What are songs about the music industry that you like?
2y 2mon ago by thelemmy.club/u/HobbitFoot in asklemmy
Have a Cigar was the first song I thought of.
"Oh, by the way, which one's Pink?"
I love that some music industry asshole actually asked them that once, and the quote made it into the song.
I love that there's a little guitar break right after that question, almost like a response
Primus' rendition is also awesome. https://youtu.be/aEf0SpAEnIc?si=PVfnyKpxFRuslQXo
Not bad, but let me present you with the definitive cover: The Main Squeeze - that solo trounces everything, I'd go as far as, even the original.
A fun industry fact: Have A Cigar was sung by Roy Harper, as he happened to be in the studio and the members of Floyd thought he could be a good fit. Roy Harper is perhaps more known in the mainstream through the Zeppelin song Hats Off to (Roy) Harper than through his own recordings, though he's still alive and active.
Harper didn't feel like he was appropriately compensated for his work on Have a Cigar, which is ironic considering the overall thematic.
Reel Big Fish - Sell Out
Tool - Hooker With A Penis
Please play this song on the radio - NoFX
Rockin' the suburbs - Ben Folds
Dinosaurs Will Die - NOFX
From most favorite, descending:
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Bomb the Music Industry! - Side Projects are Never Successful (punk)
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Backini - Radio (hip-hop)
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They Might Be Giants - Hey Mr. DJ I Thought You Said We Had a Deal (alt-pop)
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Reel Big Fish - Sell Out (ska)
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MC Lars - Download This Song (cross-genre)
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Billy Joel - The Entertainer (pop)
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Barr - The Song is the Single (rock)
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They Might Be Giants - Working Undercover for the Man (alt-pop)
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Ben Folds - Rockin' the Suburbs (pop)
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David Rovics - The Pirate Radio Song (acoustic punk)
Edited to provide links and genres.
MC Lars - Download This Song (cross-genre)
You've reminded me of my answer to this question:
Weird Al - Don't Download This Song
I thought about it, but it doesn't rise to "favorite" for me
I see you updated your initial comment to replace Piano Man with The Entertainer (or at least, I don't remember seeing the latter there before). I'm not sure I like it better than the Weird Al song, but it could give it a run for its money. (I wouldn't answer Piano Man, which is a song I live, only because IMO it's not "about the music industry" enough.)
Rounding out my list would be Sell Out by Reel Big Fish, The Load-Out/Stay by Jackson Browne (if it doesn't have the same problem as Piano Man), and Life’s Been Good to Me So Far by Joe Walsh. That last one is not because I particularly like it, but because it's the only one that came to mind without having to read other people's answers.
I did add it, before I started editing in links. I never had Piano Man on there, which is definitely about the performance life but not about the industry.
Of the ones I listed, "Radio" and "The Entertainer" are definitely the most critical of the industry.
They Might Be Giants - Rhythm Section Want Ad
They Might Be Giants - We're the Replacements
They Might Be Giants - the entirety of Venue Songs
I almost included "The End of the Tour" but decided against.
EMI, Sex Pistols
Unlimited supply!
Interstellar555, the music video movie that accompanies Daft Punk's Discovery album
Complete Control by The Clash
Is it about the history of rock'n'roll, or something else?
I have no idea WTF I just read. All I know is that I want to throw an onion at you now.
If we tease that apart a bit, kabbalistically, we observe first and foremost that an onion has layers; that it is a food; and that the word onion sounds like "a nun". From this we can derive that the piece of commentary referenced invokes a sense of layered meaning, is nourishing, and inspires religious devotion.
Digging, pun intended, a little deeper, we find that the etymological root (again intended) of the word is the Latin unio, unionis. Obviously "union" is right there –and this is not a coincidence because nothing is ever a coincidence, in Kabbalah– so we must understand that these layers of meaning are unified. Furthermore, the Latin word also is used to demote a large pearl, harkening to the "pearl of great price" allegorically mentioned by Christ as a stand in for spiritual wisdom; seeming to imply that not only is the above all unified but spiritually sound from the perspective of Christian soteriology.
Against Me - Unprotected Sex with Multiple Partners
Dinosaurs will die - NOFX
Porcupine Tree - The Sound of Muzak has one of my favorite lines ever in any song: “Music of rebellion makes you wanna rage, but it’s made by millionaires who are nearly twice your age.”
Pop 101 by Marianas Trench. Very funny and also true.
I think the most obvious album to point out which is about many things (including the abuse of the music industry) is To Pimp a Butterfly. I'm surprised I haven't seen it here yet. Even the title is very on-the-nose – the "pimp" in reference is both the music industry and (more frequently) the US government/social structures, and the "butterfly" is a fledgling Kendrick/black rappers/black Americans in general (context depending on the exact song). It's meant to be listened in exact order. Many people say it's overrated but I really disagree. It's an amazing narrative and powerful symbolism with good music.
I'd argue that Pink Floyd's Comfortably Numb belongs here: AFAIK it's about a band manager injecting the strung out musician with drugs, so he can get up and perform the show that night.
So many songs by Muse which I find most amusing because they have an anti-corporate message but are made under a giant corporate label.
Specifically what comes to mind when it comes to the music industry itself are Showbiz and Uprising.
Cover of the rolling stone
Death on Two Legs - Queen
I think Hank Williams III with the Grand Ole Opry Ain't so Grand deserves a shout-out. Basically a song about how the institution that chewed up and then expelled his grandfather can eat shit.
Nice!
There's also this one: rock and roll lifestyle
To some extent, Sad songs and waltzes.
And I'll be honest I have no idea what this song is about, so who knows: wheels
Sweet Dreams Are Made Of This - Eurythmics
lost in hollywood by system of acdown
Death on two legs, by Queen, is a track of reckoning with their former manager.
Plus it's a pretty little known but great early queen rock song. Freddie's viciousness really spews out from it.
Maggie's Farm by Bob Dylan
Radio Friendly Unit Shifter by Nirvana
All the Best by R.E.M.
Intro by The Prodigy (not a song, technically, but a clear statement of intent from Liam Howlett)
Hmm songmeanings.com has following opinion about the nirvana song:
Kurt said it himself that this song has no meaning and that it's a bunch of random poetry lines thrown together to a kick ass motherfucking melody. This is one of my favorite Nirvana songs.
Yeah, I'm going mainly by the ironic title to be honest - it always feels to me like Cobain's snarky response to studio pressure to make another Nevermind. I've not looked into closely though, I have to admit.
I agree that it’s still saying something about the music industry, just not with the specific lyrics, but rather with the sound and the title.
Guns n Roses - Get in the Ring
Stone Temple Pilots - Adhesive
You can’t really get any more outrageous than Death to all but Metal
Welcome to the Machine by Pink Floyd is right up there.
There's a good Russian song "The main problem of music in Russia" by Zakhar May
Too Long To Learn Russian: The main problem of music in Russia is that you're listening shit!
Life's Been Good - Joe Walsh
Barracuda by Heart
Specifically about the girls perspective
Good songwriters can do some good stuff when they are writing what they know. Bad singwriters can crawl up their own assholes, though. Some good Americana Alt-Country ones:
Mercury in Retrograde - Sturgill Simpson takes on the realities of "success". Really the whole Sound and Fury album, though; the whole thing is just him raging at the labels and expectations people put on him as "the next Waylon Jennings."
Bible on the Dash: Life for work-a-day touring musicians. Corb Lund and Hayes Carll actually come up with something useful about a hotel Bible.
Robert Earl Keen:
My Home Ain't in the Hall of Fame. Checking out of the Nashville rat race.
What I Really Mean: Wistful realities of road life for someone at a different life phase than the one above.
The Road Goes On & On: a vicious diss track at Toby Keith's expense. REK is like the chill Democrat New-Balance Suburban Dad of brilliant Americana singer-songwriters, so he probably wouldn't speak ill of the dead, but I will. Fuck Toby Keith.
There's a song about how it feels when you get your royalty check. I think that's what it's about... Cannibal Corpse - Meat Hook Sodomy.
DJ Shadow Why Hip-Hop Sucks In '96
Mr. Recordman by Ugly Kid Joe
Drive By Truckers - Gravity's Gone
Elton John someone saved my life tonight song
Gillian Welch - Everything is Free
Oh and somewhat tangential but Hayes Carll I Got a Gig song - "playing for my dinner six nights a week, hurricanes, Easter, and New Years Eve, I got a gig baby!"
I can't seem to figure out how to edit my comment on kbin. I thought of one newer than Rush fom a band I've come to enjoy highly and hasn't been posted yet:
Killpop by Slipknot, that song is amazing. It's very indirect, though, if I didn't read an interview that it's about the music industry, I wouldn't have guessed it.
Disorder and Disarray by Rancid. There are lots of great examples here, and I think this one fits.
Gillian Welsh - Everything is Free.
Great song about the difficulties of making a living off music now that everything is available for nothing. Father John Misty recorded a version when he was invited to the Spotify Sessions, which was a nice little fuck you to the people inviting him.
Teya & Salena represented Austria in Eurovision last year with "Who the Hell is Edgar?", it was written from the perspective of wanting to be taken seriously in the industry, veiled through a fun song about being possessed by the ghost of Edgar Allan Poe, though the bridge gets quite blatant and singles out Spotify for not paying its artists properly. It was one of the favourites in the Eurovision community last year and I think it would've done better had the Finland vs. Sweden rivalry not happened.
Jamey Johnson - Between Jennings and Jones
Well, some record executives found me one night I was singin' half-lit, they said it sounded just right (right) Put my name on an album but they shelved all my songs
First verse
Hiroshima by Ben Folds
No love for Motorhead?
"Bury me in analog" by Mischief Brew, even though it now feels slightly darker after Erik Petersen's death.
"Please play this song on the radio" by NOFX
"Sell out" by Reel Big Fish
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KcV9zyx-HHE
Write Your Own Songs - Willie Nelson