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Popular Music References

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Many real bands and popular music are referenced in the Homestar Runner body of work. Common references include Halloween costumes, mentioning or even showing an album, quoting lyrics, or more oblique allusions to other signature musical elements.

Contents
[#.23 #] [#A A] [#B B] [#C C] [#D D] [#E E] [#F F] [#G G] [#H H] [#I I] [#J J] [#K K] [#L L] [#M M] [#N N] [#O O] [#P P] [#Q Q] [#R R] [#S S] [#T T] [#U U] [#V V] [#W W] [#X X] [#Y Y] [#Z Z]

See main article: AC/DC

See main article: Beastie Boys

See main article: The Beatles

  • 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.

  • Baddest of the Bands — The heavy metal umlaut over the "O" in the band DÖI is a reference to Blue Öyster Cult, a connection furthered by "Oyster" being one of the foods that the King of Town can suggest to be the second word in the band's title.

See main article: David Bowie

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

  • Email secret identity — Strong Bad reflects that "secret identities aren't just for superheroes and Garth Brooks anymore," referring to Brooks' Chris Gaines persona.

  • Email comic — In an Easter egg, the band's album Winners is visible in an independent record store.

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

  • The Cheat Theme Song — The visual accompanying "The Cheat is in the house" is reminiscent of the music video for "One More Time."
    • The line itself may be a reference to earlier song "Teachers", in which several influential DJs are listed as being "in the house".

See main article: De La Soul

  • Email haircut (DVD commentary) — The Brothers Chaps try to remember if John Denver's real last name was Düsseldorf; it was actually Deutschendorf.

File:Strong Sad as Devo Member.png

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

  • Halloween Potion-ma-jig — Strong Sad dresses as an unspecified "Devo member", wearing the famous "energy dome" helmet. He also quotes their hit song "Whip It".
    • Strong Sad's square glasses indicate he is most likely dressed as co-founder and singer Mark Mothersbaugh.
  • The Show: Ween Edition — Homestar mistakes Coach Z's "[#Beastie_Boys Beastie Boy] from the Intergalactic video" costume for a "Devo construction worker"
    • In the same toon, Coach Z's initial guess was a "Devo crossing guard".

File:Rockermarzipan.PNG

"...and Marzipan would rock..."

  • 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.

See main article: Bob Dylan

  • The System is Down — Bubs says that "someone tried to cram-a-lam a Swiss Cake Roll into the disk drive," a takeoff of the phrase "Rama Lama Ding Dong" originated by this band's 1958 song.

  • Email band names — Strong Bad uses Enuff Z'nuff as a lesser example of a band named after a "really cool last name," referring to cofounder Chip Z'nuff (Gregory Rybarski).

  • Strong Bad's Website — The "Long Haired Freaky Cheat" broken image is a reference to the "long-haired freaky people" mentioned in "Signs".

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

  • 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?".

See main article: Peter Frampton

  • 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.

  • Email theme party (Easter egg) — A "Spring Drink'n Formal 2002" t-shirt features a Grateful Dead Dancing Bear.

See main article: Guns N' Roses

  • A Jorb Well Done — Coach Z says, "Pack it up, pack it in" as the game ends, quoting the opening lyrics to "Jump Around".
  • Hallrunner — Selecting "jump it" against the home stereo system quotes "Jump Around": "Jump around, jump around, jump up jump up and get down."

  • Halloween Potion-ma-jig — One of Strong Sad's magic words includes Natalie's last name, though he pronounces it with the "g" sound.

  • 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.
  • Baddest of the Bands — Strong Bad says his stage prop is "maybe cooler than a giant robotic demon". This refers to the band's usage of elaborate stage props in their concerts, including giant puppets of demons and monsters.
  • Several toons use a font called "Metal as in Heavy" which is very similar to that of Iron Maiden.

  • Trogday 08 — The heavy metal song at the end repeats "The S is for Sucks" in a similar manner to the chorus of "Breaking the Law".
  • Baddest of the Bands — When "save/load" is moused over, one of the lines Strong Bad says in response is "Savin' the load! Savin' the load!", also in reference to "Breaking the Law."

See main article: Michael Jackson

  • Email gimmicks — Strong Bad's intro song repeats "super great" in the manner of "Super Freak".

  • Main Page 9 — The band's logo appears when rolling over "Characters".
  • Email local news — Strong Bad's intro tune parodies "Cold Gin", swapping in "email" for "cold gin" in the chorus.
  • Email coloring — A coloring page depicts Larry "screamin' like a demon" with his tongue hanging out. Band member Gene Simmons used the stage persona of "The Demon" and is well-known for sticking out his long tongue while performing.

See main article: Led Zeppelin

  • 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".

File:Malmsteen'sComet.png

"We're on a collision course with Malmsteen's Comet!"

  • Email cliffhangers — Strong Bad as Space Captainface and The Cheat as Strap are threatened by Malmsteen's Comet.

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

See main article: Metallica

  • Happy Hallow-day — On the Toons menu, the description of this toon is "Ween night is M.I.A. Galang galang." This uses "M.I.A." to refer to both the concept of "missing in action" and a nod to the rapper; "Galang" is her debut single.

  • Email pizza joint — Strong Sad remarks that Strong Bad would call him "Thelonious Dump" when rejecting him from his Pizz List.

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

  • Email band names — Strong Bad announces the next email will include a guest appearance by the band's leader, Lemmy Kilmister.
  • Email death metal (DVD commentary) — Strong Bad and Mike make reference to Lemmy, including discussing whether or not he hot-glued corn flakes to his face.

  • 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".

  • 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.

  • 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."

  • 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".

See main article: Outkast

  • 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.

  • 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.

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

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

File:Coach Z as Queen Latifah.png

"Hey, whatcha doing there, sista?"

  • Email the bet — Strong Bad tells Homestar to change his name to Kevin DuBrow if he fails to be cool, which does not happen.

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

See main article: Ramones

See main article: Ratt

  • 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.

  • 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.

See main article: Run-DMC

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

  • 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.

File:Scorpions.png

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.

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

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

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

See main article: Sonic Youth

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

  • Homsar's Character Video — Homsar mentions Wonder Mike, the lead singer for the Sugarhill Gang. His comment "Hi, Wonder Mike!" is a reference to the line in the Sugarhill Gang song Rapper's Delight that goes "I am Wonder Mike and I'd like to say hello."

  • 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".

File:StrongSad DavidByrne.PNG

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

See main article: A Tribe Called Quest

  • 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.

  • Email autobiography — An Easter egg describes the tapes as being reviewed by Ike Turner, who, bizarrely enough, reviews it twice as "hootie hoo".

See main article: Van Halen

  • 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.

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

  • 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.

  • 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".

  • 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.

See main article: The Who

  • 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.

File:Wu-TangPumpkin.png

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

  • 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".

  • 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.

  • Sketchbook 2005 — In the November 10 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 Tuxworth says, "You can't grow a ZZ Top beard!"

See Also