Johnny Cash

Haggard attended three of Johnny Cash's concerts at San Quentin. Seeing Cash perform encouraged Haggard to straighten up and pursue his singing. Several years later, at another Cash concert, Haggard came up to Johnny and told him, "I certainly enjoyed your show at San Quentin." Cash said "Merle, I don't remember you bein' in that show." Merle Haggard said, "Johnny, I wasn't in that show, I was in the audience."

Lady Marmalade

The song has received many cover versions over the years. The 2001 version by singers Christina Aguilera, Lil' Kim, Mýa, and Pink was a single for the Moulin Rouge! film's soundtrack.

It was the anthem of the Nazi party from 1930 to 1945

From 1933 to 1945 the Nazis made it a co-national anthem of Germany, along with the first stanza of Deutschlandlied. The lyrics were written in 1929 by Horst Wessel. Wessel was murdered by a Communist party member in February 1930, and Nazi propagandist Dr. Joseph Goebbels made him a martyr of the Nazi movement.

'Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire' or 'Merry Christmas to You'

According to Tormé, the song was written during a blistering hot summer. In an effort to “stay cool by thinking cool,” the most-performed (according to BMI) Christmas song was born.

Michael Jackson's 'Thriller' and Janet Jackson's 'Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1814'

Bennie and the Jets

It first appeared on the Goodbye Yellow Brick Road album in 1973.

Kraftwerk

Kraftwerk is currently listed as the most deserving band who has yet to receive enshrinement to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame according to the website, www.notinhalloffame.com.

Jane's Addiction

Salt-N-Pepa

Salt-N-Pepa is the best selling female rap act.

Milli Vanilli

The act became one of the most popular pop acts in the late 1980s and early 1990s. However, their success turned to infamy when their Grammy was revoked after it was revealed that the lead vocals on the record were not the actual voices of Morvan and Pilatus. In 1998, ten years after Milli Vanilli's initial debut, Pilatus was found dead in a Frankfurt hotel of an apparent drug overdose.

Lady Gaga

Taps

Taps concludes many military funerals conducted with honors at Arlington National Cemetery, as well as hundreds of others around the United States. Taps is also sounded nightly in military installations at non-deployed locations to indicate that it is "lights out."

Macarena by Los Del Rio

The Lady of the Lake

Turn! Turn! Turn! (to Everything There is a Season)

The lines are open to myriad interpretations, but as a song they are commonly performed as a plea for world peace, with an emphasis on the closing line: "a time for peace, I swear it's not too late." This line and the title phrase "Turn! Turn! Turn!" are the only parts of the lyric written by Seeger himself.

St. Louis Blues

It was composed by W.C. Handy in the blues style. Published in September 1914 by Handy's own company, it later gained such popularity that it inspired the dance step the "Foxtrot".

Joseph Haydn

Isolated from other composers and trends in music until the later part of his long life, he was, as he put it, "forced to become original". He is often called the "Father of the Symphony" and "Father of the String Quartet" because of his important contributions to these genres.

Elvis Presley's

They are best known across the world as the backup vocalists for a number of Elvis Presley's hit singles, with whom they performed for more than fifteen years and backed up on well over 100 different songs (singles and album cuts, on television and in a number of films).

Tupelo Honey

Traveling Wilburys

"Wilburys" was a slang term coined by Harrison and Lynne during the recording of Cloud Nine as a pet name for various types of equipment in the recording studio.

Bayreuth

Wagner himself conceived of and promoted the idea of a special festival to showcase his own works, in particular his monumental cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen and Parsifal. Performances take place in a specially designed theatre, the Festspielhaus.

Baby, It's Cold Outside

he female voice in the song is called "The Mouse" and the male "The Wolf." In 1948, after years of informally performing the song at various parties, Loesser sold its rights to MGM, which inserted the song into its 1949 motion picture, Neptune's Daughter. The film featured two performances of the song: one by Ricardo Montalbán and Esther Williams and the other by Red Skelton and Betty Garrett. These performances earned Loesser an Academy Award for Best Original Song.

Turandot

Major Tom

Don't Stop Believing (by) Journey

The song has been included in many TV shows and movies, including The Sopranos, Glee, and a cover version of the song in Family Guy, and the movies The Comebacks and Bedtime Stories.

Carmen by Bizet

"For He's a Jolly Good Fellow"

The tune comes from the French song Malbrouk which it has been claimed was composed the night after the Battle of Malplaquet (one of the main battles of the War of the Spanish Succession) in 1709.

Altamont Free Concert

Filmmakers Albert and David Maysles shot footage of the event and incorporated it into a documentary film entitled Gimme Shelter (1970).

The Immaculate Collection

The album includes eight of her twelve U.S. number one singles and five of thirteen U.K. number ones. Originally titled Ultra Madonna, the name was changed as Warner Bros felt that it was too similar to the name of dance artist Ultra Naté. Madonna dedicated the album to "The Pope, my divine inspiration". This led to many believing it was dedicated to Pope John Paul II, but it was actually dedicated to her brother, Christopher Ciccone, who had spent the year on tour with Madonna ("The Pope" is one of his nicknames).

Alphaville

Scat singing

Scat singing gives singers the ability to sing improvised melodies and rhythms, to create the equivalent of an instrumental solo using their voice. Ella Fitzgerald is generally considered one of the great scat singers in jazz history.

Foo Fighters

Zadok the Priest

It is one of the four Coronation Anthems that Handel composed for the coronation of George II of Great Britain in 1727.

Westminster Chimes

It was written in 1793 for a new clock in St Mary the Great, the University Church in Cambridge and there is some doubt over exactly who composed it. In the mid-19th century the chime was adopted by the clock tower at the Palace of Westminster (where Big Ben hangs), whence its fame spread. It is now possibly the most commonly used chime for striking clocks.

Volare

It is also the only foreign-language recording (sung entirely in Italian) to take this top honor.

A Yellow Ribbon from "Tie a Yellow Ribbon 'Round the Ole Oak Tree"

In the song, it was the sign a released convict requested from his wife or lover, to indicate that she still wanted him and that he would therefore be welcome to return home. He would be able to see it from the bus driving by their house, and would stay on the bus in the absence of the ribbon. He turned out to be very welcome: there were a hundred yellow ribbons. During the Iran hostage crisis, the yellow ribbon was used a symbol of support for the hostages held at the U.S. embassy in Tehran. The yellow ribbon saw renewed popularity in the United States during the Gulf War in the early 1990s.

Crosby - The Byrds, Stills - Buffalo Springfield , Nash - The Hollies

The group's name is augmented to Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young (CSNY) when including occasional fourth member Neil Young.(Thanks to Susan Shaffer for sending in a correction.)

Gabriel's Horn

Payola

The term has come to refer to any secret payment made to cast a product in a positive light (such as obtaining positive reviews). Under US law, a radio station can play a specific song in exchange for money, but this must be disclosed on the air as being sponsored airtime, and that play of the song should not be counted as a "regular airplay." The term gets its name as a take-off of the names of some early record-playing machines, such as Victrola or Rockola.

Dick Dale

Iko Iko

The song was popularised by The Dixie Cups in 1965. It has also been covered by Cyndi Lauper, the Grateful Dead, Cowboy Mouth, Warren Zevon, Long John Baldry, Dave Matthews & Friends, Indigo Girls, The Ordinary Boys, Glass Candy, and Sharon, Lois & Bram among others. Aaron Carter covered the song for The Little Vampire soundtrack, and The Belle Stars' cover was featured in the film Rain Man.

Johann Sebastian Bach

Bach's compositions comprise three of the 27 recordings chosen.

Carl Orff (1895-1982)

His Carmina Burana was hugely popular in Nazi Germany after its premiere in Frankfurt in 1937, receiving numerous performances.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_orff)

Theremin

The controlling section generally consists of two metal antennas to sense the relative position of the player's hands. These sensors control audio oscillator(s) for frequency from one hand, and volume from the other. The electric signals from the theremin are amplified and sent to a loudspeaker. To play the theremin, the player moves his hands around the two metal antennas, which control the instrument's frequency (pitch) and amplitude (volume). The theremin is widely associated with "alien", surreal, and eerie-sounding portamento, glissando, tremolo, and vibrato sounds, due to its use in film soundtracks such as Spellbound and The Lost Weekend.

"The Star-Spangled Banner", the national anthem of the United States.

Francis Scott Key, a 35-year-old amateur poet, wrote "Defence of Fort McHenry" after seeing the bombardment of Fort McHenry in Baltimore, Maryland by British ships in Chesapeake Bay during the War of 1812. The poem was set to the tune of a popular British drinking song, written by John Stafford Smith for the Anacreontic Society, a London social club.

Songs that made it onto the list twice under different artists.

1) "Blue Suede Shoes," by Carl Perkins (1956; #95), covered by Elvis Presley (1956; #423) 2)"Mr. Tambourine Man," by Bob Dylan (1965; #106), covered by The Byrds (1965; #79) 3)"Walk This Way," by Aerosmith (1975; #336), remade with Run-D.M.C. (1987; #287).

Gloomy Sunday

There have been several urban legends regarding the song over the years, mostly involving it being allegedly connected with various numbers of suicides, and radio networks reacting by purportedly banning the song.

Mike + The Mechanics

We Shall Overcome

Pizzicato

Garth Brooks

Lucille

In the winter of 1949, King played at a dance hall in Twist, Arkansas. In order to heat the hall, a barrel half-filled with kerosene was lit, a fairly common practice. During a performance, two men began to fight, knocking over the burning barrel and sending burning fuel across the floor. This triggered an evacuation. Once outside, King realized that he had left his guitar inside the burning building. He entered the blaze to retrieve his guitar, a Gibson acoustic. Two people died in the fire. The next day, King learned that the two men were fighting over a woman named Lucille. King named that first guitar Lucille, as well as every one he owned since that near-fatal experience, as a reminder never again to do something as stupid as run into a burning building.

Whiskey in the Jar

Sting

Sting has stated that his only contribution was the "I Want My MTV" line, which was sung in partial parody of his own song "Don't Stand So Close to Me", originally recorded by The Police. When Dire Straits performed "Money For Nothing" at the 1985 Live Aid Concert at Wembley Stadium, the performance featured a guest appearance by Sting. As a result of this performance, this helped launch not only the song, but Dire Straits themselves into international superstars. "Money for Nothing" won the Grammy for the Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with a Vocal in 1985 at the 28th annual Grammy Awards.

Ace of Base

They settled on Ace of Base, because they were the "masters of their studio", the basement of a car-repair shop.

5th Symphony

This symphony is one of the most popular and well-known compositions in all of European classical music, and one of the most often-played symphonies. It comprises four movements: an opening sonata allegro, an andante, and a fast scherzo which leads attacca to the finale. First performed in Vienna's Theater an der Wien in 1808, the work achieved its prodigious reputation soon afterwards. At the time, E.T.A. Hoffmann described the symphony as "one of the most important works of the time".

Having the music mimic the literal meaning of a song.

For example, ascending scales would accompany lyrics about going up; slow, dark music would accompany lyrics about death.

Alan Parsons

Wonderwall Music

Rock the Casbah

The song was inspired by the banning of rock music in Iran under Ayatollah Khomeini. The song gives a fabulist account of the ban being defied by the population, who proceed to "rock the casbah". The King orders jet fighters to bomb any people in violation of the ban. The pilots ignore the orders, and instead play rock music on their cockpit radios.

"Don't Worry, Be Happy"

Meher Baba (1894-1969) often used the expression "Don't worry, be happy" when cabling his followers in the west. Later, in the 1960's, this well used expression by Baba was printed up on inspiration cards and even day-glo posters of the era. In 1988, Bobby McFerrin noticed a similar poster in the apartment of the jazz band Tuck & Patti in San Francisco. Inspired by the expression's charm and simplicity, McFerrin wrote the now famous song.

New Order

New Order melded post-punk and electronic dance, and became one of the most critically acclaimed bands of the 1980s. Though the band were shadowed by the legacy of Joy Division in their first years, their immersion in the New York City dance scene of the early 1980s introduced them to dance music. The band's 1983 hit "Blue Monday", saw them fully embrace dance music and synthesized instruments, and has been described as the best-selling 12" single of all time.

Randy Newman

Newman is noted for his practice of writing lyrics from the perspective of a "character" far removed from Newman's own biography, often utilizing the literary device of an unreliable narrator. For example, the 1972 song "Sail Away" is written as slave trader's sales pitch to attract slaves, while the narrator of "Political Science" is a U.S. nationalist who complains of worldwide ingratitude toward America and proposes a brutally ironic final solution ("Let's drop the big one").

Like a Prayer

The video topped MTV's countdown of 100 Videos That Broke The Rules in 2005, and for the 25th anniversary of MTV, viewers voted the video as the Most Groundbreaking Music Video of All Time.

Dixie Chicks

The ensuing controversy cost the group half of their concert audience attendance in the United States as chronicled in the 2006 documentary Dixie Chicks: Shut Up and Sing. The full text of the statement Natalie Maines made was: Just so you know, we’re on the good side with y’all. We do not want this war, this violence, and we’re ashamed that the President of the United States is from Texas.

The Ring Cycle/Wagner's Ring

The operas are based loosely on characters from the Norse sagas and the Nibelungenlied, an epic poem in Middle High German.

Video Killed the Radio Star

On February 27, 2000 it also became the millionth video to be aired on MTV.

Chuck Berry

Berry was among the first musicians to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on its opening in 1986. He received Kennedy Center Honors in 2000 in a "class" with Mikhail Baryshnikov, Plácido Domingo, Angela Lansbury, and Clint Eastwood. In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked Chuck Berry #5 on their list of The Immortals: 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. He was also ranked 6th on Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.

Part II of 'Another brick in the wall'.

It is best known for the line "We Don't Need No Education". It is a protest song against rigid schooling in general and boarding schools in particular which has led to the song being banned in several countries. This single also gave Pink Floyd a Grammy nomination for Best Performance by a Rock Duo or Group but they lost to Bob Seger's "Against the Wind".

John Cage (1912-1992)

Though he remains a controversial figure, he is generally regarded as one of the most important composers of his era. Cage was a long-term collaborator and romantic partner of choreographer Merce Cunningham. In addition to his composing, Cage was also a philosopher, writer, printmaker, and avid amateur mycologist and mushroom collector.

Umm Kulthum (1898-1975)

Umm Kulthum is remembered in the Arab world as one of the greatest singers and musicians who have ever lived and even today, she has retained a near mythical status amongst young Arabs. Her funeral was attended by over 4 million mourners.

Water Music

A legend follows that Handel composed the Water Music to regain the favour of King George I.

Cop Killer

Bob Marley (1945-1981)

Electric Ladyland

In 2005 Q magazine readers voted Electric Ladyland the 38th greatest album of all time; in 2003 the TV network VH1 placed it at number 72. In 2003, Rolling Stone declared it the 54th greatest album of all time.

Libretto

It is an Italian word which translates literally as "little book." It is distinct from a synopsis or scenario of the plot. The term "libretto" is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as mass and requiem.

Aaron Copland (1900 - 1990)

Copland's music achieved a difficult balance between modern music and American folk styles, and the open, slowly changing harmonies of many of his works are said to evoke the vast American landscape. Aside from composing, Copland taught, presented music-related lectures, wrote books and articles, and served as a conductor.

Let It Be

Previously this site incorrectly listed 'Abbey Road' (1969) as the last released album. It was in fact the last album started by The Beatles although its release preceded that of 'Let It Be'.(Many thanks to Andrew H for sending in the correction.)

The Wind in the Willows

However, the songs on the album are not directly related to the contents of the book.

Madama Butterfly

It is an opera in three acts (originally two acts) by Giacomo Puccini. The opera belongs essentially to the city of Nagasaki, and according to American scholar Arthur Groos was based on events that actually occurred there in the early 1890s. Japan's best-known opera singer Miura Tamaki won international fame for her performances as Cio-Cio-san and her statue, together with that of Puccini, can be found in Nagasaki's Glover Garden.

Loretta Lynn

Her song "Dear Uncle Sam", released in 1966, was an early protest of the Vietnam War, and was added to live sets during the current Iraq War.

Frank Sinatra

In May 1941, Sinatra was at the top of the male singer polls in the Billboard and Downbeat magazines. His appeal to bobby soxers revealed a whole new audience for popular music, which had been recorded mainly for adults up to that time.

Simon & Garfunkel

Dueling Banjos from Deliverance

The song was originally composed by Arthur "Guitar Boogie" Smith and Don Reno as Feuding Banjos in 1955. In the film, the boy Lonny eventually outplays Drew Ballinger.

Men at Work for 'Down Under'(1982) and ABBA for 'Dancing Queen'(1976)

'Down Under' was re-released as an unofficial theme song during Australia's successful 1983 America's Cup challenge, and has become an unofficial national anthem for many Aussies. (Thanks to Jon M for sending in a correction.)

Cat Stevens

Brian Epstein

He also managed numerous other groups like Gerry & The Pacemakers, Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas, and solo artists like Cilla Black.

Franz Schubert (1797-1828)

He wrote some 600 Lieder, seven completed symphonies, the famous "Unfinished Symphony", liturgical music, operas, and a large body of chamber and solo piano music. He is particularly noted for his genius for original melodic and harmonic writing.

James Brown (1933-2006)

As a prolific singer, songwriter, bandleader, and record producer, Brown was a pivotal force in the evolution of gospel and rhythm and blues into soul and funk. He left his mark on numerous other musical genres, including rock, jazz, disco, dance and electronic music, reggae and hip hop.

The Kinks

Members of the Kinks have concurred with music critics: Kinks guitarist Dave Davies has been known to add snippets of 'Hello, I Love You' during solo live performances of 'All Day and All of the Night' as a sarcastic commentary on the subject.

The Phantom of the Opera

It is now the longest running Broadway show in history and also the most lucrative entertainment enterprise of all time, with its worldwide box office over the past 20 years out-grossing even the highest grossing film in history, Titanic. The story is about a man named Erik, the Phantom of the Opera, an eccentric, physically deformed genius who terrorizes the Opera Garnier in Paris, France. He builds his home beneath it and takes the love of his life, a beautiful soprano, under his wing.

The opera Fidelio

The opera is a central work of Beethoven's so-called "middle period," and like much of Beethoven's music of this time it emphasizes heroism.

Streets of Philadelphia/Philadelphia

The song, along with the film, was applauded by many for its sympathetic portrayal of a gay man dying of AIDS. The music video for the song shows Springsteen's actual vocal performance, recorded using a hidden microphone, to a prerecorded instrumental track. This was a technique developed on the "Brilliant Disguise" video.

A luthier

The word luthier comes from the French (its word for lute is "luth"). The makers that originally built lutes eventually built violins and other string instruments as well, but the appellation remained.

UB40 (UB40 = Unemployment Benefit, Form 40)

UB40 are arguably the number one reggae act of all time in terms of record sales (over 55 million), chart positions and touring schedule.

Ride of the Valkyries

The Man Who Broke The bank At Monte Carlo

It was probably inspired by the exploits of Charles Wells, who broke the bank on many occasions on the first two of his three trips.

George Harrison

The Allman Brothers Band

Duane Allman (2nd), Warren Haynes (23rd), Dickey Betts (58th), and Derek Trucks (81st).

The Song Remains the Same

The recording of the film took place during three nights of concerts at Madison Square Garden in New York in 1973, during the band's Houses of the Holy tour. "The Song Remains the Same" is also a Led Zeppelin song from their 1973 album Houses of the Holy.

Waltzing Matilda

There have been persistent calls for the establishment of "Waltzing Matilda" as the national anthem instead of the current national anthem, "Advance Australia Fair". The song is recognisable and easily sung, but its lyrics, narrating the story of a swagman, the Australian equivalent of a tramp, render it unlikely to ever gain acceptance in official circles.

JFK and Nixon

The song was a huge commercial success and provided Billy Joel with his third, and final, Billboard #1 hit. Although the song ranked #1 in the US, and #7 in the UK, Blender magazine ranked "We Didn't Start the Fire" #44 on its list of the 50 worst songs ever.

Brahms (1883-1897)

Brahms wrote, among others, a number of major works for orchestra, including four symphonies, two piano concertos, and the pair of orchestral overtures. Despite his reputation as a serious composer of complex musical designs, some of Brahms's commercially successful compositions were aimed at the large contemporary market of domestic music making, and are small-scale and popular in intention.

The Goldberg Variations published in 1741

It was once seen as a boring technical exercise but is today considered one of the most important examples of its form. Today, the emotional content and range of the work is increasingly realised, and it has become a favorite work of many classical music listeners. The Variations are widely performed and recorded, and have been the subject of many articles, books and analytical studies.

Ragtime

The defining characteristic of ragtime music is a specific type of syncopation in which melodic accents fall between metrical beats. This results in a melody that seems to be avoiding some metrical beats of the accompaniment by emphasizing notes that either anticipate or follow the beat. The intended effect on the listener is actually to accentuate the beat, thereby inducing the listener to move to the music.

Marian Anderson

On January 27, 2005, a commemorative U.S. postage stamp honored Marian Anderson as part of the Black Heritage series.

Colonel Bogie's March

Giorgio Moroder

He won in these categories: Best Original Score for Midnight Express (1978); Best Song for "Flashdance...What a Feeling", from the film Flashdance (1983); and Best Song for "Take My Breath Away", from Top Gun (1986).

The Downeaster Alexa

It is from the album Storm Front that also had the hits "We didn't start the fire", "I Go To Extremes", "Leningrad" and the ballad "And So It Goes".

The Sex Pistols

Although their initial career lasted only three years and produced only four singles and one studio album, the Sex Pistols have been described by the BBC as "the definitive English punk rock band." The Pistols are widely credited with initiating the punk movement in the United Kingdom and creating the first generation gap within rock and roll.

The Velvet Underground

Frank Zappa

After Hendrix's death in 1970, Zappa rebuilt the instrument and played it extensively during the 1970s and 1980s.