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Song Stories

“Pork and Beans”

Weezer | 2008

Lead singer Rivers Cuomo wrote this tune as an emotional reaction to a meeting with Weezer’s record label, Geffen, when they were asked to release more commercial-sounding tunes. "I came out of it pretty angry," Cuomo admitted to Rolling Stone. "But ironically, it inspired me to write another song." In a strange twist of fate, the song that was intended to be a defiant response to the record label's request ended up being one of the band's biggest hits, landing at the top of the charts.

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“Eruption”
Van Halen | 1978
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“I Wanna Dance With Somebody”
Whitney Houston | 1987

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Song Stories

“Let My Love Open the Door”

Pete Townshend | 1980

A peppy, hopeful love song, "Let My Love Open the Door" became a U. S. Top Ten hit for Pete Townshend in 1980, anchored by the kind of repeating synthesizer figures that he'd used in some of the Who's recordings in the previous decade. Although Townshend brushed the song off as "just a ditty" in Rolling Stone shortly after its release, in 1996 he revealed it was about love of the holiest sort. "It's supposed to be about the power of God's love," he remarked. "That when you're in difficulty, whether it's major or minor, God's love is always there for you."

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