Heavy Meta

"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"

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"^note It doesn't help that "Jingle Bell Rock" is about as much a "rock song" as "I'm a Little Teapot" is. 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.

Named partly because these are often metal songs, and partly because the pun was too good to pass up. Compare Radio Song, about the medium of radio. Can potentially overlap with Rock-Star Song. Compare This Is a Song, which is about songs that are at least partially about themselves. See also The Something Song for song titles with "[topic of song] Song."

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Examples

Metal

• "Heavy Metal" by Judas Priest.
  • Their song "Metal Gods" is, surprisingly, a subversion. Instead of being about the genre itself, it's about a Robot War.
• 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 their debut album (Kill 'Em All), and they never really wrote any more lyrics in that vein after that.
  • In an interview, they said that the lyrics were an imitation of bands like the aforementioned Judas Priest; early in their career, they didn't know what to write lyrics about, so they just copied their idols.
• "Overkill" by Motörhead.
• Helloween with "Heavy metal (is the law).", "Are You Metal?" and "Metal Invaders". Also, in perhaps one of the strangest examples, "Heavy Metal Hamsters".
• "Goddamn Electric", "Power Metal", "Proud to Be Loud", "Metal Magic", "Heavy Metal Rules", "Onward We Rock" and "D.G.T.T.M." by Pantera.
• Tenacious D's "The Metal" and possibly "Tribute" also.
• Dream Evil's "Fire! Battle! In Metal!" and "The Book of Heavy Metal". The latter borders on deconstruction.
  • Dream Evil is in love with this trope. Some more examples are "Heavy Metal in the Night", "H.M.J." (Heavy Metal Jesus), "Made of Metal", "The Sledge", "No Way" ('Rock 'n Roll will never die'), , "Electric". Possibly also "Bang Your Head" and "Let's Make Rock".
• "Rock Is Dead" by Marilyn Manson is a rather less positive viewpoint.
• Sabaton includes a tribute song to metal greats in almost every album (excepting The Art of War and Carolus Rex, and The Last Stand which has four covers as bonus tracks instead). These are:
  • "Metal Machine" (Primo Victoria) has lyrics made up almost entirely of the names of metal hits. "Metal Crüe" (Attero Dominatus) name-drops metal bands instead, while "Metal Ripper" (Coat of Arms) borrows lyrics and guitar riffs.
  • "Metalizer" (Fist for Fight, Metalizer) is just generally about the Power Metal genre, referencing fast, pounding drums and distorted guitars.
  • "Masters of the World" (Fist for Fight) is more about the continual worries that rock and metal are being displaced by pop, disco, and hip-hop, and basically answers, "Yeah, right!"
  • "Men of War" is specifically about the classic heavy metal band Manowar.
• "Bonded By Blood" and "Metal Command" by Exodus.
• "Black Metal" by Venom predates the Black Metal genre, which was probably named after it.
• Almost everything ever done by Manowar fits this trope, with a number of recurring topics: songs about general Heavy Metal (e.g. Metal Daze, Heart of Steel), true and false Metal (e.g. Blow Your Speakers), about Manowar (e.g. All Men Play on Ten), about Manowar fans (e.g. Hail to England, Metal Warriors), about biker/rocker lifestyle (e.g. Wheels of Fire), and many combinations of the above and of the above with fantasy.

  "We alone are fighting for metal that is true!" -Warriors of the World United

• "Death Metal" by Possessed, perhaps the basis of the genre's name.
• "The Human Factor" by Metal Church is about how unoriginal a lot of modern metal bands of the time were, and how they relied on producers to slick over their lack of talent.
• Saxon love doing this, with songs like "Denim and Leather", "And the Bands Played On" and, of course, "Heavy Metal Thunder".
• Of course, 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.
• "Heavy Metal-Powered Man" by Iron Savior.
  • "Made of Metal" could be seen as an oblique reference to this trope: "I am the Savior / My heart is made / of METAL!" The album was indeed originally to be named after this song, but it was eventually changed to Dark Assault because it was decided it sounded "too much like a Judas Priest album", so it could be an attempt at avoiding this trope that ends up completely exemplifying it anyway.
    • Ironically, Rob Halford's (of Judas Priest) most recent solo album is in fact called Made of Metal.
    • Although the Halford song "Made of Metal" itself is not about heavy metal at all; it's about NASCAR.
  • Also, with The Landing coming out, "Heavy Metal Never Dies" obviously qualifies.
• "Metal is Forged Here" by a Russian Power Metal band Ariya is a particularly tongue-in-cheek example of this trope. It's a long, hammy Power Ballad about awesomeness and badassery of those who create metal. The plot twist is that the song is about actual steel mill workers, not about musicians.
• "Metal Metal Land" by Gwar is a particularly awesome example of this, demonstrating a world built on heavy metal itself. Choice verses include "Here in metal, metal land/Nothing ever dies/Except of course our enemies/And they're attracting metal flies," "Here in metal, metal land/Every day is night/Except of course when night is day/But then there is no light," "Bullet belts and denim jackets/Crystal meth in tiny packets/Witches, warlocks, demon seed/Booze and cooze and weed and speed," "Filthy hair and dirty faces/Flying V's and swords and maces/80's hair bands are still hated/No false metal tolerated" and "Heavy metal is the law/Weakness means a broken jaw/Everything is loud and fast/Metal up your fucking ass." Also, this land can only be reached by stolen car.
• "Cities on Flame With Rock n' Roll" by Blue Öyster Cult.
  • Subverted with "Heavy Metal: Black and Silver", Which sounds like it ought to be this, but is actually a song about a black hole being born.
• "Metal" by Manilla Road.
  • Also "Out of Control with Rock and Roll" and "Heavy Metal To The World".
• A good 50-60 percent of Municipal Waste's output.
• "Battle Metal" by Turisas, although this does predate the use of it as a term for bands in a similar style.
• "Witching Metal" by Sodom
• "Metal Storm" by Slayer
• "Black Metal Sodomy" by Finnish black metal band, Horna
• "Christraping Black Metal" by Marduk
• "Unholy Black Metal," "Canadian Metal," and I am the Graves of the 80's by Darkthrone
• "Deadly Metal" by TNT
• "Metal on Metal" by Anvil
• "Hidden Secret Song" by Anarchy Club, aside from referencing all hidden tracks in existence, is about a metal fan who "had a friend who played guitar and taught him a little thing or two". That "thing or two" is literally 2 chords, and the song is a 2 chord (mostly) song about how the rock-n-roll lifestyle is just the coolest.
• "Deadly Sinners" by 3 Inches of Blood
  • The latest album by 3 Inches of Blood is actually titled Long Live Heavy Metal.
• "Far Beyond Metal" by Strapping Young Lad
• "Metal Brothers," "Heavy Metal Never Dies," and "Eternal Flames of Metal" by Cryonic Temple
• "Heavy Metal Mania" by NWOBHM band Holocaust.
• "Heavy Metal Breakdown", "Headbanging Man", "Back to the Roots", "We Wanna Rock You", "Get Ready for Power" and "Under My Flag" by Grave Digger.
• "Shake Your Heads" and "Slaves to Metal" by Accept.
• "Chains and Leather" by Running Wild.
• "Heavy Metal Maniac", "Long Live the Loud" and "Pounding Metal" by Exciter
• "Metal Anarchy" by Warfare
• "God Hates Heavy Metal" by Dio.
• "Heavy Metal Heart" by Phantom
• "Raw Energy" by Rage
• "Metalhead" by Savatage
• "Power Thrashing Death" by Whiplash
• "Back In The Day" by Megadeth counts, right?
  • 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.
• Nanowar of Steel, parodying metal bands, fulfills this trope with songs like "True Metal Of The World (Ah-Ah)" and "Metal-La-La-La". And uses via Literal-Minded approach, so they got songs about, uh, the True Metal — such as "Outrue" (Cuprum! Yttrium! Plutonium!). Even their website's title is "Nanowar Of Steel Website of Nickel".
• Massacration, another parody of metal bands (and Heavy Meta bands in particular), lives off this trope, even when they're not talking about metal. Song examples include "Metal Is The Law", "Metal Massacre Attack", "Metal Milkshake" and "Metal Dental Destruction". Their Other Wiki entry explains it best.
• "Leather & Metal" by Cast Iron.
• "Stronger Than All" by HammerFall.
• "Metallitotuus", "Vaadimme Metallia" and so much more from Terasbetoni.
• "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
• "Heavy Metal Is Forever" by Metal Law
• "Heavy Metal Rock 'n' Roll" by Rock Goddess
• "Heavy Metal Soldiers" by Iron Angel
• "Metallic Fury" by Brocas Helm
• "American Metal" by Lizzy Borden
• "Heart of Metal" by Ultimatum
• "Coup de Metal" by H-Bomb
• French speed metal band Killers have a number, including "Heavy Metal Kids", "Maitre du Metal" and "Longue Vie au Metal"
• "Total Metal" and "Pour the Metal In" by Atomkraft
• "Devil's Metal" by Death Angel
• "Thrasher" by Evile
• "Made In Hell" from Rob Halford's first solo album.
• Almost anything by Debauchery (the Death'n'Roll band) that isn't about Warhammer 40,000 and/or pure Gorn. For example "Hard Rockin'" or " New Rock".
• So many New Wave of Thrash Metal bands make songs about this it's not funny. One example is Gama Bomb's "Bullet Belt".
• "Metal Blessing" by Mortification
• "Metal Queen" by Lee Aaron
• Reverend Bizarre's "The Goddess of Doom" name-drops literally dozens of Doom Metal bands.
• "We Have Arrived" by Dark Angel.
• "Metal is for Everyone" by FREEDOM CALL.
• "Metal's No Sin" by Slauter Xstroyes.
• Obscure German speed metal band bring forth one titled Heavy Metal, singing about all things heavy.

In fact it's what they almost invariably write about.

Rock

• John (then Cougar) Mellencamp's "Cheap Shot" deconstructs the trope with the following lines:
  The DJ's really hate the song
  But they're in love with the hook, so...
  Na na na, na na, na na, na na!
  I bet you've heard this song before.
• "Rock and Roll All Nite" by KISS and other arena rock songs like that.
• Chuck Berry: "Roll Over Beethoven." The ELO cover makes it twice as meta by adding in actual melodies from Beethoven's Fifth.
  • 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.
• David Bowie: Quite a few songs on the The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars album.
• X Japan: "Easy Fight Rambling."
  • Pata solo: "Story Of A Young Man."
• Argent/KISS: "God Gave Rock 'n' Roll To You." Made even more meta when it was memorably covered by Petra, a Christian Rock band.
• The Arrows/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 they're singing the song they're in. It just disappears into itself.
• Within-fiction example: A tract by Jack Chick features a "Christian rock group" (who later fall under Satan's power, apparently because all rock music is inherently evil) who sing a song with the lyrics "We're gonna rock, rock, rock with the rock!".
• "Rock and Roll High School", "Do You Remember Rock n' Roll Radio", AND "Sheena Is A Punk Rocker" by The Ramones.
• 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.
• Hello! Project examples:
  • Mini Moni: Rock n Roll ~Kenchoushouzaichi Obochaina Series~.
    • "I Love Blues."
• "Long Live Rock and Roll" by Rainbow.
• "Let There Be Rock" by AC/DC.
  • Also 'Rock and Roll Ain't Noise Pollution' and 'High Voltage'. The subject seems popular in general for the band.
  • Can't forget "For Those About to Rock (We Salute You)."
  • And "It's a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll)"
  • "Rocker" (from Dirty Deeds), "Can't Stop Rock And Roll" (Stiff Upper Lip), "Rock 'N Roll Damnation" (Powerage) "Rock 'N Roll Singer" (High Voltage), "Rock and Roll Dream/Train" (Black Ice), "She Likes Rock and Roll" (Black Ice), the list goes on.
  • On why "rock and roll" shows up so often in titles and lyrics, Angus has declared that "Certain songs just seem to come to life when you add that phrase."
• "Radio Fodder" by Cloud Cult.
• "Rock Around the Clock" by Bill Haley & His Comets. Arguably Trope Maker.
• Lordi's "Hard Rock Hallelujah" and "This is Heavy Metal".
  • Not to mention "Bringing Back the Balls to Rock."
  • Or "Rock the Hell Outta You" and "Get Heavy".
• "One Chord Wonders" by the Adverts epitomizes this trope.
• "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 Neil Young.
  • 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 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 Cult.
  • and "R.U. Ready to Rock.
  • And "Let Go" — not their finest moment.
  You're a rebel and you got no friends;
  We all know that it all depends
  On rock and roll!
• "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.
• Meat Loaf: "Rock 'n' Roll Hero", "Rock 'n' Roll Mercenaries", "Rock and Roll Dreams Come Through", "Everything Louder Than Everything Else".
• Bob Seger's "Old Time Rock and Roll" (about how the titular rock and roll is better than then-currently popular genres like disco.)
  • Also from Bob Seger, "Rock and Roll Never Forgets", a reminder that, even if you're no longer a teenager, rock and roll will always be there for you to enjoy.
• "Brothers [in rock]" by Gamma Ray.
• "Rock America" by Danger Danger.
• "Rock and Roll Is here To Stay" by Danny and the Juniors.
• "Rock and Roll Music", originally by Chuck Berry, later covered by the Manic Street Preachers.
  • and by The Beatles.
• Def Leppard: "Rock! Rock! (Till You Drop)", "Let's Get Rocked", "Rock of Ages", "Rock Brigade", "Rocket", and they covered "Rock On" and "The Golden Age of Rock 'N' Roll".
• "R.O.C.K. in the USA" by John Mellencamp
• "It's Still Rock and Roll to Me" by Billy Joel.
  • 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.
• "I Wanna Rock" by Twisted Sister
• Tindrum's "I Was Made For Rock N' Roll"
• Triumph's Magic Power is about The Power of Rock, oddly enough.
• Rick Springfield's "Human Touch", a shot at the rampant use of synthesizers in The '80s that relies heavily on synths itself.
• "Rock Rolls On" and "Rock and Roll to Death" by WASP
• "Bless My Soul (It's Only Rock 'n' Roll)" by Geordie
• "Rock and Roll" by Dio.
  • And "We Rock".
  • "Metal Will Never Die": David Rock Feinstein ft. Ronnie James Dio.
• "Rock 'n' Roll Thunder" by Chateaux.
• "Gimme Just a Little Rock & Roll" and "Fighting for Rock 'n' Roll" by E.F. Band.
• "Rock and Roll Angel" by Heaven and Hell.
• "Rock 'n' Roll" by Motörhead.
• "Rock 'n' Roll Rebel" by Ozzy Osbourne.
  • "You Can't Kill Rock n' Roll" too.
• "Rock 'n' Roll Away" by TNT.
• Played with in Dire Straits' "Sultans of Swing," a rock song about an English Dixieland/Zydeco band. The lyrics point out that kids "don't give a damn about any trumpet playing band" because "it ain't what they call rock and roll."
  • How about "Money For Nothing", a rock song about rock stars?
• "Juke Box Hero" by Foreigner.
• "Smoke On The Water" by Deep Purple basically explains how it itself came into existence.
• "The Ballroom Blitz" by The Sweet tells the story of a Sweet concert that got violent.
• "Rock And Roll (Part 1)" by Gary Glitter. Granted, it's a 70s Glam Rock song about 50s rock & roll.
• 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 Heavy Meta songs, mostly written by Roger Taylor. "Sheer Heart Attack", penned by Taylor, is notably a Take That! at the emerging punk scene... in the form of a punk song!
• "Happy With What You Have To Be Happy With" by King Crimson.
  • Also, "Lament"
• "Rise" by Disturbed, a pile-driving number about the energy of performance.
• The entire Concept Album "Too Old to Rock 'n' Roll: Too Young to Die", by Jethro Tull, but most especially the title track.
• "#1 Radio $ingle" by Psychostick is a parody of ear worm-driven pop-rock songs you hear on the radio all the time. The song is quite the departure from their usual Heavy Metal type music.
• Doro Pesch has quite a few, including "Homicide Rocker," "Earthshaker Rock," "Fight For Rock", "Lady in a Rock 'n' Roll Hell" and "Metal Tango" with Warlock, and "Rock On" and "Celebration" as a solo artist.
• "Outta Control" and "Stuck in Rock" by Canadian heavy metal band Sword
• Local H's "California Song" criticizes the overuse of Hollywood California and Big Applesauce as subjects of rock songs.
• "Who Put The Bomp (In The Bomp, Bomp, Bomp)?" by Barry Mann and the Haloes is about how Word Salad rock'n'roll lyrics led to the singer's girlfriend falling in love with him.
• Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, "Anything That's Rock 'N' Roll" and "Baby's A Rock 'N' Roller."
• The Shazam have "Rockin and Rollin (With my Rock n Roll Rock n Roller)," presumably written on a dare.
• Boston's Smokin' is about enjoying yourself at a rock concert. As the title implies, this involves enjoying a certain illicit substance.
• Whitesnake's "Children of the Night".
• Bon Jovi's "Blame It on the Love of Rock & Roll".
• They Might Be Giants has numerous songs about not only rock, and not even playing in a rock band, but also about the band itself.
• German Progressive Rock band RPWL's "This is not a Prog song". Its lyrics consist mostly of quotes from the worst reviews they've had.
  • And the title obviously is a shout-out to "This is not a love song" by Public Image Limited.
• Scorpions wrote a lot of them, for instance "Top of the Bill," "We Let It Rock...You Let It Roll," "Coming Home," "Can't Live Without You," and "Restless Nights." The most frequent theme in these songs is how much they love being on stage and playing for their fans.
• "Rock Show" by Halestorm is exactly what it sounds like: a rock song about rock fans rocking out at a rock concert.
• "Telegram" by Nazareth is about arranging a concert, going on a tour, and finally playing after getting through all the non-glamorous details of a rockman's trade.
• Joe Walsh's solo hit "Life's Been Good" pokes fun at the misadventures of 1970s rock stars.
• The Tubes' debut single, "White Punks on Dope", also poked fun at 1970s rock star excess, right down to Fee Waybill's flamboyant on-stage persona Quay Lewd.
• "Glamorous Indie Rock & Roll" by The Killers.

Country

• The list of Country Music songs about country music is off the charts. It's pretty much a prerequisite for most male country singers to sing about country music. Bonus points if Hank Williams, George Jones and/or Merle Haggard are name-dropped. In turn, songs with a "tropical country" feel (and subject matter) regularly namecheck Jimmy Buffett.
• "Country Music is Here To Stay" by Ferlin Husky (as his alter ego Simon Crum)
• "How To Be a Country Star" by The Statler Brothers.
• "Country Is" by Tom T. Hall.
• "Young Country" and "Come On Over To The Country" by Hank Williams Jr.
• "Mountain Music" by Alabama.
  • "If You're Gonna Play in Texas" is about regional preferences in country music, as expressed by a fan during a show.
• "Sweet Country Music" by Atlanta.
• "Teen Angst" by Cracker sarcastically repeats "what the world needs now is another folk singer/ Like I need a hole in my head"
• David Allan Coe's "You Never Even Called Me By My Name" (with a demonstration of "the perfect country-and-western song" in the final verse). Ironically, "You Never Even Called Me By My Name" was actually written by Steve Goodman and John Prine (both folksingers) as a parody of country music.
• "Three Minute Positive Not Too Country Uptempo Love Song" by Alan Jackson.
• "Murder on Music Row" by Larry Cordle (covered by Jackson and George Strait)
• "Songs About Rain" by Gary Allan, which name-drops several, well, songs about rain.
• "This Is Country Music" by Brad Paisley is especially blatant, as he's openly praising the genre and how it tackles subjects that other genres can't/won't.
• Trace Adkins' "Songs About Me".
• "Twang" by George Strait.
• Robbie Fulks' "Countrier than Thou" blasts those who think they're 'country' but they're not.
• "You're Lookin' at Country" by Loretta Lynn.
• "I Was Country When Country Wasn't Cool" by Barbara Mandrell and George Jones.
• "Don't Rock The Jukebox" (as in, play some country 'cause I'm not in the mood for rock) by Alan Jackson.
• "Country Must Be Country Wide" by Brantley Gilbert basically says that country is popular in places other than the South.
• "Best Song Ever" by Katie Armiger is about how the singer has heard a song that she considers the "best song ever" because it parallels the crumbling relationship she's been in, and tells her that everything will be patched up ("You're gonna love me forever / According to this song, according to the best song ever").
• "Baby that is Rock and Roll", by the Coasters.
• "Put You In a Song" by Keith Urban, about how he wants to write a song about his girl. Probably given a Continuity Nod in the followup, "Without You", which contains the line "And up until you came along / No one ever heard my song / Now it's climbing with a bullet."
• "It Goes Like This" by Thomas Rhett is similarly about a melody inspired by a woman whom the singer has met.
  • "What's Your Country Song?" is a Song of Song Titles abiut country music (including "I Was Country When Country Wasn't Cool").
• Maddie & Tae have "Girl in a Country Song", a criticism of the 2013-2014 trend of "bro-country" and the limited role of women in such songs. It also has an overbearing rock sounding production, as a possible nod to the subgenre.
• "Just Another Love Song" by Haley & Michaels, about exes lamenting that a once-special song has now become meaningless to them. In a variant, instead of just making vague references to a generic "offscreen" song, it heavily references Lonestar's "Amazed", and even features their lead singer Richie McDonald interpolating its chorus at the end.
• "Sad Songs and Waltzes" by Willie Nelson (later covered by alt-rock band Cake) is a sad waltz song about a guy who wants to write a sad waltz song.
• "I Could Use A Love Song" by Maren Morris, asking for an optimistic tune to help recover from heartbreak.
• "Nineties Country" by Walker Hayes, which Shouts Out to dozens of songs in the lyrics.
• "Ladies in the Nineties" by Lauren Alaina, celebrating her influences from country and pop growing up.
• LoCash (formerly the LoCash Cowboys) declare that everyone's lives are collectively "One Big Country Song".
• "That's Country, Bro" by Toby Keith, a List Song of old-school country stars.

Other

• Seemingly half of all hip-hop/rap songs (at least) are about the rap scene, other rappers, how hard it is to be a rapper, etc.
• Practically all dance songs are about dancing, unless if the term "dancing" is used as a metaphor for something else.
• 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.
• 3rd Bass' hit "Pop Goes the Weasel" was a slam against Vanilla Ice. One of the subjects of criticism was him choosing a well-known pop song ("Under Pressure") as a sample and saying it was a cheesy thing to do. The song itself contains several well-known pop song samples.
• 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.
• "The Breakup Song (They Don't Write 'Em)" by the Greg Kihn Band is a break-up song that's about break-up songs.
• Sugarhill Gang: "Rapper's Delight", the song that kickstarted Hip-Hop.
• Bad Religion has "Punk Rock Song", describing widespread poverty and suffering. It alleges that society ignores this suffering and instead keeps "pushing on." It hence says that it is a "punk rock song" for those who do still see these problems.
  • Bad Religion also have "The Forbidden Beat", which is about Hardcore Punk...Or heroin addiction.
  • "You Don't Belong Here" is all about the punk scene at the time BR joined it, it name checks quite a few of their fellow performers.
• *NSYNC's "Pop" is a pop song about pop songs as well as a Take That to their critics.
• Bowling for Soup's "Punk Rock 101".
  • "A Really Cool Dance Song" is about how they are going to sell out by making a Dance Song.
• "The Song That Goes Like This" from Spamalot.
• Pop parody/Grindcore band Excrementory Grindfuckers have many songs with "Grind" or "Grindcore" in the title and their songs contain jokes on grindcore, a particularly hilarious example being "How II Make A Grind".
• Above The Law: "Murder Rap".
• "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, "Another Christmas Song", which is so self-referential it's a Klein bottle.
• "Weird Al" Yankovic does this with his polkas. As well as in "(This Song's Just) Six Words Long".
• Speaking of polkas, Frankie Yankovic has "Just Another Polka".
• "Caress Me Down" by Sublime mentions Reggae.
  • It does it twice, actually: "Me gusta me regga, me gusta punk rock..."
• "Rap Superstar" by Cypress Hill. A sort of example is also their remix "Rock Superstar".
• "Hook" by Blues Traveler, about the hook in pop music. And the HOOOOOOK brings you BAAAAAAACK!
• "Baby Pop" and "La guerre des chansons" by French yé-yé artist France Gall.
• "Title of the Song" by Da Vinci's Notebook. Also a shining example of [Trope Name].
• A rare mixed-genre example: Bob Marley's "Punky Reggae Party".
  • Another Bob Marley example: "Roots Rock Reggae".
• 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.
  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...
• Blur:
  • "Song 2" is a pisstake of grunge, which ironically became the band's biggest 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.
  • "Popscene" and "B.L.U.R.E.M.I." have lyrics directly critical of the repetitiveness and lack of creativity in modern music.
• "All Over the World" by Pet Shop Boys is a pop song about pop songs.
  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 its usage in films.
  • Their "No Rock: Save in Roll" pays similar tribute to 70s British rock (songwriter Tjinder Singh grew up in the West Midlands of England, the cradle of British Hard Rock and Heavy Metal).
• The anthem of Carolina beach music is the Embers' "I Love Beach Music". The lyrics consist heavily of popular beach music titles.
• The White Stripes' "Rag and Bone" is about taking and reusing old stuff no one else wants, a transparent metaphor for Jack White's approach to making music.
• Linkin Park's "Step Up" is a Rap Metal song about Rap Metal, specifically a criticism of all the Goatee Metal-Rappers at the time who couldn't actually rap.
• A borderline case is the cover of Dylan's Like a Rolling Stone by... the Rolling Stones.
  • A straightforward example by the Stones, "It's Only Rock and Roll" ("But I like it, like it, yes I do!").
• 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.
• "70's Rock Must Die" by Lard. Their normal style is a mix of industrial rock and punk, but this particular song is a spoof of '70s Hard Rock and Arena Rock. This, of course, adds deliberate irony to the lyrical content, which is all about how that type of music was garbage from a garbage decade that people at the time (the late '90s/early '00s) were inexplicably nostalgic for.
• "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.
    • Or any early punk or post-punk band of a certain inclination. Case in point: Subway Sect's entire recorded output prior to Vic Goddard's Creator Breakdown (induced by Executive Meddling) is either directly or indirectly about (post-)punk rock and its pitfalls.
• "Show Business", the song and the musical.
• "Authentic Klezmer Wedding Band" by Geoff Berner is a song poking fun at Klezmer bands who whore themselves out to Hipster Gentiles who don't understand klezmer and just treat it like the fad of the week.
• The "C-A-M-P-F-I-R-E S-O-N-G Song" by SpongeBob SquarePants must be about campfire songs, right?
• "Pop Muzik" by M.
• 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 Rock-Star 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 early days, a history of the Mods & Rockers rivalry, critiques of fashion and conformity: all wrapped up in the first-person story of a British youth whose head is crowded with these issues and more, including a difficult life at home and possible mental illness. Complete with four leitmotifs, one for each member of The Who. Couldn't be any more Meta unless it was Shaped Like Itself.
• "Play That Funky Music" by Wild Cherry is actually the band's retelling of a gig they once played where someone actually stood up and shouted "Play that funky music, white boy!" They weren't necessarily a funk-rock band at that time, but then they wrote the song and became a One-Hit Wonder.
• "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.
• Arthur Conley's "Sweet Soul Music" — the one that spotlights on Sam & Dave, Wilson Pickett, Otis Redding, and James Brown.
• Plenty of metal songs treat Heavy Metal and Rock 'n' Roll as one and same, like Rock Goddess' "Heavy Metal Rock 'n' Roll".
• "F.U.N.K." by Betty Davis. Nearly all of the lyrics are name-checks of her peers (Sly Stone, Funkadelic, etc.) or lifted from their songs.
• My House by Rhythm Controll is a mythological/religious take on the creation and power of house music.
• 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.
• "It's Too Loud" by Songs to Wear Pants To is a hard rock song...that criticizes the hard rock genre.
  4/4 time is boring
  And I'm so sick of
  the guitar licks you all play
• Feven's "Dom tio budorden" ("The Ten Commandments") is a hiphop song like this, parodied as "Svensktoppens tio budord" ("The Ten Commandments of Svensktoppen"; Svensktoppen being the main radio chart in Sweden) as a dansband song, which is the type of music most featured there.
• The Axis of Awesome's "Four Chords" is all about how you can write a pop song using only four chords. Their evidence is pretty convincing
  • In another song, they also explain How to Write a Love Song ("yeah, a shitty, shitty, shitty, shitty love song!")
• "I Love Acid" by Luke Vibert is an acid techno song about acid techno.
• Another techno example; "Techno Vocals" by Marc Houle is about the style of vocals used on techno tracks: "Why are the vocals pitched down so low, low, low, low?/This is the way we make techno!"
• "Who Put The Mush (In The Mush-A-Ring-A-Do-Da)?" by The MacCalmans is a Scottish folk music parody of "Who Put The Bomp?", in which the singer's girlfriend leaves him because she prefers rock music.
• "Gangsta Rap Made Me Do It" by Ice Cube.
• "Professional Rapper" by Lil Dicky and Snoop Dogg enacts a faux job interview between the two. Snoop is the boss and Dicky is the aspiring employee who needs to show off he's tough to ascend in the rap game.
• "Do You Sing Any Dylan?" by Eric Bogle, about the request a singer-songwriter doesn't want to hear.
  • And "Plastic Paddy" about mock-Irish folk songs, done in the style of a mock-Irish folk song.
• 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, sad songs.
• Propagandhi's "Ska Sucks" is a ska song about what a stupid movement ska is.
• The Suburban Legends have a song called I Want More, which contains the line "It's not cool to play ska music", among others.
• Jason Mraz's "Wordplay" is about the singer being pressured to make a new song and writing a refrain full of nonsensical syllables.
• "Underground" by Ben Folds Five pokes fun at the post-grunge scene of the moment (mid-nineties). "And we'll be decked in all black / Slammin' the pit fantastic / Officer Friendly's little boy's got a mohawk..."
  • Ben's solo single "Rockin' the Suburbs" is a slickly produced pop-rock song that pokes fun at slickly produced pop-rock songs.
    • The lyrics are more of a slam against white boy metal/rap bands like Korn (they had recently slammed him in the press about his style of music). The music is meant to be a Take That! of sorts at the nu-metal sound, in the stylings of Ben Folds. Still qualifies as meta tho.
  • "One Down" is about being forced to churn out songs for soundtracks and the like.
• Good Moov's "Eurodance Era" is an eurodance song about eurodance.
• "Ap-ray" by Derwood Bowen is a rap song in pig Latin about rapping in pig Latin.
• "Antmusic" by Adam and the Ants is about how they have a whole new beat, and why you should "unplug the jukebox" and listen only to Antmusic.
• The Dead Milkmen's "Instant Club Hit (You'll Dance to Anything)", uses a very formulaic dance beat and this very trope to serve a big take that to dance music in general.
  • Less obviously They Might Be Giants does a similar, if more obscure thing with "Man, It's So Loud In Here."
• Rancid has many songs about punk rock itself.
• Crass' "Punk is Dead". Enough said.
• Eazy-E's "Imma Break It Down", about writing raps, performing and getting famous.
• Anal Cunt lived this trope. "Grindcore is Very Terrifying", "I'm Not Allowed to Like A.C. Any More Since They Signed to Earache", "Extreme Noise Terror Are Afraid of Us", "Chris Barnes Is a Pussy", etc.
• Comedian Patton Oswalt has several stand up bits about stand up.
• Paul Williams' "Sad Song"
• A cappella group The Nylons' "Bop 'Til You Drop".
• The "Boring Song" by Status Quid. One guess who and what they are lampooning.
• Folk singer Hamish Imlach wrote his own lyrics to "The Wild Rover". It's about a folk singer fed up with always being asked to play, well, "The Wild Rover".
• Kim Wilde's "Kids in America" is a new wave song about new wave music.
• Welsh parodic rap duo Goldie Lookin' Chain's breakout hit "Guns Don't Kill People (Rappers Do)".
• Similarly to Imlach's "The Wild Rover", folk singer (and friend of Eric Bogle) Tony Miles wrote a pastiche of "And the Band Played 'And the Band Played "Waltzing Matilda"'", about a folkie who tours Australia and finds that, wherever he goes, all anyone can talk about is the bloody Bogle song. Apparently he wrote this after he happened to go on tour two weeks after Eric and hit most of the same venues.
• There's also a parody of Bogle's "No Man's Land" by Crawford Howard, where the singer protests he doesn't know it, and the pub drunk responds that in that case he'll sing it.
• Norwegian pop duo Ute til lunsj (Out to lunch) did this as a take on how to get around the censorship of the Norwegian Broadcastin Corporation (NRK) in the eighties, after being shut out from radio broadcasting because of a hit containing multiple references to (what could be interpreted as) commercializing. This particular song was called "A song that can be played in NRK'', containing this amusing line:

  "This song is actually only about itself, we don´t have anything we wish to say anyway..."

• Dick Gaughan's "A Different Kind of Love Song" is a politically-charged folk song about why he writes politically-charged folk songs.
• Florence + the Machine's "No Choir" is about singer Florence Welch Breaking the Fourth Wall and exploring the tropes she used to further her career.
• DJ Earworm:
  • The intro and the chorus of "United State of Pop 2009 (Blame It on the Pop)" focus on the many different genres and music styles.
  • The aptly-titled "United State of Pop 2010 (Don't Stop the Pop)" is about having fun at a party with the dance-pop music that dominated the year.
  • "Beautiful Mashup", the Sean Kingston mashup, uses lyrics from "Beautiful Girls" to make the lyrics about it being a mashup itself.
• "You Will Be My Song" by Christian singer Don Moen refers to God as one's song worthy of singing praises of, "even when a melody won't come/even when my words are not enough".
• Daniel Thrasher: "When you write a song about hip hop" is about Hoodie Guy writing an Educational Song about Hip-Hop. The twist? It's an upbeat, not Hip-Hop song where you Follow the Bouncing Ball that you'd picture the Animaniacs singing.
• The traditional English Christmas carol "Here We Come A-wassailing" is about going wassailing and is sung while wassailing.
• Eminem often writes songs about Music Is Politics and the music industry in general. Early in his career he liked to make fun of the pop music industry, but over time he progressed to writing albums about hip-hop.

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