Songs about people in the music business

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"Seymour Stein" - Belle and Sebastian
"Gino (The Manager) - Hall & Oates (about Tommy Mottola)
the Spoon song about their Elektra A&R rep

what else?

(ps - i searched for this, but couldn't find anything)

― frankE (frankE), Saturday, 18 September 2004 17:00 (twenty-one years ago)

Country House - Blur

― jellybean (jellybean), Saturday, 18 September 2004 17:01 (twenty-one years ago)

"Hitsville UK" the Clash

― Aja (aja), Saturday, 18 September 2004 17:03 (twenty-one years ago)

The Smiths - Paint A Vulgar Picture

― ana, Saturday, 18 September 2004 17:15 (twenty-one years ago)

Stockholm Monsters "How corrupt is Rough Trade"

― snowballing (snowballing), Saturday, 18 September 2004 17:16 (twenty-one years ago)

"Tommy Mottola / lives on the road" (the first line of Dr. Buzzard's "Cherchez La Femme")

― A. Atom Gorgon (Jody Beth Rosen), Saturday, 18 September 2004 17:19 (twenty-one years ago)

Graham Parker, "Mercury Poisoning"
The Ex, "E.M. Why?"
The Gravediggers, "Mark Robinson" ("He's an indie star/He knows Terry, Ken and Gerard/He's the only one I know who gets paid by Dutch East India")
and the Fall have a line in "C&C-S Mithering" about Herb Alpert in his capacity as an A&R guy

― Douglas (Douglas), Saturday, 18 September 2004 17:23 (twenty-one years ago)

Specific people or just people?

XTC - Funk Pop A Roll
Sonic Youth - Mariah Carey And the Arthur Doyle Handcream (as it was meant to be)

― strom (strom), Saturday, 18 September 2004 17:24 (twenty-one years ago)

Pedro the Lion - Bands with Managers

― Maria D. (Maria D.), Saturday, 18 September 2004 17:25 (twenty-one years ago)

Dr. Buzzards Original Savannah Band-Cherchez la Femme is about Tommy Mottola

― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Saturday, 18 September 2004 17:26 (twenty-one years ago)

Surfer Joe And The Moe The Sleaze - Neil Young & Crazy Horse

― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Saturday, 18 September 2004 17:26 (twenty-one years ago)

Zaentz Can't Dance - John Fogerty

― manthony m1cc1o (Anthony Miccio), Saturday, 18 September 2004 17:27 (twenty-one years ago)

the follow-up lines in "Cherchez la femme" about Tommy blowing his mind on wine & cheap reefer...always wanted to see those quoted in a business article.

― lovebug starski (lovebug starski), Saturday, 18 September 2004 19:03 (twenty-one years ago)

"Stephanie Says" by the Velvet Underground was written about Steve Sesnick (sic) the Velvets' post-Warhol manager. According to John Cale, the titular sex change occured because to Lou everybody's gay.

― lovebug starski (lovebug starski), Saturday, 18 September 2004 19:05 (twenty-one years ago)

"Danny Says" by the Ramones is about Mr. Fields. Unfortunately, it's not one of the boys' better efforts IMO.

― lovebug starski (lovebug starski), Saturday, 18 September 2004 19:08 (twenty-one years ago)

"The Under Assistant West Coast Promo Man" by the Stones.
Er, that's what it was called, right?

― lovebug starski (lovebug starski), Saturday, 18 September 2004 19:09 (twenty-one years ago)

Zappa, "Rudy Wants To Buy Yez a Drink"
That mid-70s song, "Don't Call Us, We'll Call You" (who did that?)
Zorn/Naked City, "Perfume of a Critic's Burning Flesh"
There are lots of songs about groupies, who aren't on any label's payroll, but who are (or used to be) a crucial part of the music business: FZ, "Road Ladies," King Crimson, "Ladies of the Road, Rolling Stones, "Ruby Tuesday," etc etc

― Rock Hardy (Rock Hardy), Saturday, 18 September 2004 19:31 (twenty-one years ago)

Pink Floyd obviously

― Mediawhore, Saturday, 18 September 2004 21:34 (twenty-one years ago)

The Replacemennts, "Alex Chilton"
David Bowie, "Song for Bob Dylan"

"Don't Call Us..." was by Sugarloaf

― mottdeterre (mottdeterre), Saturday, 18 September 2004 22:20 (twenty-one years ago)

Joni Mitchell - "Free Man In Paris" (about David Geffen)

― Sansai, Saturday, 18 September 2004 23:01 (twenty-one years ago)

"I Know Someone Who Knows Someone Who Knows Alan McGee Quite Well," Pooh Sticks

Does "How to Rob" count?

― Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Saturday, 18 September 2004 23:08 (twenty-one years ago)

Sex Pistols, "EMI"
Lynard Skynard, "Working for MCA"
Guns N' Roses, "Get In the Ring"

― Pleasant Plains (Pleasant Plains), Saturday, 18 September 2004 23:23 (twenty-one years ago)

bad eminem skits to thread

― Symplistic (shmuel), Saturday, 18 September 2004 23:25 (twenty-one years ago)

"the agony of laffitte" - spoon

― notfazed (notfazed), Sunday, 19 September 2004 01:21 (twenty-one years ago)

enya "orinoco flow" (reference to rob dickens, wea boss)

― the surface noise (slight return) (electricsound), Sunday, 19 September 2004 04:04 (twenty-one years ago)

Tom Petty - "Into the Great Wide Open" ("the A&R man said, 'I don't hear a single'" etc.) Also, I suppose, "The Last DJ."

― joseph cotten (joseph cotten), Sunday, 19 September 2004 04:27 (twenty-one years ago)

"Producer" - Gang of Four

― peepee (peepee), Sunday, 19 September 2004 05:26 (twenty-one years ago)

Sugarloaf, "Don't Call Us, We'll Call you"

No specific names mentioned, but it's autobiographical, all about CBS's refusal to sign them. They got their revenge, first by scoring a big hit for Liberty ("Green-Eyed Lady") and then by including CBS's unlisted phone number touch-tone style in "Don't Call Us..."

Blue Oyster Cult's "Marshall Plan" merits a mention by having real-life bigshot producer Don Kirshner actually appear on the track.

― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Sunday, 19 September 2004 06:55 (twenty-one years ago)

"John Kettley is a Weatherman" by A Tribe of Toffs ("Johnny Marr, he plays guitar"

"The Bastard Son of Dean Friedman" - Half Man Half Biscuit.

― ailsa (ailsa), Sunday, 19 September 2004 07:06 (twenty-one years ago)

kinks, "david watts" (about a concert promoter)

pink, "don't let me get me" (just for that one verse about LA reid, "LA told me, 'you'll be a pop star...' ")

too much joy, "hugo" (about gang of four drummer turned music bizzer hugo burnham)

neil young, "prisoners of rock and roll" ("we never listen to the record company man/they try to change us and ruin our band")

aimee mann, um, does she have any songs that aren't about people in the music biz?
uncle tupelo, "acuff-rose" (sort of. i'm not sure quite what it's about. but they named it for two giant music bizzers and their publishing company for crissakes, so i think it belongs here.)

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Sunday, 19 September 2004 07:18 (twenty-one years ago)

That mid-70s song, "Don't Call Us, We'll Call You" (who did that?)

I'm just fuckin' invisible here, aren't I? Look, I've got my pants off, I'm pissing in your corn flakes, how ya like me now!

― Rock Hardy (Rock Hardy), Sunday, 19 September 2004 14:09 (twenty-one years ago)

The Fall - "Gentleman's Agreement"

― sexyDancer, Sunday, 19 September 2004 14:35 (twenty-one years ago)

The Beatles - "Baby, You're a Rich Man"

― sexyDancer, Sunday, 19 September 2004 14:36 (twenty-one years ago)

A lot of Aimee Mann -- "I'm With Stupid", most explicitly.

― joseph cotten (joseph cotten), Sunday, 19 September 2004 14:44 (twenty-one years ago)

"Ripping Up The Industry" - Black Radical MkII - early 90s, Coldcut inspired UK hip hop act)

― herbalizer12 (herbalizer12), Monday, 20 September 2004 07:47 (twenty-one years ago)

That Lee Perry track where he disses Chris Blackwell as a "vampire" who offed Marley . . . ah, the glamorous music business . . .

― Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Monday, 20 September 2004 09:22 (twenty-one years ago)

"the agony of laffitte" - spoon?

As well as the 7" flipside, "Lafitte Don't Fail Me Now"

― Phil Dennison (Phil D.), Monday, 20 September 2004 12:18 (twenty-one years ago)

Geto Boys "Do It Like a GO"
Ice Cube "No Vaseline"

― dave q, Monday, 20 September 2004 15:13 (twenty-one years ago)

Queen "Let Me Entertain You", in which Freddie Mercury names the member of his road crew most likely to sell you drugs.

― dave q, Monday, 20 September 2004 15:14 (twenty-one years ago)

Hip hop impressarios are name dropped constantly. Suge, Diddy, and Russell Simmons are alls overs the place.

― Jack G, Monday, 20 September 2004 15:53 (twenty-one years ago)

weezer - jamie (band's first lawyer)
weezer - susanne (employee at geffen)

― 6335, Monday, 20 September 2004 16:03 (twenty-one years ago)

kinks "session man"

― amateur!!st, Monday, 20 September 2004 16:05 (twenty-one years ago)

also steely dan to thread

― amateur!!st, Monday, 20 September 2004 16:07 (twenty-one years ago)

"roland the roadie" by Dr. Hook

― ken taylrr (ken taylrr), Monday, 20 September 2004 23:19 (twenty-one years ago)

Michael Jackson: D.S.

― Forksclovetofu (Forksclovetofu), Monday, 20 September 2004 23:23 (twenty-one years ago)

Afghan Whigs - "Neglekted" (about Sylvia Rhone)

― kit brash (kit brash), Tuesday, 21 September 2004 00:20 (twenty-one years ago)

"get off the air" angry samoans

― m0stly clean (m0stly clean), Tuesday, 21 September 2004 00:28 (twenty-one years ago)

"cherchez la femme" is the weirdest song ever

― amateur!!!st (amateurist), Tuesday, 21 September 2004 00:33 (twenty-one years ago)

twenty-one years pass...

"Weird Al" Yankovic - "The Check's in the Mail"

― play, sideman (SlimAndSlam), Saturday, 4 April 2026 13:23 (two weeks ago)

Surprised that no one mentioned "The Moneygoround" by The Kinks, which calls out three managers

― Josefa, Saturday, 4 April 2026 14:17 (two weeks ago)

and denmark street which i’ve for some reason always liked against my better impulses

― mig (guess that dreams always end), Saturday, 4 April 2026 15:04 (two weeks ago)

NTI posted this yesterday on the Badfinger thread:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgEgeQJyTLk

― Galactic Poetaster (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 4 April 2026 15:21 (two weeks ago)

"Starry Eyes" by the Records! The best song of this genre.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQb9RXV0p08

― Lee626, Monday, 6 April 2026 10:02 (two weeks ago)

Motörhead, "(We Are) the Road Crew"
Bachman-Turner Overdrive, "Welcome Home"
Be-Bop Deluxe, "Dance of the Uncle Sam Humanoids" ("Meet Bruce, our new 'artist relations' man!")

― Halfway there but for you, Monday, 6 April 2026 11:33 (two weeks ago)

Do people who work in record shops count?

The Freshies, "I'm In Love With The Girl On A Certain Manchester Megastore Checkout Desk"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-cvurlm9wA

― Clarinet Cop (Tom D.), Monday, 6 April 2026 11:41 (two weeks ago)

The Wake - "Joke Shop" (about Tony Wilson, with Factory Records being the titular joke shop)

― henry s, Monday, 6 April 2026 12:12 (two weeks ago)

The Special AKA: Gangsters ("Bernie Rhodes knows, don't argue")
B.A. Robertson: Bang Bang ("life was in a ruin, she loved Johnny Fruin")
...and of course The Shamen: Ebeneezer Goode was all about a well-known character in the music industry.

― mike t-diva, Monday, 6 April 2026 13:45 (two weeks ago)

"Starry Eyes" by the Records! The best song of this genre.
📹

Good one!

― Galactic Poetaster (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 6 April 2026 13:50 (two weeks ago)

Do people who work in record shops count?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtlN6mkIRzU

― mick signals, Monday, 6 April 2026 13:59 (two weeks ago)

Grateful Dead - He's Gone

About their former manager, Lenny Hart, who embezzeled their money and split.

― peace, man, Monday, 6 April 2026 14:21 (two weeks ago)

In a similar vein, "Kill Whitey" by N.W.H.

― Halfway there but for you, Monday, 6 April 2026 14:27 (two weeks ago)

Bob Dylan - Dear Landlord (about Albert Grossman)

― il lavoro mi rovina la giornata (PBKR), Monday, 6 April 2026 14:28 (two weeks ago)

Sonic Youth - Swimsuit Issue

― Hideous Lump, Monday, 6 April 2026 20:54 (two weeks ago)

"Bill Drummond Said" - Julian Cope

"Julian Cope is dead" - Bill Drummond

― riveter (strangeangel), Monday, 6 April 2026 22:08 (two weeks ago)

Two coded songs aimed at the band's ex-manager:
"I Bought Myself a Liarbird" - XTC
"The Birmingham School of Business School" - The Fall

― Wry & Slobby (Portsmouth Bubblejet), Tuesday, 7 April 2026 09:34 (two weeks ago)

Another two complaints about former managers:
"Death on Two Legs (Dedicated to...)" - Queen
"Five Per Cent for Nothing" - Yes (an instrumental but titled after the financial deal they had made with their ex-manager)

― Halfway there but for you, Tuesday, 7 April 2026 11:45 (two weeks ago)

"Ain't Gonna Suck Itself" - Cracker

― BrianB, Tuesday, 7 April 2026 11:48 (two weeks ago)

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