In 1964 James Brown first recorded I Got You (I Feel Good) - Brown's highest ranking number one hit single (out of 18) on Billboard's Hot 100 chart. Brown produced the song by reworking Yvonne Fair's I Found You - a song Brown produced in 1962 for Fair, one of his back-up singers. When the song was recorded in 1964, the releasee was halted by a complicated lawsuit involving Smash Records and King Records. The song was still being heavily promoted by Brown, who played it regularly on the road (335 days a year). In 1965, Brown recorded the song again adding a guitar, more sax and stronger screams. The new recording was released without a problem.

Iin 1969, Robbie Van Leeuwen, guitarist of the Netherlands rock group Shocking Blue, borrowed the guitar riff from The Who's Pinball Wizard and wrote the classic rock hit Venus. When the group recorded the song in English, they were a bit confused on the translation of the lyrics. Despite the first line of the song being misspoken by lead singer Mariska Veres, the song was a number one hit. The first line should have been "A goddess on the mountain top", but it erroneously went "A goodness on the mountain top". Although many didn't notice, some cover versions went with the misspoken line. In 1986, British girl group Bananarama had a international number one hit with their cover of Venus. Bananarama released the song on their third album, but it was one of the first songs that the group performed when they formed in 1979.

The Ides Of March was a band formed by a group of teenagers in 1965 - their name was borrowed from a line out of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. In 1968, the group added a horn section, and in 1970 they released their most successful song - Vehicle. The song was the fastest selling single in Warner Brothers history. The song is a love story written by lead singer and guitarist Jim Peterik, which was inspired by a break-up line he spontaneously blurted out - "You know all I am to you is your vehicle." After the song became a hit, Peterik ended up getting back together with the girl he had written the song for. They have been married for over 30 years. In 1978 Peterik formed the group Survivor, and he co-wrote Eye Of The Tiger and all of Survivor's hits. Although he was lead singer for Ides Of March, Peterik didn't sing in Survivor.

Bohemian Rhapsody was released on Queen's 1975 A Night At The Opera album. At the time,  A Night At The Opera was the most expensive record ever made. Freddie Mercury never revealed the meaning of or the inspiration of the song Bohemian Rhapsody. There has always been a lot of speculation to the meaning of the song, and the band has agreed to keep the song's meaning a secret. The 5:55 minute song was considered too long for radio play, and Mercury was heavily pressured by the record company to cut a edit version of Bohemian Rhapsody. Mercury refused, and the song still hit number one in the UK shortly after being released. Ironically, the song that knocked Bohemian Rhapsody off the top of the UK charts was Abba's Mama Mia. The two songs share a common verse - "Oh mama mia, mama mia, mama mia let him go."

Bela Lugosi's Dead was the first single from Bauhaus in 1979. The lyrics of the song were written by bassist David J, who was inspired after watching a marathon on horror and vampire movies on British television. The release of this dark 9-minute long song is considered to by many to mark the start of the goth subculture. Bauhaus was known to often set the stage with a coffin and gloomy lighting, and lead singer Peter Murphy would be made up like a vampire. Murphy had a successful solo career on the side, and the other band members had their own band on the side - Love and Rockets.

Freddie's Dead was the first single from Curtis Mayfield's spectacular soundtrack to the movie Super Fly. The song was released in 1972, just before the movie was released. Only the instrumental version is used in the movie, and it appears several times throughout the movie. In 1972, Freddie's Dead was nominated for a Grammy, but lost to The Temptation's hit Papa Was A Rolling Stone.

Every year around halloween, I Put A Spell On You by Screamin' Jay Hawkins become's a popular song. Hawkins recorded this song in 1956, he wrote the song after being dumped by his girlfriend, and his longing for her to take him back. The original version was banned on most radio stations because of it's grunts and groans. The producers created an intentionally "weird" sound by having the musicians consume food and liquor during the recording session. The song was particularly popular among teenagers because it's sound was considered forbidden. The song has been covered numerous times, and was famously sampled by Notorious B.I.G. on 1997's Kick In The Door. Hawkins died in 2000, and is rumored to have over 50 children across the country.

Stevie Wonder introduced Do I Do on his 1982 album Stevie Wonder's Original Musiquarium 1. The album is a collection of Wonder's hits, which featured Do I Do as one of the album's four new songs. The 10 and half minute long song features a Dizzy Gillespie solo, and a rare rap by Stevie Wonder at the end of the track. Do I Do was sampled in 2000 by rapper Ja Rule on his hit song Livin' It Up, which is featured on his 2001 Pain Is Love album

Happy Days Are Here Again was written in 1929 by Jack Yellen and Milton Ager. The song was introduced in the 1930 film Chasing Rainbows, where it was performed by violinist and bandleader Leo Reisman and His Orchestra, with vocals by Lou Levin. The song has since appeared in dozens of films. The song was also prominently used in FDR's 1932 presidential campaign. Reisman formed his own band in 1919, and he had more then 80 popular hits in his career. Happy Days Are Here Again has been covered hundreds of times, and the song continues to be used in television and film.

In 1997 rap duo Camp Lo released their debut album Uptown Saturday Night. The album's lead single - Luchini (This Is It) - became their biggest hit. The song samples Adventures In The Land Of Music by Dynasty in 1980. Luchini, and most of the album, was produced by Ski, who was also working on Jay-Z's debut Reasonable Doubt album at the same time. On that all-time classic album, Ski produced Jay-Z's Dead President's, Feelin' It, Politics As Usual and 22 Two's.