Popular Music References

From Homestar Runner Wiki

Many real bands and popular music are referenced in the Homestar Runner body of work.

Paula Abdul

• Email different town — As Modestly Hot Homsar, Homsar's line during Strong Bad's fantasy is, "I'm forever your girl," a quote from the 1989 song and album titled "Forever Your Girl" by Paula Abdul.

AC/DC

• Pumpkin Carve-nival — Homestar Runner and Strong Bad (disguised as Homestar) dress as the band's leader Angus Young.
• Marzipan's Answering Machine Version 7.0 — During the Easter egg, Homestar sings Back In Black and then comments on Angus' "schoolboy outfit".

Beastie Boys

• Email technology — Strong Bad's claim to be "kicking [his] new Tech-Kuh-Nowledge" is a reference to the song "The Sound of Science", on the band's album, Paul's Boutique.

The Beatles

• Main Article: The Beatles

Black Flag

• In Search of the Yello Dello — Strong Mad sports a Black Flag tattoo in a deleted scene.

Frank Black

• Jibblies 2 — A tarot card is labeled The Cult of Ray, Frank Black's 1996 album, and includes the peculiar looking head from the album cover.

David Bowie

• Thy Dungeonman II — If you "look david bowie" in the the magistrate's office, the game replies: "There's something about that man... The picture was taken during the Tin Machine era. Thou art more of a Ziggy Stardust fan."
• Halloween Fairstival — Strong Sad dresses as David Bowie; more specifically, as he appears on the cover of his album Aladdin Sane.
• Baddest of the Bands — Bubs refers to Coach Z as the "Thin Green Duke", a reference to David Bowie's persona The Thin White Duke.

Boyz N Da Hood

• Email garage sale — Strong Bad wonders what sort of "da things" are mentioned and guesses both "da boyz" and "da hood".

Garth Brooks

• Email secret identity — Strong Bad closes the email by saying that "secret identities aren't just for superheroes and Garth Brooks anymore."

The Brothers Johnson

• Email comic — In the Easter egg, the band's album Winners is visible.

Bobby Brown

• Email portrait — The term "TendaRONi" refers to Bobby Brown's song, "Roni"; specifically, the lyric involving the phrase "tender Roni".

Chubby Checker

• Email bottom 10 (DVD commentary) — Mike refers to Homestar's buttdance by saying, "Let's twist again, like we did last summer," and saying that "it's a sequel to the song." This song refers to Checker's song, "Let's Twist Again", which was a sort of "sequel" to his previous song, "The Twist".

Phil Collins

• Stinkomanual — Description of the Bendini Sisters lifts a line from the song "In The Air Tonight".

The Cure

• Fan Costume Commentary — In the final picture, Strong Bad claims the person dressed as Strong Sad to be a "dumpy Robert Smith". Smith is actually the lead singer and front man of The Cure. In addition, Strong Sad has a poster for the band's album Boy's Don't Cry on his wall.

Daft Punk

• The Cheat Theme Song — The scene with the line "The Cheat is in the house" is reminiscent of the Daft Punk music video "One More Time."

Terrence Trent D'Arby

• 3 Times Halloween Funjob — Coach Z mistakes Strong Bad's costume as being Terrence Trent D'Arby.

De La Soul

• Email monster truck — Homestar's line, "Let's do this like Brutus," is from the band's album De La Soul Is Dead, which itself is a reference to the track "Bring The Noise", where the phrase, "We can do this like Brutus," is spoken by Flavor Flav.
• Email big white face — Strong Bad refers to the Poopsmith as "doodoo man," which references track 14 of "De La Soul Is Dead" by featuring a fictional DJ who refers to himself as the "doodoo man".
• Email death metal — One of the words that starts with "D-E" that Brainkrieg sings is "De La Soul!"

Death Cab for Cutie

• Main Page 21 — When "Games" is rolled over, the drum riff heard appeared about four years earlier in the beginning of Death Cab For Cutie's song "Photobooth". The version that appears here, however, is slower than the band's version and lacks the reverb that the other version has.
• Email alternate universe — The same drum riff is again heard during the Vector Strong Bad scene.

El DeBarge

• 3 Times Halloween Funjob — Homestar mistakes Strong Bad's costume as being El DeBarge.

John Denver

• Email haircut (DVD commentary) — There is a discussion if John Denver's real last is Düsseldorf. It is actually Deutschendorf.

Devo

• Halloween Potion-ma-jig — Strong Sad dresses as a member of Devo, wearing the energy dome from the Freedom of Choice album cover and videos.

Digital Underground

• The House That Gave Sucky Treats — Coach Z dresses as Humpty Hump, the band's leader.

Dokken

• Email band names — Strong Bad suggests this as a possible name for the email sender's band.
• Email different town — During Strong Bad's fantasy of how he would change the website, he envisions Marzipan's guitar as "Mr. Scary", which George Lynch used during his run with the band.

Bob Dylan

• Main Page 6 — When "Email" is rolled over, Strong Bad is seen singing Dylan's song, "Knockin' On Heaven's Door" before he falls through the clouds
• Email personal favorites — "Forever Young" in Zebbadee's Easter egg email is a reference to the 1973 Bob Dylan song that became a hit for Rod Stewart in 1988.
• Email privileges — Homestar is trying to get The Cheat to buy some subscriptions so he can so he can go to Acapulco, which is a reference to Dylan's album The Basement Tapes.
• Weclome Back — The Freewheelin' Eh! Steve album cover is a reference to Bob Dylan's early album, The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan. In addition, "Eh! Steve's Dream" is a reference to the Dylan song "Bob Dylan's Dream".

Enuff Z'nuff

• Email band names — Strong Bad mentions this as a possibility for a name for the email sender's band.

The Fifth Dimension

• Main Page 8 — When "Toons" is rolled over, Strong Bad is seen in a hot-air balloon done in his likeness as he sings the band's song, "Up, Up and Away".

50 Cent

• Email extra plug — The way Strong Bad pronounces 'da club' throughout the email is a reference to 50 Cent's hit single 'In Da Club', where he rounds off the 'u' in the word 'club' the same way.
• Who Said What Now? — Homsar's line is, "My cheese is 50 cent!"

Firehouse

• Email senior prom — The King of Town's line, "Let the King have some!" refers to the song, "Let the Drummer Have Some".

The Four Tops

• Email sugarbob — Strong Bad says, "Sugarbob, funky bunch," a reference to The Four Tops' song, "I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch)".

Peter Frampton

• Main Article: Peter Frampton

Fugazi

• Email geddup noise (DVD commentary) — The brothers discuss a "This is not a Fugazi T-shirt" shirt while discussing Strong Sad's Geddup Noise shirt.

The Furious Five

• Homestarloween Party — Coach Z comments on the Furious Five, specifically either the original leader, Grandmaster Flash, or Flash's replacement, Grandmaster Melle Mel.

The Vince Guaraldi Trio

• Email comic — In the Easter egg, the group's album A Boy Named Charlie Brown is visible.

Guns N' Roses

• Main Article: Guns N' Roses

Heart

• Email guitar — One riff that Strong Bad pretends to play sounds similar to the main riff to Heart's song "Barracuda".
• Email different town — During Strong Bad's fantasy of how he would change the website, he envisions Marzipan as having a blond hairdo similar to Nancy Wilson's.

House of Pain

• A Jorb Well Done — At the beginning, to end the game, Coach Z says, "Pack it up, pack it in." The coach's line is a reference to lyrics from the band's song, "Jump Around".
• Hallrunner — Opting to "jump it" for the home stereo system gets you the quote: "Jump around, jump around, jump up jump up and get down." This is a line heard in "Jump Around".

Ice T

• Email pizzaz — Strong Bad's closing line, "Canned or Dry, We Neva Die. Colors," is a reference to the song "Colors"; specifically, the line, "The gangs of L.A. will never die, just multiply, colors".

Iggy Pop

• Email technology — Strong Bad's line, "I'm using technology," refers to a lyric from the song, "Search and Destroy", which he sang with The Stooges.

Iron Maiden

• Email 3 Wishes — Strong Bad says that if he had horns, he would go on tour with a heavy metal band as their mascot and do battle with the lead singer, a reference to how the Iron Maiden mascot always fought with the band on stage.
• Email coloring — The subtitle on the Limozeen "Ladies, We're Staying in Room 302 at the Ramada" coloring book is shown in the same font as this band's.

Rick James

• Email gimmicks — Strong Bad's intro song is a reference to James' song, "Super Freak".

Kid 'n Play

• Pumpkin Carve-nival — Coach Z dresses as Kid from Kid 'n' Play.

KISS

• Main Page 9 — The band's logo appears when rolling over "Characters".
• Email local news — Strong Bad's intro tune sounds like the band's song, "Cold Gin", but with the word "Email" replacing the title.
• Email coloring — The coloring page that Strong Bad tries to color, which depicts Larry "screamin' like a demon", shows Larry's tongue hanging out. Band member Gene Simmons is well-known for his extraordinarily long tongue and is also referred to as "The Demon".

Krokus

• Email band names — At the end, Strong Bad announces that on the next email, his guests stars would include the entire band.
• Email sibbie — Strong Bad says that his "focus is all... Krokused."

Led Zeppelin

• Main Page 9 — When rolling over "Characters", the logos for the band members appears.
• Email pom pom — Strong Bad refers to Pom Pom as "Led Zeppelin".

Gordon Lightfoot

• Email army — When Strong Bad refuses to join Homestar's army, the latter threatens the former with, "We'll see if those trees you're always hugging save you when Gordon Lightfoot's creeping round your back stair," referencing the song "Sundown".

Bob Marley

• Happy Hallow-day — Marzipan says, "We be jammin'!" This is a lyric sung by Marley in his song, "Jammin'".

Metallica

• Halloween Fairstival — The sign in Pom Pom's scene is a possible reference to the song, "Creeping Death", from the album Ride the Lightning.

M.I.A.

• Happy Hallow-day — On the Toons menu, the description of this toon is "Ween night is M.I.A. Galang galang." "Galang" is the most famous single by M.I.A.

Miami Sound Machine

• 3 Times Halloween Funjob — Bubs mistakes Strong Bad's costume as being Miami Sound Machine.

Mötley Crüe

• Halloween Fairstival — Homestar's jars of witches' brüe reference the spelling of the band's word "Crüe" instead of "Crew". It also features a heavy metal umlaut done in the band's style.
• Email monster truck (DVD commentary) — Matt says that The Brothers Chaps' brother, Donnie dressed as Vince Neil, the singer of this band, in 1987.

Motörhead

• Email band names — At the end, Strong Bad announces that on the next email, his guest stars would include the band's leader, Lemmy Kilmister.

Mudhoney

• Email comic — The single "You Stupid Asshole" appears in the "comic" Easter egg.
• Sick Day — The page title references the song "Here Comes The Sickness".

Mudvayne

• Email death metal — Strong Bad suggests to hot-glue cornflakes to one's face as a way to be in a death metal band. This refers to this band's guitarist who once glued corn chips to his face for a music video.

Willie Nelson

• Halloween Fairstival — Marzipan dresses as Willie Nelson.

Nirvana

• Homestarloween Party — Homestar Runner dresses as Kurt Cobain. His t-shirt is a parody of the band's motto, "Corporate Rock Sucks".
• Email geddup noise — Strong Sad's "Corporate The Geddup Noise Still Sucks" T-shirt refers to a shirt worn by Cobain on the cover of Rolling Stone, which reads, "Corporate Magazines Still Suck".

OutKast

• Email spring cleaning — At the end, Strong Bad speaks in lyrics from the band's song "So Fresh, So Clean". He says "I feel so fresh and so clean, clean..." He also says another of that song's lyrics at the very end: "Ain't nobody dope as me!"
• Email autobiography — An Easter egg describes the reviews of the tapes as being "Hootie Hoo", which is actually the name of a song by this band.
• Halloween Fairstival — At the end, Coach Z thinks Pom Pom's Big Boy costume is actually Big Boi and he was considering going as the other half of the group, André 3000.

Poison

• Baddest of the Bands — In the Teen Girl Squad comic, Gary refers to cheerleader as 'un-unskinny bop,' a reference to Poison's song 'Unskinny Bop.'

The Postal Service

• Email geddup noise (DVD commentary) — The Brothers Chaps compare The Cheat's Geddup Noise indietronic remix to something that The Postal Service would do.

Elvis Presley

• Email vacation — Strong Bad's intro song is a reference to Elvis' song, "Heartbreak Hotel".

Prince

• Email space program — Strong Bad's email intro is a parody of Prince's song, "When Doves Cry".
• Jibblies 2 — Marzipan dresses as Prince circa his 1984 album and film Purple Rain. Homestar references his 1985 hit "Raspberry Beret".

The Promise Ring

• Email no loafing — The poster on Strong Sad's wall in the "appointment" Easter egg is of this emo band.

Public Enemy

• Homestarloween Party — Coach Z dresses as Flavor Flav, the comic relief member of this group.

Queen

• Email space program — The Space Captainface song is a spoof on the theme song for Flash Gordon, as performed by this band.

Queen Latifah

• Happy Hallow-day — Coach Z dresses as Queen Latifah.

Quiet Riot

• Email the bet — Strong Bad tells Homestar to change his name to Kevin DuBrow if he fails to be cool, which does not happen, so Strong Bad was forced to spend the night at the King of Town's castle.

The Ramones

• The House That Gave Sucky Treats — Marzipan dresses as Joey Ramone. Her trick-or-treat intro spoofs the band's song, "Blitzkrieg Bop".
• Email coloring (DVD commentary) — Mike asks Larry Palaroncini if the band members of Limozeen are really related or if it is more "like the Ramones or something." This refers to the fact that the band members of The Ramones all adopted stage names, with the last name being "Ramone", even though none of the band members were actually related to each other.
• Email specially marked — Strong Bad reads the email intro as if they were lyrics to "Blitzkrieg Bop".

Lionel Richie

• Email 3 Wishes — The intro is reference to a lyric to Richie's song, "Say You, Say Me".
• Homestar Runner's Character Video — "Lionel Richie" is one of the randomly-picked insults that Strong Bad calls Homestar during the latter's character video.

Kenny Rogers

• Email pom pom — Strong Bad's intro is a reference to Rogers' song, "The Gambler".

Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs

• Email time capsule — Strong Bad calls the email sender "Shim Sham Sam", which is probably a reference to Sam the Sham.

Joe Satriani

• Email space program — The term "Satriani 5" is a spoof on Joe Satriani, who created the album Surfing with the Aliens.

Scorpions

• Email your friends — During the scene with Strong Bad torturing Homsar with scorpions, the scorpions come from a box that reads, "We are the scorpions!", which is the concert-opening cry of lead singer Klaus Meine.

Bob Seger

• Email strong badathlon — During the ending closimonies, Homestar sings a (misquoted) line from Seger's song "Old time Rock 'n' Roll."

Sex Pistols

• Email sb_email 22 — Strong Bad's suggested email closing "Nevermind the Bullocks" refers to a lyric from the band's controversial album, Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols, which, like this email, was banned in the U.K.

Simon and Garfunkel

• Email do over — As Strong Bad bashes Homestar on the head with the Tandy's keyboard, he yells, "PARSLEY! SAGE! RoseMARY! And THYME!" These are lyrics to the song "Scarborough Fair", an English ballad made famous by this band.

Slaughter

• Email death metal — One of the bands featured on the Half-Hour Death Metal Dungeon Hour is "Schlaugh-ter".

Sonic Youth

• Email comic — The "Teen Age Riot" single appears in the Easter egg.
• Stinkomanual — Quoted is a line from the song "Tunic (Song for Karen)".
• Cool Things — The page title is taken from the lyrics for "Kool Thing".

Bruce Springsteen

• Halloween Fairstival — Bubs dresses up as Clarence Clemons, saxophonist for the E-Street Band
• Email love poems — Kimberly quotes Blinded by the Light, a song originally done by Bruce Springsteen

Sugarhill Gang

• Homsar's character video — Homsar mentions Wonder Mike, the lead singer for the Sugarhill Gang.

The Supremes

• Hallrunner — If you try to "fight it" for "love", the game replies that "you can't fight it and you can't hurry it. You just have to wait." This is a reference to the Supremes' song, "You Can't Hurry Love".

Talking Heads

• 3 Times Halloween Funjob — Strong Sad dresses as the band's leader David Byrne.

James Taylor

• Email for kids — On Homsar's show, Whaddaya Know, Haddi-man?, the guitarist bears a striking resemblance to this folk singer, who would often appear on Sesame Street to sing educational songs.

TLC

• Pumpkin Carve-nival — Marzipan dresses as Left-Eye Lopes.

The Treacherous Three

• 3 Times Halloween Funjob — Coach Z dresses as band member Kool Moe Dee.

Tupac

• Halloween Fairstival — Coach Z dresses as Tupac.

Turbonegro

• Email death metal — Strong Bad's suggestion to Dane to be fat refers to lead singer Hank Von Helvete, who is famous for his plump physique.

Ike Turner

• Email autobiography — An Easter egg describes the tapes as being reviewed by Ike Turner.

Van Halen

• Main Page 9 — When rolling over "Characters", the band's logo appears.
• The Cheat Theme Song — When the lyric "Who's gonna start a rock and roll band?" is shown, it is accompanied by a "The Cheat" symbol that looks like the logo for this band.
• Email band names — Strong Bad suggests this as a possible name for the email sender's band.
• Email colonization — In an Easter egg, Strong Bad sings "Shanama, Shanama ho ho ho ho ho!" to the tune of the band's song, "Panama".

Stevie Ray Vaughan

• Most in the Graveyard — Marzipan dresses as Stevie Ray Vaughan.

Vinnie Vincent Invasion

• Email death metal — One of the bands featured on the Half-Hour Death Metal Dungeon Hour is "the Winnie Wincent Inwasion".

Wesley Willis

• Baddest of the Bands — When you are finished talking to Bubs, he may utter the phrase "Rock over London, Rock on Chicago". This phrase was often used at the end of Willis' songs.

Whitesnake

• Email mile — Strong Bad's line before jumping the ramp over Bubs' 19 buses, "Here I go again on my own," is a reference to the first line of the chorus of "Here I Go Again", an '80s standard by Whitesnake.

The Who

• Email vacation — In postcard 5, Strong Bad says, "Just a quick one while I'm away," which is a reference to The Who's song "A Quick One While He's Away."
• Email theme party — An Easter egg involves The Kinda Long-Haired Band singing The Who's song "Circles".
• Weclome Back — Marzipan almost smashes Carol in the "Cool Tapes" scene, which is what Pete Townshend made a habit of doing onstage.

Winger

• Email death metal — One of the bands featured on the Half-Hour Death Metal Dungeon Hour is "Vinger".

Wu-Tang Clan

• The House That Gave Sucky Treats — If you give Coach Z the Cherry Clan as his Halloween treat, he will compare them to the Wu-Tang Clan and he asks you if he can come in and listen to the group's song, The 36 Chambers
• Pumpkin Carve-nival — The letter W in Coach Z's pumpkin entry is the symbol for the Wu-Tang Clan.
• Marzipan's Answering Machine Version 12.2 — Homestar's mention of a "Goatface Killa" is a reference to Ghostface Killah, a member of Wu-Tang Clan.

Frank Zappa

• Email suntan — In the instructions, the man's facial hair is similar to that of Frank Zappa.
• Email modeling — "Stinkfoot" refers to a song title by Zappa.

ZZ Top

• Email the bet (DVD commentary) — Strong Bad makes reference to Billy Gibbons, the leader of this band.

See Also

• They Might Be Giants
• DaVinci's Notebook
• Heavy Metal
• Hip Hop
• The Beatles
• Professional Athlete References