Karma Houdini in music.
- The narrator's Jerkass father in Ayreon's "Day 16: Loser".I had my fun, I'm going back to the place I don't call home
There's no one there who waits for me, but you won't hear me moan
My ex-wives all sue me, and with half my kids in jail
I'll still come out laughing, coz me? I never fail, loser! - Maxwell Edison, the eponymous Villain Protagonist of The Beatles song "Maxwell's Silver Hammer", uses his silver hammer to kill a girl named Joan, his teacher, and the judge at his trial with the implication that he got off scot-free for the murders he committed.
- Billy Preston's 1972 song "Will It Go Round In Circles":I got a story, it ain't got no morals
Let the bad guy win every once in awhile
I got a story, it ain't got no morals
Let the bad guy win every once in awhile... - Bob Dylan's song "The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll" tells the story of a wealthy white man who kills a poor black woman in 1960s Baltimore, and receives a six-month sentence in punishment. It's based on a true story.
- The very last line of "Junta" by Cormorant notes that the soldiers who fired upon a huge amount of protesters will likely escape justice.
- "Sold as a Crow" is about one of the MK Ultra tests, poisoning the water of Pont-Saint-Esprit.
- Dr. Dre and Eminem's "Forget About Dre":And when the cops came through
Me and Dre stood next to a burnt down house
Wit a can full of gas and a hand full of matches
And still weren't found out (right here) - Evillious Chronicles:
- The titular character of "Evil Food Eater Conchita". Though she does end up dying, namely by devouring her own body, the fact is she never really suffers any true consequences for committing horrific acts of cannibalism and Necromancy—even in death, she got what she wanted (to eat every food imaginable) and proceeded to Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence by becoming a demon. At the end of the series, she effectively gives karma the middle finger by accepting an offer to use otherworldly technology to fly to alternate worlds with her servants so she can sample their denizens in search of the ultimate evil food.
- Seth Twiright, the series original Big Bad, goes without any real punishment throughout the series. At the end, it's even implied that he got to reincarnate with everyone else in a new world (though in his defense, he did help save the world from the final Big Bad)!
- "Flower of the Plateau
", in which Mikulia Calgaround kills two people, an ex-suitor/client and her own son because they're the only ones who know that she used to be a prostitute. Yet still nobody found out about that.
- "I Fought the Law" by Dead Kennedys tells the story of Dan White killing George Moscone and Harvey Milk, and only serving five years on manslaughter.The law don't mean shit if you've got the right friends
That's how this country's run
Twinkies are the best friends I ever had
I fought the law and I won
I fought the law and I won! - I See You Baby by Groove Armada has a music video to match the title: a creepy voyeur has set up video cameras in both the men and women's bathrooms and is watching them. They find the cameras, but after a panic attack he makes a getaway with no implication he'll get caught.
- Jay-Z, who constantly bragged on many rap songs how he made a fortune from a huge drug deal back in 1988. Supposedly, the money from this deal helped launch his rap career. Of course, it could all be unrealistic bragging which is one of the key elements in Gangsta Rap music. Then again...
- "Karma Chameleon" by Culture Club.
- "Lay Me Down" by Dirty Heads is about a couple that robs a bank, shoots a sherrif who's chasing after them, then lives happily ever after drinking tequila on the beach.
- The narrator of Robbie Fulks's "I Told Her Lies" reaches the end of his life having never been caught cheating on his wife and considered a paragon of fidelity and loyalty in his community. We never learn how he fares against a higher authority.
- The Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds version of "Stagger Lee" sees the titular Villain Protagonist murder a bartender for not caring that he's Stagger Lee, agree to have sex with a woman despite knowing she's married and force the woman's husband to give him a blowjob before executing him. As the song ends here, we have no reason to believe that he was ever punished.
- Other, less profane, versions of the song also have him get away (although in others he gets his comeuppance, as in Real Life).
- The narrator of the song "The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia" by Vicki Lawrence.
- The Offspring's "Come Out and Play"''Hey, don't pay no mind
- Johnny in Oingo Boingo's song "Only A Lad", who gets away with arson, theft, assault, and vehicular manslaughter because the judge believes it's society's fault he's such a psychopath. However, the narrator predicts - or at least hopes - that Johnny will be going to Hell when he dies.
- The Ozzy Osbourne song "Mr. Tinkertrain" is about a pedophile who gets away with his actions.
- "Getting Away with Murder" by Papa Roach
- Billy Joe and Bobbie Sue from the Steve Miller Band song "Take The Money And Run" killed a man while robbing his house, stole his money, and at the end of the song, headed down South and apparently got away with it.
- The narrator of Warren Zevon's "Mr. Bad Example" always manages to hop a plane out of the country before the consequences of his scams catch up with him.I bought a first class ticket on Malaysian Air
And landed in Sri Lanka none the worse for wear
I'm thinking of retiring from all my dirty deals
I'll see you in the next life, wake me up for meals - "Outrunning Karma" seems to be a perfect example, but it's actually a subversion. It's explicitly noted that the boy the song is about will have to face the consequences of his actions one day. It's just a matter of when.He's never gonna make it
All the poor people he's forsaken
Karma is always gonna chase him for his lies
It's just a game of waiting from the
Church steeple down to Satan karma
There's really no escape until he dies - In "It Ain't a Crime" by House of Pain, Johnny kills a liquor store cashier and two Hasidic Jews. When his mother sees him on the news, and the police show up in front of his house, Johnny runs out the back door and calls his friend for a getaway ride at the local school.Now that he's an outlaw sorta like Robin Hood
The hard rock hero of the whole neighborhood
If they catch him, he'll wind up in court
But it ain't a crime if you don't get caught
