Artists that Gambled and Lost

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bono_212

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This is a completely random thread, but I just get such a kick out of this.

What am I talking about?

I'm talking about those rare songs that decided to take the plunge and name drop someone or something that they just knew would transcend the tests of time and would be a reference understood forevermore.

I'm talking about songs like this:

Destinys Child-Bug A Boo - YouTube

You make me wanna throw my pager out the window
Tell MCI to cut the phone calls
Break my lease so I can move
Cause you a bug a boo, a bug a boo
I wanna put your number on the call block
Have AOL make my email stop


Cause, you guys still have MCI, right? And I mean, who doesn't have an AOL e-mail account?



But I think my absolute favorite instance of this has got to be Jammin' Me by Tom Petty.

Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers - Jammin' Me (Alt Version) - YouTube

Take back Vanessa Redgrave
Take back Joe Piscopo
Take back Eddie Murphy
Give 'em all some place to go


600full-joe-piscopo.jpg



So, anyways, if you have any examples that amuse you as well, please do share!
 
There was a great AV Club inventory about a year ago that listed songs that instantly dated themselves in the lyrics. I'll see if I can find it.
 
There was a great AV Club inventory about a year ago that listed songs that instantly dated themselves in the lyrics. I'll see if I can find it.

I think Cracked did a similar list as well.

I just bought Destiny's CHild's greatest hits at Best Buy yesterday for $2 and was listening to it on my drive home. I hadn't heard "Bug a Boo" since it was a modest hit back in the day, so when I heard that chorus, I about died laughing.
 
A couple of Reagan-era favorites of mine:

Homeless (Old Skull) - YouTube

And this forgotten Prince classic from 1982:

Ronnie talk to Russia before its too late
before its too late
before its too late
Ronnie talk to Russia before its too late
before they blow up the world
You go to the zoo, but you can't feed guerillas
can't feed guerillas
Left-wing guerillas
You can go to the zoo, but you can't feed guerillas
who wanna blow up the world

Ronnie if you're dead before I get to meet ya
before I get to meet ya
before I get to meet ya
Ronnie if you're dead before I get to meet ya
don't say I didn't warn ya

Ronnie talk to Russia before its too late
before its too late
before its too late
Ronnie talk to Russia before its too late
before they blow up the world
before they blow up the world
dontcha
 
All Saints - Never Ever - YouTube

Write it in a letter? :crack:

Holy crap! And this song was out in, I think, 1998! There was email back then, why couldn't they say email me or IM me? And of course we have Facebook and texting nowadays.

This could've been a relevant song today because I'm sure many of us relate to the sadness and confusion over a break-up. But writing a letter? Wow...
 
I'd rather listen to 100 songs about writing a letter than one song about texting.

Except Unknown Caller, because I love it so.
 
Last time I saw billy bragg, he did old clash fan fight song with the intro that he wouldn't be playing it live anymore shortly after. That whole "George bush will soon be gone" part.
 
damn, i thought this was going to be about a gamble sound-wise or something.

given all i listen to is old music, i'm sure there's a bunch of songs with dated stuff in it. right now all i can think of is this:
air mail, cassettes
postcards, telex


boom, two right there. no one uses cassettes anymore, but the big one is telex. who uses that anymore? (it was kinda like a telegram i guess you could say, text messages over a phone line.)
 
I had to look up what song that was :lol:, I had a feeling Duran Duran was responsible.

It made me think of my favorite song by The Format, which has a fun little reference to semi-outdated things. He makes a Duran Duran reference to a girl, and she has no idea what he's talking about.
 
She hates time, make it stop, when did Motley Crue become classic rock? And when did Ozzy, become an actor?
 
REM's It's The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine) dates itself with some of the topics it mentions.

Or I thought it did until I listened to it just now for examples. Shit.

Ignore this post.
 
Porcupine Tree - Fear of a Blank Planet

Basically the whole song.
 
I was going to say "The Playboy Mansion" but I feel like Coke, McDonald's, Michael Jackson, and even O.J. Simpson will all be around culturally for quite a while.


Kite, on the other hand....
 
One reference that has always befuddled me is B.o.B.'s choice of metaphor in "Nothin' on You"

And just like that girl you got me froze
Like a Nintendo 64

Now, this song just came out like 3 years ago, so referencing an N64 was already kind of an odd choice, but the reference is kind of odd to begin with. Was the N64 known for freezing? I remember it had a reset button and that I used it on occasion, but I don't really remember this being a huge issue with the system.
 
Not really. I've had mine for probably 15 or more years and it's only ever frozen in the past couple years when someone bumps the console out of nowhere.

I've got a million examples of this but of course now the thread has been created I can't think of them. Mostly hip-hop songs.
 
Because writing letters are more personal?

Yeah, and I think it just makes a better topic to write about in general. Someone says "texting," and I automatically assume the lyrics are written in annoying text-speak. The only one who can get away with that is Prince, because it wasn't text-speak, it was Prince-speak.

REM's It's The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine) dates itself with some of the topics it mentions.

Leonard Bernstein is timeless.
 
Black Eyed Peas and that Boom Boom Pow song.

I'm so 2008
You so two-thousand-late

That song was dated about a month after it came out. They must have loved the "two-thousand-late" line and would have done anything for a rhyme.
 
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