Run-DMC
Run-DMC turns a courtship pitch into a mock infomercial, with the rapper selling himself as a consumer product complete with…
commodification of romance braggadocio satire of advertising
XTC
XTC dresses up an anti-militarist satire as a jaunty, whistleable pop song, mocking career soldiers who crave conflict for its…
militarism and glory-seeking satire of authority boredom as a driver of violence
Todd Rundgren
A blunt satirical broadside against Donald Trump's rise to the presidency, built as a mock-triumphant chorus song that skewers…
political satire authoritarianism media spectacle and disinformation
King Crimson
Adrian Belew turns a nonsense abecedarian exercise into a satire of verbal noise, marching through the alphabet with synonyms…
communication breakdown language as noise satire of discourse
The Clash
A cartoonish fable about a ruler banning music and a population that defies him anyway, set to a bouncy synth-and-rock groove…
authoritarianism vs. popular culture religious/political censorship satire of Western intervention
Bob Dylan
Dylan's version of the polka novelty song plays it almost entirely straight as a call-and-response Christmas romp, building…
holiday tradition Americana kitsch absurdist humor
Roxy Music
A deadpan monologue delivered by a consumer trapped inside his own showroom lifestyle, who eventually confesses to owning an…
consumerism and alienation artificiality vs intimacy suburban/domestic satire
Steely Dan
A hitman narrative in which God himself is the target, framed as a hardboiled contract-killer's briefing. Steely Dan uses genre…
divine accountability cosmic vengeance satire of religious authority
The Shins
A dense, imagistic broadside against utopian thinking, disguised as a fever dream. James Mercer stacks surreal images and civic…
failed utopia capitalism's corrosion of idealism collective disillusionment
Talking Heads
A deadpan travelogue in which a narrator auditions American and British cities like apartments, weighing each on arbitrary,…
urban alienation consumerism as worldview American geography and mythology
Betty Davis
A raw funk vamp that turns the language of politics into an extended sexual come-on, with Davis playing a swaggering seductress…
sexual power and control satire of political rhetoric female sexual agency
Randy Newman
Randy Newman puts on the voice of a bigot ranting about short people, using the absurdity of the target to expose how prejudice…
prejudice and bigotry satire of hatred's logic unreliable narration
John Prine
John Prine builds a comic song out of the format of a newspaper advice column, staging a series of absurd reader complaints that…
absurdity of everyday complaint futility of advice-seeking identity and self-acceptance
Vampire Weekend
A jaunty, harpsichord-inflected pop song that uses a grammar joke as a launching pad for a satire of upper-crust pretension and…
class and privilege cultural tourism and appropriation linguistic pedantry vs authenticity
Gang of Four
A first-person portrait of a man who joins the military not out of conviction but as a solution to unemployment, lost…
militarism as consumer choice economic desperation masculinity and self-worth
Wire
Wire recast the nativity story as a satire of digital-age commerce and self-promotion, splicing biblical imagery with the…
technology and faith commodification of belief surveillance and self-branding
Howlin’ Wolf
A boastful, sexually charged blues in which the singer claims mastery over both the physical act of "rocking" a partner and the…
sexual bravado transactional relationships masculine reputation
Ice Cube
Ice Cube uses the media's stock accusation that gangsta rap 'causes' violence as a satirical device, exaggerating the charge…
media scapegoating and moral panic authenticity vs commercial gatekeeping black masculinity and self-reliance
Paul Simon
A young man addresses an abstraction—darkness, silence—as a companion, then walks through a hallucinatory cityscape where…
alienation failure of communication modernity and technology as false idol
A booming, boosterish anthem that turns out to be a satire of boosterism itself: the narrator's civic pride is so shallow and…
civic pride as delusion class blindness American boosterism
A slippery, satirical cocktail-party exchange dressed up as an Afro-pop groove, in which Paul Simon strings together…
social performance and vanity emptiness of small talk passivity and resignation
Sonic Youth
A satirical dialogue between a rock star's ego and a skeptical female voice, "Kool Thing" stages a flirtation that curdles into…
gender and power celebrity worship racial politics
Pavement
A satire of the early-90s alt-rock signing frenzy dressed up as a shaggy-dog non-sequitur song. Pavement mocks the music…
music industry cynicism image vs substance selling out
Kris Kristofferson
A carnival-barker satire that reimagines hell as a theme park, complete with billboards, ticket lines, and celebrity attractions…
moral corruption as entertainment consumerism and commodified sin celebrity and infamy
MF DOOM
MF DOOM turns a satirical eye on rap's tough-guy posturing, mocking MCs whose lyrics function as confessions that could be used…
hip-hop authenticity and posturing self-incrimination and surveillance street credibility vs. performance
Air
A woozy, vocoder-warped taunt built almost entirely out of one phrase, "Sexy Boy" pokes at masculine vanity and celebrity…
vanity and self-image celebrity and consumerism irony versus seduction
The Fall
This is The Fall's 1988 cover of the Kinks' 1969 song, a mock-anthem that impersonates Victorian-era patriotic sentiment so…
empire and nationalism class and inequality irony and pastiche
Roberta Flack
A furious, jazz-inflected protest song that catalogs the hypocrisies of American life—consumerism, war, religion, race—and keeps…
social hypocrisy war and dissent religious skepticism