Mental Floss

MUSIC





Getty Images

In 1968, the “Canadian Content” law was enacted: It required every radio station to dedicate 25 percent of each broadcast hour to Canadian content.

Kara Kovalchik




ThinkStock

Encores have become concert standard issue. Artists pencil in a big hit or two at the back end of their set list, walk off stage, wait for fans to shout for the encore, act surprised, play aforementioned hit songs in all their encore glory, rinse, repeat.

Erik van Rheenen


Youtube

When we start singing along to these foreign language earworms, we're probably not singing what we think we're singing. Here are five hit songs in other languages and what the heck they actually mean once they’re translated.

Erik van Rheenen






Getty Images

Ol’ Blue Eyes, The Voice, The Chairman of the Board: Whatever you want to call him, today marks the 15th anniversary of his passing. In his honor, here are 15 facts that will help the late crooner seem like a bit less of a stranger in the night.

Jens T Carstensen
Thinkstock

Love. It's the drug, and a battlefield, and a many splendored thing. It takes time, it will lead you back, and it don't cost a thing. Is there any topic that has inspired more pop songs than love?

Arika Okrent
iStock

Picking the perfect karaoke song can be a tough choice. The song has to be popular enough so people can sing along with you, but easy enough for a karaoke beginner to master. In honor of National Karaoke Week, which kicks off today, here are 15 of the mos

Rudie Obias




JenniferWarnes.com

One of the great overlooked albums of the 1980s, Famous Blue Raincoat by Jennifer Warnes features the singer covering the songs of Leonard Cohen. Warnes even ended up co-writing one of the album's tracks, based on the life of a modern-day Catholic saint.

Bill DeMain




Getty Images

With songs about everything from flashy drug czars to downtrodden jazz musicians, Steely Dan have always cast their lyrical net far from the usual romantic fare of pop music. On one of the standout tracks from their 1975 album Katy Lied, they dug back to

Bill DeMain
Getty Images

When singer-songwriter Lori McKenna’s son was in second grade, he did a book report on Ruby Bridges, the African-American elementary school student who famously crossed the desegregation lines in 1960. To help her son, McKenna came up with a song about Ru

Bill DeMain