Ironic Songs Often Misinterpretted

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Based on the "White Minority" thread.

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- "White Minority" by Black Flag
- "Six Pack" by Black Flag
- "TV Party" by Black Flag
- "Big Dumb Sex" by Soundgarden
- "Sex Type Thing" by Stone Temple Pilots
- "Kill the Poor" by Dead Kennedys

Others?

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 3 June 2005 16:28 (twenty years ago)

"Fight for Your Right to Party" by the Beastie Boys......or so they claim today.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 3 June 2005 16:29 (twenty years ago)

"Suicide Solution" by Ozzy Osbourne

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 3 June 2005 16:37 (twenty years ago)

Beck's "Loser"?

― Sean M (Sean M), Friday, 3 June 2005 16:39 (twenty years ago)

"Born in the USA," of course. And I think there are countless other ironic songs that the GOP has tried to co-opt.

― schwantz, Friday, 3 June 2005 16:39 (twenty years ago)

Almost every Devo song
Timbuk 3, "The Future's So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades", which is about a fucking nuclear holocaust.

― polyphonic (polyphonic), Friday, 3 June 2005 16:40 (twenty years ago)

ironic songs that the GOP has tried to co-opt.

Not exactly ironic, but Pato Banton's 'Don't Sniff Coke' should be mentioned with this.

― PappaWheelie (PappaWheelie), Friday, 3 June 2005 16:46 (twenty years ago)

You mean... you must not whip it?

― The Mad Puffin, Friday, 3 June 2005 16:50 (twenty years ago)

Hahahahahahaha

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 3 June 2005 16:55 (twenty years ago)

"99 Luftballons" (about more nuclear holocaust than timbuk 3 could fathom)
"Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" (about, um, staying awake, or something)
"Ironic" (about intentionally annoying anal-compulsive nitwits who are proud to have looked the title word up in the dictionary once)

okay, well, the second one at least

― xhuxk, Friday, 3 June 2005 16:58 (twenty years ago)

"Every Breath You Take" by the Police

― white boi, Friday, 3 June 2005 17:00 (twenty years ago)

this man owns this thread

http://i.timeinc.net/time/2003/carnegie/images/newman.jpg

― miccio (miccio), Friday, 3 June 2005 17:06 (twenty years ago)

I don't think it's quite right to call the lyrics to "Born in the USA" ironic. The situation is ironic--guy fights for his country and feels treated as an enemy by it--but it's a pretty straight-up tale of a down-and-out, disillusioned working-class Vietnam Vet. What is really ironic is that the GOP adopted (or tried to adopt) this very depressing song at all--apparently they heard only the chorus, which with its neutral lyrical content and bombastic musical backing was able to be interpreted as unproblematic patriotism. If I remember correctly Springsteen threatened legal action and got them to drop it.

Now, "Don't Worry Be Happy"--if that's not meant ironically, then it's a pretty weird song. I think it was Bush 41's campaign that used that one.

One would like to call F. Mac's "Don't Stop" ironic since it's so vacuous, but it's in the same baby-boom spirit as Clinton's campaign, so you can't really.

― These Robust Cookies (Robust Cookies), Friday, 3 June 2005 17:06 (twenty years ago)

REM - "The One I Love"

― Mark (MarkR), Friday, 3 June 2005 17:09 (twenty years ago)

I remember Bob Dole campaigning against Nine Inch Nails for "Big Man with a Gun" because it incites violence and it's about guns and America is losing its battle against morality.

― geyser muffler and a quarter (Dave225), Friday, 3 June 2005 17:12 (twenty years ago)

How exactly is "Sex-Type Thing" often misinterpreted? It's "ironic," sure, in that Weiland is singing in a macho way about rape (or something, who really cares). But other than the fact that the group, which was then in their pre-Pearl Jam/metal band fashion phase, looked like a bunch of date-rapist assholes and that the song is sung "in character," I'm not really sure it's been misunderstood. I think most people correctly interpret "Sex-Type Thing" for what it is: a piece of dogshit.

― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Friday, 3 June 2005 17:12 (twenty years ago)

Oh, and along the same lines, but most definitely misinterpreted, "Cop Killer".

― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Friday, 3 June 2005 17:12 (twenty years ago)

There's nothing ironic about "Cop Killer". Ice is singing in character, but it's not irony.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 3 June 2005 17:15 (twenty years ago)

I always assumed "Sex Type Thing" was a wholesale ripoff of Soundgarden's "Big Dumb Sex".

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 3 June 2005 17:15 (twenty years ago)

How is "Sweet Dreams" supposed to have been misinterpreted?

― These Robust Cookies (Robust Cookies), Friday, 3 June 2005 17:16 (twenty years ago)

Or interpreted, period.

― Mark (MarkR), Friday, 3 June 2005 17:17 (twenty years ago)

McCarthy to thread.

― fortunate hazel (f. hazel), Friday, 3 June 2005 17:19 (twenty years ago)

I have this weird feeling that like every Ween song ever fits this thread's premise, but also kinda consequently, none of them do.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Friday, 3 June 2005 17:19 (twenty years ago)

Chris Knox "Song for 1990"

― Jeremy (Jeremy), Friday, 3 June 2005 17:19 (twenty years ago)

Alex, is "Guilty of Being White" by Minor Threat ever misinterpreted? I forget. What about all those old Big Black songs? Seems to me that the "ironic" explanation can be an all-purpose "naw I'm just playin'" trapdoor for all kindsa mean spirited bullshit, if you want it to be. (And I say that as a fan of Minor Threat, Big Black, fucking "One in a Million" Guns N Roses, several old oi! bands, and maybe mean spirited bullshit in general. So, um, yeah, I am somewhat conflicted about the issue.) (I really do totally hate GG Allin, though.)

― xhuxk, Friday, 3 June 2005 17:20 (twenty years ago)

There's nothing ironic about "Cop Killer". Ice is singing in character, but it's not irony.

Good point — I think just meant "misinterpreted," kind of forgetting the "ironic" part.

― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Friday, 3 June 2005 17:22 (twenty years ago)

"Spin Age Blasters" ("I see a nigger!" "He sees a nigger!" "Out in the audience I see a nigger!") by Electric Eels.

All those old Dictators and Ramones songs where they pretended to be Nazis.

Merle Haggard, "Okee from Muskogee" (performed back when he supposedly used to open shows with "good evening, friends and conservatives," or something like that).

Large chunks of the Rolling Stones/Bob Dylan/Sex Pistols/Stooges/Eminem catalogs.

etc.

(Or maybe those are merely sarcastic instead; hard to tell.)

― xhuxk, Friday, 3 June 2005 17:26 (twenty years ago)

this probably belongs on the white minority thread (if it isnt there already) but Johnny Hit and Run Paulene

― matlewis, Friday, 3 June 2005 17:30 (twenty years ago)

How could "Johnny Hit and Run Paulene" be misinterpreted? It's a story about a serial rapist.

― These Robust Cookies (Robust Cookies), Friday, 3 June 2005 17:32 (twenty years ago)

I vaguely remember Sting apologizing in print for the stalker-ish tone of "Every Breath You Take", which is probably why he does a pisstake of it at the end of "Love Is The Seventh Wave".

― Tantrum The Cat (Tantrum The Cat), Friday, 3 June 2005 17:35 (twenty years ago)

dire straits, "money for nothing" (yeah right) and maybe "sultans of swing" too (though i forget why)

― xhuxk, Friday, 3 June 2005 17:37 (twenty years ago)

Hag wrote Okie from Muskogee to show what he thought would be his deceased father's POV of the hippies, etc. I'm not sure he meant it to be the anthem of the "silent majority" but he probably enjoyed the exposure, hence They're Walking On The Fighting Side Of Me.

― kornrulez6969 (TCBeing), Friday, 3 June 2005 17:38 (twenty years ago)

How could "Johnny Hit and Run Paulene" be misinterpreted? It's a story about a serial rapist.

it's obviously about a rapist, but maybe rape sounds appealing to some folks. yeah, LA punk scene, I'm looking at you.

in interviews John Doe said they stopped playing that song because some of the gentlemen in the crowd got a little too into it's main theme.

― matlewis, Friday, 3 June 2005 17:41 (twenty years ago)

I remember reading somewhere that The Beatles' Got To Get You Into My Life is Paul's love song to pot. Looking at the lyrics it makes total, uh, sens. "Ooh, then I suddenly see you. Ooh, did I tell you I need you every single day of my life."

― kornrulez6969 (TCBeing), Friday, 3 June 2005 17:48 (twenty years ago)

re: "Johnny Hit and Run" Ok, but still, not really irony. He doesn't glamorize or imply that the character is positive. He makes it sound creepy.

― These Robust Cookies (Robust Cookies), Friday, 3 June 2005 17:48 (twenty years ago)

(Because irony entails saying something other than what you really mean)

― These Robust Cookies (Robust Cookies), Friday, 3 June 2005 17:50 (twenty years ago)

supposedly there is a skrewdriver cover of "one in a million" out there, and THEY change the N word to "mother"?!!? now that's irony.

also i second some of the misgivings re:soundgarden and STP even being able to pull off irony, necessarily, particularly as they do seem to be very genuine dolts. i mean in the interviews i've seen with him every word out of weiland's mouth is like idiot gold. he's amazing.

― noizem duke (noize duke), Friday, 3 June 2005 17:51 (twenty years ago)

What's the name of the song on The Wall with the "Are there any queers in the theater tonight?/Get them up against the wall!" lines in it right before "Run Like Hell"? Half the heshers in my high school co-opted it as their xenophobic anthem.

― The Ghost of Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Friday, 3 June 2005 17:55 (twenty years ago)

"In the Flesh?"

― The Good Dr. Bill (The Good Dr. Bill), Friday, 3 June 2005 18:04 (twenty years ago)

That sounds right but I'm too lazy to confirm.

― The Ghost of Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Friday, 3 June 2005 18:06 (twenty years ago)

"In the Flesh?" it is, not to be confused with "In the Flesh" from the same album

― jedidiah (jedidiah), Friday, 3 June 2005 18:15 (twenty years ago)

frank zappa owns this thread.

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Friday, 3 June 2005 18:20 (twenty years ago)

probably eminem, too.

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Friday, 3 June 2005 18:20 (twenty years ago)

re eminem, this probably applies:

Seems to me that the "ironic" explanation can be an all-purpose "naw I'm just playin'" trapdoor for all kindsa mean spirited bullshit, if you want it to be.

Doesn't he end one of those "I want to kill my mother" tracks with that line?

― 666 (Robust Cookies), Friday, 3 June 2005 18:23 (twenty years ago)

"This land is your land" is probably the most famous example in America.

― Cunga (Cunga), Friday, 3 June 2005 18:27 (twenty years ago)

OTM

― geyser muffler and a quarter (Dave225), Friday, 3 June 2005 18:33 (twenty years ago)

Oh, wait .. is it Ironic though? It's like Born in the USA. It's not done with irony, it's very direct.. People just don't get it.

― geyser muffler and a quarter (Dave225), Friday, 3 June 2005 18:35 (twenty years ago)

Shiny Happy People
WAke Up Boo!

― dog latin (dog latin), Friday, 3 June 2005 18:36 (twenty years ago)

Pet Shop Boys - "Opportunities"

― Seb (Seb), Friday, 3 June 2005 18:37 (twenty years ago)

Sometimes, when I hear songs like that one Toby Keith song about putting a boot up Saddam's ass or whatever it was, I like to pretend in my mind that it's actually, like very sophisticated black comedy.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Friday, 3 June 2005 18:44 (twenty years ago)

Born In The USA is not ironic in the lyrics, but certainly in the delivery.

It's sung in such an anthemic, stadium-rocking style that Bruce must have known it was going to be misunderstood and misappropriated by a good chunk of the people who heard it.

― kornrulez6969 (TCBeing), Friday, 3 June 2005 18:44 (twenty years ago)

Oh, wait .. is it Ironic though? It's like Born in the USA. It's not done with irony, it's very direct.. People just don't get it.

For it to be ironic is has to have two different intended audiences from the outset. Whether Guthrie intentionally made it vague enough as to fool some people and how much of it is written as a joke on nationalistic anthems is open to interpretation, which ultimately determines whether it was ironic from the beginning. I think it's just enough of a deadpan spoof to be considered ironic but that's just me.

― Cunga (Cunga), Friday, 3 June 2005 18:48 (twenty years ago)

His "Flip a boner to the Taliban" line will be taught in history classes in future generations.

― Cunga (Cunga), Friday, 3 June 2005 18:49 (twenty years ago)

"Smells Like Teen Spirit", in which Mr Cobain satirises the herd mentality of the rock gig audience only to be confronted with said mentality every time he performs the song.

― Jetlag Willy (noodle vague), Friday, 3 June 2005 19:03 (twenty years ago)

Hip To Be Square
Rape Me

― billstevejim (billstevejim), Friday, 3 June 2005 19:14 (twenty years ago)

"Happy Together" by the Turtles. Intended as an over-the-top parody of a pop love song, it was recieved sincerely and is a staple of oldies radio. "I can't see me lovin' nobody but you, for all my life/ when you're with me baby, the skies will be blue for all my life." At least one of the Turtles was in Frank Zappa's band, as well.

― Partrack MacGillicuddy, Friday, 3 June 2005 20:15 (twenty years ago)

That Soundgarden considered their hamfisted "Big Dumb Sex" to be effective satire - that they felt such satire was even particularly original, let alone necessary, for chrissakes - just demonstrates how they were often dumber and ALWAYS unfunnier than whatever bands they felt they were satirizing. I mean, Bon Scott or David Lee Roth or Lemmy all could've written a cheerfully dumb sex-ode and made it not only totally sincere, but also fully aware of its dumbness - thereby making it smart after all. No way could Chris Cornell ever write a couplet as casually dumb/witty as Lemmy's "I'll wake you up, but stay in bed/Don't get up, get down instead!"

― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Friday, 3 June 2005 20:16 (twenty years ago)

Is that true about "Happy Together"? I know "Elenore" was intended to be over the top ("You're my pride and joy, etc.").

xxxxxxpost: "Don't Stop" is *hardly* vacuous. The irony comes in with Clinton's campaign focusing on the hedged hopefulness in the chorus of a song about a difficult person/relationship.

― Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Friday, 3 June 2005 20:58 (twenty years ago)

At least one of the Turtles was in Frank Zappa's band, as well.

both of 'em, actually. flo and eddie.

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Friday, 3 June 2005 21:21 (twenty years ago)

Alex, is "Guilty of Being White" by Minor Threat ever misinterpreted? I forget.

I don't really know either. I mean, Ian seems like the posterboy today for PC egalitarianism, but let's remember how young (and probably slightly stupider) they were when they recorded that stuff. Who knows?

For some reason, Slayer's cover taints my memory of it (did Minor Threat close with "GUILTY OF BEING RIGHT!" as well?)

Either way, I doubt you'd find Ian singing it these days.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 3 June 2005 21:59 (twenty years ago)

I have a friend who refuses to believe that "I'm Straight" by the Modern Lovers isn't completely ironic. "Just listen to the man," he'll say, "he sounds completely stoned out of his mind!"

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 3 June 2005 22:00 (twenty years ago)

i think that not a few songs from yer beloved Stranglers belong on this thread, alex.

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Friday, 3 June 2005 22:27 (twenty years ago)

if "Sex-Type Thing" has any coherence, it is ironic about irony

Doesn't he end one of those "I want to kill my mother" tracks with that line?

he ends one track on at least three of his albums with the escape-hatch line, and the line itself is ironic.

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Friday, 3 June 2005 22:31 (twenty years ago)

Personal Jesus as well, if only because Johnny Cash seemed to misinterpret it.

― Cunga (Cunga), Friday, 3 June 2005 23:02 (twenty years ago)

miccio OTM

― Sym Sym (sym), Friday, 3 June 2005 23:05 (twenty years ago)

Not an ironic song, really, but "Nigger" by Clawfinger is very often misinterpreted.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Friday, 3 June 2005 23:18 (twenty years ago)

Personal Jesus as well, if only because Johnny Cash seemed to misinterpret it.

I thought the whole point of those covers were to spin it with a different interpretation.

― billstevejim (billstevejim), Friday, 3 June 2005 23:34 (twenty years ago)

"Ironic" - Alanis Morissette

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Friday, 3 June 2005 23:36 (twenty years ago)

I thought the whole point of those covers were to spin it with a different interpretation.

If that is the case and Cash was aware of it's anti-Christian (or anti-traditionalist) origins then I'm completely wrong.

― Cunga (Cunga), Saturday, 4 June 2005 00:00 (twenty years ago)

I'm sure Cash knew, and Rubin definitely knew. Rubin suggested the song in the first place, and I'd hazard a guess that he chose it specifically because he knew what Cash could do with it, given his devotion to his faith. Anything but misinterpretation, I'm afraid, Cunga...

― VegemiteGrrl (VegemiteGrrl), Saturday, 4 June 2005 00:40 (twenty years ago)

The Cure: Killing An Arab

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Monday, 6 June 2005 08:00 (twenty years ago)

Is that true about "Happy Together"? I know "Elenore" was intended to be over the top ("You're my pride and joy, etc.").

True. Their label wanted more like "Happy Together" and they responded by making "Elenore", which, in spite of hilariously OTT lyrics, was still such a great pop song it became one of their biggest hits ever.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Monday, 6 June 2005 09:25 (twenty years ago)

Nothing ironic about Killing an Arab.

― The Emancipation of Baaderonixx (KERERU 4 LIFE!) (Fabfunk), Monday, 6 June 2005 09:37 (twenty years ago)

It was still misinterpreted, both by rascist and anti-rascist, as a rascist song, which it was never intended as.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Monday, 6 June 2005 11:11 (twenty years ago)

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