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Heavy Meta: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
{{quote|"The song was a stab by Joel at the new music genres that were around in the early 1980s (punk, funk, new wave) and ironically uses a new wave sound."
|'''Wikipedia''' on [[Billy Joel]]'s "It's Still Rock and Roll to Me"}}
{{quote|''Flash of iron, leather, spikes, and swords''
''Mighty warriors with Metal of their side''
''Enemies of Metal, your death is our reward''
''Triumphant victory when you bring the steel to life''
|'''[[3 Inches of Blood|Three Inches of Blood]]''', "Deadly Sinners"}}
A song that is about whatever genre of music it's in. Note that this doesn't include songs that just include the genre in the title, like "Jingle Bell Rock". It also doesn't include, say, metal songs that are about elements on the left side of the periodic table, blues songs that are about depression, or rock songs that are about stones.
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{{examples}}
== Metal ==
* From [[Judas Priest]]: "Heavy Metal" and "Monsters of Rock". Probably is: "Heavy Duty / Defenders of the Faith". Sounds like this but not: "Metal Gods" (about a [[Robot War]]), Metal Meltdown.
* "Heavy Metal" by [[Judas Priest]].▼
* "Metal Thrashing Mad" by [[Anthrax]].
** The lyrics seem to be more about someone who [[Drives Like Crazy]] in a really fast car.
** "Caught In A Mosh" by [[Anthrax]], on the other hand, is unambiguously about moshing to heavy metal.
* [[Metallica]] got "Metal Militia", "Whiplash" and "Hit The Lights" too. Then they must have decided three songs about metal itself was enough - all of the listed songs were on ''Kill 'Em All'' and they never really wrote any more lyrics in that vein after that.
* "Overkill" by [[Motorhead]].
* [[Helloween]] with "Heavy metal (is the law).", "Are You Metal?" and "Metal Invaders". Also, in perhaps one of the strangest examples, "Heavy Metal Hamsters".
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* Saxon love doing this, with songs like "Denim and Leather", "And the Bands Played On" and, of course, "Heavy Metal Thunder".
* Of course, [[This Is Spinal Tap|Spinal Tap]] had to take a stab at this, with their classic anthem "Heavy Duty". And to a lesser extent, "Rock N' Roll Creation".
* [[Gamma Ray]] has "Heavy Metal Universe" and "To The Metal", plus a cover of Holocaust's "Heavy Metal Mania".
* "Kill for Metal" by Iron Fire.
* "Living for Metal" and "Metal is Forever" by Primal Fear.
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** Yes, and "Rattlehead" is an excellent example of this trope, in the vein of "Whiplash" by [[Metallica]] (the titles of both songs refer to headbanging)
* "Out of Control" by [[White Wizzard]].
* [
* Massacration, another parody of metal bands (and
* "Leather & Metal" by Cast Iron.
* "Stronger Than All" by [[Hammerfall]].
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* "Heavy Metal Pirates" by [[Alestorm]].
* "Heavy Metal Fire" by Stormwarrior.
* "Black Metal Ist Krieg" and "Possessed By Black Fucking Metal" by Nargaroth
* Lee Aaron, "Metal Queen"
* "Heavy Metal Breakdown" by Bitch
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* "Thrasher" by Evile
* "Made In Hell" from [[Judas Priest|Rob Halford's]] first solo album.
* "Heavy Lethal" by MenacE
* "Heavy Metal Shop" by [[The Frantics]] parodies both Heavy Metal ''and'' Heavy Meta.
* "Full Metal Roar" and "Sea Of Horns" (dedicated to [[Warding Gestures|the mano cornuto]] as metal salute) by Absolute Power.
* "Metal Nation" by Witch Cross.
* "Metal Martyr", "Heavy Metal Destiny" and "Metal Rules" by Lady Beast.
== Rock ==
* "Rock and Roll All Nite" by [[KISS]] and other arena rock songs like that.
* [[Chuck Berry]] - "Roll Over Beethoven."
** For an even better example, just lemme hear some of that "Rock & Roll Music", any old way you choose it!
* [[Velvet Underground]] - "Rock And Roll."
** "Rock And Roll Heart" by [[Lou Reed]], and "Dirty-Ass Rock And Roll" by John Cale.
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** Pata solo: "Story Of A Young Man"
* Argent - "God Gave Rock'n'Roll To You."
* The Arrows/[[Covered Up|Joan Jett & The Blackhearts]] - "I Love Rock'n'Roll."
** The chorus is supposed to be ''part of the song they're singing in the bar,'' which implies that [[Recursive Canon|they're singing the song they're in.]] It just disappears into itself. [[Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick|It also implies what is clearly a statutory rape in progress,]] but nobody notices that part.
* Within-fiction example: a tract by [[Jack Chick]] features a "[[The Moral Substitute|Christian rock group]]" (who later fall under Satan's power, apparently because [[The New Rock and Roll|all rock music is inherently evil]]) who sing a song with the lyrics "[[Narm|We're gonna rock, rock, rock with the rock!]]".
* "Rock and Roll High School", "Do You Remember Rock n' Roll Radio",
* [[Harry Potter|Wizard Rock]] band Harry and the Potters had an album called "Voldemort Can't Stop the Rock!" (and a song with the same name). Many other Wizard Rock bands have referenced rock (or wrock) in song titles.
** 'Wizard Rock Heart Throb' by the Whomping Willows, 'Wizard Rock Twist' by the Remus Lupins, 'Transparent' by the Moaning Myrtles, and 'New Wizard Anthem' by Harry and the Potters are all examples of this trope, called meta-wrock within the community.
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* "Rockabilly Rules OK" by the Stray Cats. It's about the song itself, which is about the genre.
** By the same band, "Rock This Town."
* "Sedan Delivery" by [[
** Also "Prisoners of Rock'n'Roll", "Born To Rock" and, in a subversion, "Are You Ready For The Country?"
** Don't forget "My My, Hey Hey (Out of the Blue)" and its variation "Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black)". ''"Rock and roll will never die..."''
* "The WASP (Texas Radio & The Big Beat)" by [[The Doors]]: specifically it references the high power Mexican radio stations that blasted into Texas in the 50s. Unrestricted by American regulations, they could broadcast up to 150 kilowatts: frontman Jim Morrison discovered his passion for the blues from these stations.
** The lines about coming ''out of the Virginia swamps cool and slow / with a backbeat narrow, and hard to master'' clearly reference the birth of rock from the (southern) primordial ooze of the blues. Also, the lines about some regarding it as ''heavenly in its brilliance'' and others ''mean, and ruthful of the Western dream'' could easily reference the [[Your Mileage May Vary|differing attitudes]] people had for rock & roll, especially during the 1960s.
* "Halloween in Heaven" by [[Type O Negative]].
* "Back Street Kids" by [[Black Sabbath]].
* "Cities on Flame with Rock'n'Roll" by [[Blue Öyster
** and "R.U. Ready to Rock.
* "Burning" and "That's Rock 'n' Roll" by [[Accept]].
* "Speed King" by [[Deep Purple]]
** This is a rather strange example, since the song itself is composed of other people's (mostly Little Richard's) lyrics put together in semi-random fashion, and the whole thing together ends up being this trope.
*
* [[Led Zeppelin]] - "Rock and Roll".
* The Spanish band Loquillo y los Trogloditas have a few examples, but "Rock'n'Roll Star" and "El Ritmo del Garaje" are pretty representative of this.
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** Also "The Entertainer"
* "Heart of Rock and Roll" by [[Huey Lewis and the News]].
* [[The Smashing Pumpkins]] had a few of them. "Bullet With Butterfly Wings", "I of the Mourning", "Cash Car Star" and "Age of Innocence"... Kinda. They got better.
* "Rock and Roll Tonight" by Grim Reaper.
* "If You Don't Like Rock N Roll" by [[Rainbow (band)|Rainbow]].
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* Inverted by Status Quo's "Rock 'n Roll", a gentle acoustic ballad about how nobody takes you seriously when all you do is play rock and roll.
* [[Queen]] had ''Modern Times Rock and Roll'' on the first album (which was essentially Roger Taylor's attempt to out-rock [[Led Zeppelin]]).
** [[Queen]] actually had quite a lot of
* "Happy With What You Have To Be Happy With" by [[King Crimson]].
** Also, "Lament"
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== Other ==
* [[Korn]] came out with "Y'All Want A Single', whose lyrics and video lampshade the structure of pop singles. The song also fits the structure to a T.
* "So you Want to Write a Fugue?" by Glenn Gould is a fugue about writing a fugue.
* The concept of P-Funk.
* A lot of blues songs are about "the blues," and not in the sense of depression. "The Birth of the Blues" is one famous example.
* "[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oF1uQGV-QgA The Break-Up Song]" by the Greg Kihn Band is a break-up song that's about break-up songs.
* Sugarhill Gang - "Rapper's Delight", the song that [[Trope Maker|kickstarted]] [[Hip Hop]], starts with a self-descriptive passage describing what the group performing.
* Bad Religion has "Punk Rock Song", and NSync have "Pop" but I'm not sure what either is about, lyrically, just the titles.
** Bad Religion also have "The Forbidden Beat", which is about Hardcore Punk...Or heroin addiction.
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* "This Is The Song That Never Ends" and "I Know A Song That Gets On Everybody's Nerves" by countless schoolchildren everywhere.
* Is "Christmas [[Glurge]]" a genre? If so, [[The Colbert Report|Another Christmas Song]], which is so self-referential it's a Klein bottle.
* [["Weird Al"
* "Caress me Down" by Sublime mentions Reggae.
** It does it twice, actually: "''Me gusta me'' regga, ''me gusta'' punk rock..."
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* The Limelighter's "Generic Uptempo Folksong" is, in fact, about how to construct one of the titular songs.
* "Silly Love Songs" by [[Paul McCartney]] is a [[Silly Love Song]] that justifies the existence of silly love songs.
{{quote|''Some people want to fill the world with silly love songs
''What's wrong with that?
''I'd like to know
''{{'}}Cause here I go
''Again... }}
* "Song 2" by [[Blur (band)|Blur]] is a pisstake of grunge, which [[Misaimed Fandom|ironically]] became the band's greatest hit in America.
** It also happens to be the second track on their [[Self-Titled Album]], and happens to be two minutes and two seconds in length.
* "All Over The World" by [[Pet Shop Boys]] is a pop song about pop songs.
{{quote|''This is a song
''About boys and girls
''You hear it
''Playing all over the world }}
* Cornershop's "Brimful Of Asha", all about the history of Indian music and it's usage in films.
* The anthem of Carolina Beach Music, is the Embers' "I Love Beach Music". The Lyrics consist heavily of popular beach music titles.
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* ''Heart Songs'' by [[Weezer]], consists of the band members' favorite song titles, lyrics, and bands, as well as several lines dedicated to Nirvana's Nevermind album.
* "Number 3" by [[They Might Be Giants (band)|They Might Be Giants]].
* "70's Rock Must Die" by Lard. Their normal style is a mix of industrial rock and punk, but this particular song is an arena rock spoof, which of course adds deliberate irony to the lyrical content.
* "Chickenshit Conformist" by Dead Kennedys is about the state of punk rock.
** Speaking of which, Wire's debut album ''Pink Flag'' is pretty much made of meta, with "It's So Obvious" (about the failure of punk's revolution ''before it even ended'') and "Brazil" (a subtly hilarious satire of The Ramones) being the shining examples.
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* Every reggaeton song ''ever''.
* "We Found A Place" by Justin Sane of Anti-Flag
* "You don't belong" Bad Religion
* "Thurston Hearts The Who" by [[Bikini Kill]], where they umm, read a review of one of their own performances.
* "It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)" By Duke Ellington.
* "Litmus" by [[Five Iron Frenzy]], a [[Christian Rock]] song criticizing Christian Rock.
** Five Iron was known for this. Other good examples are Blue Mix from Five Iron Frenzy 2:Electric Boogaloo and Four-Fifty-One from All the Hype That Money Can Buy! This probably had something to do with why such a popular Christian band never made it onto a major Christian Label. Good example of [[Sticking It To The Man]] as well.
* [[The Who]], Pete Townshend in particular, loves this trope; he often overlaps it with [[Rockstar Song]] and extends it over entire albums. The single "Long Live Rock" is probably the best example.
** Addressing a more-specific subject over a much-longer format (double-LP in this instance), ''[[Quadrophenia]]''. Combining memories of the band's [[Shout-Out|early days]], a history of the Mods & Rockers rivalry, critiques of fashion and conformity: all wrapped up in the [[Coming of Age|first-person story]] of a British youth whose head is crowded with these issues and more, including a [[It Runs in The Family|difficult life at home]] and possible [[Sanity Slippage Song|mental illness]]. Complete with four [[
* "Play That [[Funk
* "Memphis [[Soul]] Stew" by King Curtis. Similarly, "What Is [[Funk]]?" by FunkFood.
* "Song For Whoever" by The Beautiful South is a parody on generic, commercial love songs aimed at no-one specifically. The singer claims he wrote the song for that one particular listener, but he actually neither knows nor really cares what her name is, so long as she buys his record.
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* TZDF by Faderhead is about the Industrial music scene: "This is a song about the German clubs", "This is a song for all the Rivetheads"
* "This is the Hook" by B.S.O.D (Also known as Deadmau5), satirically gives instructions on how to make cliche House music. Ironically, it was also his first House hit.
* [[Selena Gomez]]'s ''Love You Like A Love Song'', a silly catchy love song which gets stuck in your head because it's lyrics are about a person who's just like a catchy love song which gets stuck in your head.
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20130509190940/http://www.songstowearpantsto.com/songs/its-too-loud/ "It's Too Loud"] by [[Songs to Wear Pants To]] is a hard rock song...that criticizes the hard rock genre.
{{quote|''4/4 time is boring''
''And I'm so sick of''
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* Similarly, [[Billy Connolly]]'s "Nine And A Half Guitars": "Hey, Jimmy! Gonnae gie us 'Ten Guitars'?"
* [[Freezepop]]'s "Pop Music is not a Crime."
* Any of the numerous songs commissioned by [[Zumba]] Fitness LLC to have their trademark in the lyrics.
* The [[Elton John]] song "Sad Songs (Say So Much)" is about...well, [[Captain Obvious|sad songs]].
* Propagandhi's "Ska Sucks" is a ska song about what a stupid movement ska is.
* [[Jason Mraz]]'s "Wordplay" is about the singer being pressured to make a new song and writing a refrain full of nonsensical syllables.
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPGzsFPYd1c "Poppa's Blues"] from ''[[Starlight Express]]'' is a blues song about how a blues song is structured.
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ve0MPWQrG2g "'Cause I'm a Boinger"] by "Billy and the Boingers" (actually an unnamed band which was a fan of ''[[Bloom County]]'' is a song about the band and its music within the context of [[The Eighties|the 1980s]].
{{reflist}}
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