Popular Music References

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

Contents

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.
  • Doomy Tales Of The Macabre — Coach Z dresses up as MC Skat Kat, who appeared with Abdul in her "Opposites Attract" video. In an Easter egg, Coach Z makes references to Abdul's song "Opposites Attract", "Straight Up" and "Rush Rush" as well as the fact that she started out as a Lakers Girl.

AC/DC

See main article: AC/DC

Aerosmith

Alvin and the Chipmunks

Anthrax

  • Email the chair — When Bubs offers Strong Bad an old Winger album, Strong Bad remarks that it is "less Anthrax-y".
  • Trudgemank — Peacey P references Anthrax and Public Enemy (mentioned as P.E.) mixing rap and heavy metal in 1991 or 1993.

Balaam and the Angel

Beastie Boys

  • Email technology — Strong Bad's claim to be "kicking [his] new Tech-Kuh-Nowledge" is a reference to the song "The Sounds of Science", on the band's album, Paul's Boutique.
  • Email bike thief (DVD commentary) — Strong Bad claims he is "nothin' but a bike thief that must be stopped" which he then attributes to "Beatsie Boys" (a nickname for the band), and states that the title is "Car Thief, in their terms." This song is also from Paul's Boutique.

The Beatles

See main article: The Beatles

Black Flag

A stellar performance

Black Sabbath

  • Homestar Ruiner — When Strong Bad first tries to run the Race to the End of the Race and pick up the hurdle, he remarks that it must be made of some heavy metals, including "black sabbath".

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.

Blue Öyster Cult

  • Baddest of the Bands — The umlaut over the "O" in the band DÖI, as well as "Oyster" being one of the possible foods that the King of Town can suggest to be the second word in the band's title, are a reference to the rock band Blue Öyster Cult, one of the first bands to use a heavy metal umlaut on the "O" in their name.

Boston

David Bowie

See main article: David Bowie

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".

Glen Campbell

The Carpenters

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".

Joe Cocker

Phil Collins

Jonathan Coulton

The Cure

Boys Don't Cry
  • 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 Boys 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."
    • The line itself may be a reference to their other song "Teachers", in which several well-known DJs are listed as being "in the house".
  • Email techno — "The System Is Down" follows almost the exact same pattern (beat, beeping noises, loud screaming sound) as Daft Punk's song "Rollin' and Scratchin'", excluding the "obligatory sci-fi quote".

Terrence Trent D'Arby

De La Soul

See main article: 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

John Denver

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

Devo

"Go forward! Move ahead. Try to detect it! It's not too late."

Digital Underground

Dire Straits

Dokken

  • Email band names — Strong Bad uses Dokken as an example of a band named after a "really cool last name," as the lead singer's name is Don Dokken.
  • Email different town — During Strong Bad's fantasy of how he would change Free Country, USA, he envisions Marzipan's guitar as "Mr. Scary", which George Lynch used during his run with the band.

Nick Drake

  • Email concert — Strong Bad says, "And that one guy even had his back to us all night." This refers to one of Drake's onstage habits.

Bob Dylan

See main article: Bob Dylan

The Edsels

  • The System is Down — Bubs says that "someone tried to cram-a-lam a Swiss Cake Roll into the disk drive." This is a beyond term parodying the phrase "Rama Lama Ding Dong," which originated in a doo-wop song of the same name by this band in 1958.

Enuff Z'nuff

  • Email band names — Strong Bad uses Enuff Z'nuff as a lesser example of a band named after a "really cool last name," as the lead singer's stage name is Chip Z'nuff (though his real name is Gregory Rybarski).

The Fifth Dimension

50 Cent

  • Email extra plug — The way Strong Bad pronounces 'da club' throughout the email is a reference to 50 Cent's hit single Content warning. Content warning. "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".

Foghat

Lita Ford

  • Email cliffhangers — At the start of the Space Captainface scene, Strong Bad as Space Captainface is talking to Lita Ford on the phone.

4 Non Blondes

  • Email bike thief (DVD commentary) — Mike asks Strong Bad if Matt based Marzipan's hairstyle on a member of 4 Non Blondes; Strong Bad responds by singing the "Hey, yay, yay, yay" segment of their song "What's Up?".

The Four Tops

Peter Frampton

See 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

The Vince Guaraldi Trio

Guns N' Roses

See main article: Guns N' Roses

Heart

"...and Marzipan would rock..."
  • 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".
  • Baddest of the Bands — Bubs wishes for Coach Z to be more like an O.G., which refers to Ice T.'s album, O.G. Original Gangster.

Iggy Pop

Natalie Imbruglia

  • Halloween Potion-ma-jig — One of Strong Sad's magic words includes Natalie's last name, except with the "g" pronounced.

Immolation

  • The Taranchula band logo notably resembles the logo for Immolation.

Iron Butterfly

Iron Maiden

See Main Article: Iron Maiden

The Isley Brothers

Judas Priest

  • Trogday 08 — The metal song at the end sounds like "Breaking the Law".
  • Baddest of the Bands — When you move the cursor over "save/load", Strong Bad will sometimes say "Savin' the load! Savin' the load!", also a reference to "Breaking the Law."

Michael Jackson

See main article: Michael Jackson

Rick James

Scott Joplin

Journey

Kid 'n Play

"Check it out, yo!"

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".

Kraftwerk

  • Email old comics — The single cover for West Is Lip's single "She Partied Without Dancing" bears some resemblance to their 1978 album The Man-Machine (German title: Die Mensch-Maschine).

Krokus

  • Email band names — At the end, Strong Bad announces that on the next email, his guests stars would include the entire band.

Cyndi Lauper

Led Zeppelin

See main article: 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".

LL Cool J

Loverboy

Yngwie Malmsteen

"We're on a collision course with Malmsteen's Comet!"
  • Email cliffhangers — Strong Bad as Space Captainface and The Cheat as The Strap are threatened by Malmsteen's Comet.

Marilyn Manson

  • TrogdorCon '97 (DVD commentary) — The Brothers Chaps compare Strong Sad's makeup to that worn by the band, who has been known to wear makeup similar to that worn by Strong Sad in this toon.

Bob Marley

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

Marsalis

  • Email theme song — The closing theme song for Strong Bad's email show is "by a Marsalis or two".

MC Hammer

  • sbemail haircut — Strong Bad references "Hammer Pants", a nickname for the parachute pants worn by MC Hammer.
  • Later That Night... — Coach Z performs part of the MC Hammer hit U Can't Touch This.

Metallica

See main article: Metallica

M.I.A.

Miami Sound Machine

Bette Midler

The Misfits

Thelonius Monk

  • Email pizza joint — Strong Sad claims that "every time [he] tried to add Strong Bad to [his] Pizz list, he'd call [him] Thelonius Dump."

Mos Def

  • Email love poems — Homestar's "This mo'nin'" jam sounds identical to the chorus of Mos Def's song "Got".

Mötley Crüe

Brüe

Motörhead

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

The Neville Brothers

  • Email theme song — Strong Bad claims that were his email show's "life-affirming pop-ballad type theme song" would probably be "sung by some variety of Neville."

Newcleus

  • Happy Hallow-day — The skull with the rainbow-colored afro exclaims the title of the band's song, "Jam On It".
  • Email love poems — Homestar's "This mo'nin'" jam is sung in imitation of "Jam On It".

New Order

Night Ranger

Nirvana

Corporate Rock Still Sucks

Sinéad O'Connor

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.

Ozzy Osbourne

  • Baddest of the Bands — Strong Bad asking Marzipan if she plans to bite off Pazquel's head, The King of Town's on-stage devouring of bats, and Marzipan's allegation of Limozeen performing bat-head-biting all refer to a notorious episode in the career of Osbourne.

Tom Petty

Piebald

  • Strong Bad is a Bad Guy — The term "vantastic" is a possible reference to this band, who describe their tour van using the same word.

Pink Floyd

  • Baddest of the Bands — Strong Bad says his stage prop is "almost better than a flying pig". This refers to a prop used in some performances by this band and the cover art of Animals.

Poison

The Police

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

Prince

"E... A... D... G...."

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

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

"Hey, whatcha doing there, sista?"

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.

Radiohead

  • Email redesign — One of the dryer settings is "High and Dry", a reference to the band's song of the same title.

The Ramones

See main article: The Ramones

Red Hot Chili Peppers

  • Decemberween Short Shorts (DVD commentary) — During the scene with Strong Bad writing a letter to tube socks, the Brothers Chaps compare this scene to how Red Hot Chili Peppers used tube socks.

R.E.M.

Lionel Richie

Kenny Rogers

The Rolling Stones

  • Baddest of the Bands — If you click on the fuse box at the DÖI Stage, Strong Bad remarks how his "frustration was sure to blow a 50 amp fuse." This is a reference to the Rolling Stones song "You Can't Always Get What You Want", where there is a line with a similar meaning.
  • Limozeen vs. Sloshy — The album cover resembles the cover for Jump Back, a Rolling Stones greatest hits album.

Run-D.M.C.

Sade

  • Email slumber party — Homestar sings, "Party. Slumber party. Listen to some Sade, at the slumber party."

Joe Satriani

  • Email space program — The term "Satriani 5" is a spoof on Joe Satriani, who created the album Surfing with the Aliens.
  • Email cliffhangers (DVD commentary) — During the Space Captainface scene, Matt wonders if when the new Fantastic Four movie comes out, Joe Satriani will become more popular.

Scorpions

We are the SCORPIONS!!
  • Strong Sad's Lament — Strong Sad asks his readers to "rock [him] like an e-Hurricane", referencing their song "Rock You Like A Hurricane".
  • 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.
  • Taranchula member Schenkel McDoo may be a reference to Scorpions guitarist Rudolf Schenker.

Bob Seger

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

Sepultura

  • Taranchula appear to be partially based on the death metal band Sepultura.

Sex Pistols

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.
  • Email love poems (DVD commentary) — Mike and Matt both think that Homestar looks like Art Garfunkel, the second half of Simon and Garfunkel.

Slaughter

Sonic Youth

See main article: Sonic Youth

Bruce Springsteen

The Strokes

Stryper

  • Homestar Ruiner — When Strong Bad investigates the stands by the track, he remarks that they are emptier than a Stryper concert.

Sugarhill Gang

The Supremes

  • Hallrunner — If you choose "Fight it" when you come across 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

"This is not my beautiful house! This is not my beautiful wife!"

James Taylor

TLC

The Treacherous Three

A Tribe Called Quest

  • Weclome Back (DVD commentary) — The Brothers Chaps recall how they once played a Tribe Called Quest cover in a battle of the bands contest.

Tupac

Thorg Life

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, who, bizarrely enough, reviews it twice as "hootie hoo".

U2

Van Halen

See main article: Van Halen

Stevie Ray Vaughan

  • Most in the Graveyard — Marzipan dresses as Stevie Ray Vaughan.
    • Homestar calls Marzipan "My little pride and joy," a reference to Stevie Ray Vaughan's 1983 hit, Pride and Joy.

Vinnie Vincent Invasion

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

Weezer

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.

Barry White

  • Email love poems — Tenerence Love sings his "Sweaty Overweight Jam" in imitation of soul singers like Barry White.
  • Baddest of the Bands — Strong Bad refers to Homestar as "Very White".

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

See main article: The Who

Winger

  • Email death metal — One of the bands featured on the Half-Hour Death Metal Dungeon Hour is "Vinger".
  • Email the chair — Bubs has a Winger album.

Wu-Tang Clan

"Cool, a W. What's that supposed to stand for? Witches' brew?"

"Weird Al" Yankovic

  • Email long pants — Strong Bad writing on the Lappy with the light pen may be a reference to part of the lyrics to Weird Al's song, "It's All About the Pentiums".
  • Teen Girl Squad Issue 13 — The line "Ding dong. Ding dong, yo" is a line from the video for "Fat".

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

  • Sketchbook 2005 — In the November 10th entry, the King of Town is drawn as one of the band members.
  • Email the bet (DVD commentary) — Strong Bad makes reference to Billy Gibbons, the leader of this band.
  • Email winter pool — The King of Town is seen watching an episode of Caleb Rentpayer where Tucksworth says, "You can't grow a ZZ Top beard!"

See Also

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