McCartney said. "We were writing recently faded memories from eight or 10 years before."

Appears on:Magical Mystery Tour (Capitol/Apple)

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This seven-minute, two-chord track spiked out its territory with lyrics about shooting up until you felt like Jesus' son. "It wasn't pro or con,"Reed said. "It was about taking heroin from the point of view of someone taking it. I'm still not sure what was such a big deal. So there's a song called 'Heroin.' So what?" Drummer Moe Tucker disagreed: "I consider it our greatest triumph."

Appears on:The Velvet Underground and Nico (Polydor)

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Toots and the Maytals were already reggae stars — they coined the word on 1968's "Do the Reggay" — before "Pressure Drop." They were rumored to be Chris Blackwell's choice overBob Marley and the Wailers when he wanted a group for his Island label.

Appears on:The Harder They Come (Hip-O)

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"It's just about people and what they're expected to act like,"Cobain said. "The lines in the song are really contradictory. They're kind of a rebuttal to each other." The song is driven by a simple riff that Vig goosed with a flanged, subaquatic guitar effect. Cobain apparently lifted it from a 1985 song by U.K. art-metal band Killing Joke, whom Dave Grohl paid back 12 years later by drumming on their 2003 album.

Appears on:Nevermind (Geffen)

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Late one night, while Sonny andCher were living in their manager's house, Bono woke up Cher and asked her to listen to "I Got You Babe" and to sing the lyrics, which he had written on a piece of shirt cardboard. She thought it was OK but really wanted a song that modulated. So he changed the key at the bridge and woke Cher up again hours later to hear it; she was delighted.

Appears on:The Beat Goes On: The Best of Sonny and Cher (Atlantic)