"All the songs I wrote that were successful were written when I was in a contented state of mind," said Orbison of his more woeful ballads.

Quite a few songs out there have been written in a short amount of time, but three minutes is cutting it pretty close.

Dave Grohl released Foo Fighters’ self-titled debut on July 4, 1995, and the band has been building up to the album’s 30th ...