Johnny B. Goode - Chuck Berry. 'Johnny' is Johnnie Johnson, a piano player who collaborated with Berry on many songs. Berry got the word 'Goode' from the street where he grew up, Goode Street in St. Louis. The word 'go' is repeated in the song 45 times.
La Bamba - Los Lobos. The day after 'La Bamba' peaked at No.22 on the Hot 100 (2 February 1959) Ritchie Valens was killed in the plane crash that also claimed the life of Buddy Holly. The 1987 biopic about Valens was called La Bamba, and screenwriter Luis Valdez pegged Los Lobos to perform the title song, originally an old Mexican marriage tune known for generations.
Like A Prayer - Madonna. Pepsi's commercial featuring Madonna's single 'Like A Prayer' only aired once before the company pulled it after seeing her video for the single. It aired during the Cosby Show.
Money For Nothing - Dire Straits. A song about rock star excess and the easy life it brings compared with real work. Sting sings on this and helped write it. That's him at the beginning singing "I want my MTV." The innovative video was one of the first to feature computer generated animation. The characters were supposed to have more detail, like buttons on their shirts, but they used up the budget and had to leave it as is.
Mr Lonely - Bobby Vinton. The fourth and last of the No.1 singles by Vinton, it is the only one that was not a cover.
Mrs Robinson - Simon & Garfunkel. Contains the famous line "Where have you gone Joe Dimaggio?" Dimaggio was a star baseball player for the New York Yankees who was briefly married to Marilyn Monroe. Simon was using him to represent heroes of the past. Dimaggio was a little miffed when he heard this, since he was still very much alive even though he retired from baseball in 1951