“Endless Art” by A House is basically a list of dead artists, including Sid Vicious, Jackson Pollack, Beethoven and Jack Kerouac.
You can find the lyrics here:
http://www.geocities.com/sunsetstrip/plaza/7654/iamlyr.html
Unfortunately, IIRC, it was pointed out that the lyrics contained no women, so on the B Side to the single they released “More Endless Art” which had just female artists in the lyrics. I can’t seem to find the lyrics anywhere though…
You know, AudreyK, I can’t belive you omitted One Week, which includes Aquaman, Leann Rimes, Harrison Ford, Bert Kaemptfert, Sting, Kurasawa, and Sailor Moon.
The first song that popped into my head was “Elvis is Everywhere” by Mojo Nixon.
My mistake, Audrey. I glossed right over that.
Well, Milo Trembly did a song called “Debbie Gibson Is Pregnant With My Two-Headed Love Child.”
Weird Al Yankovic sang “Stuck in a Closet With Vanna White,” while “Smells Like Nirvana” has references to both Nirvana and Madonna.
Pinkard and Bowden sang “Elvis Was a Narc.”
“Fashion shoots with Back and Hanson,
Courtney Love and Marilyn Manson…”
– New Radicals, Get What You Give
Re-reading the thread after I posted, I saw drgonzo mentioned We Didn’t Start the Fire. How could you think of that and no the REM classic, It’s the End of the World as We Know It? Lenny Bruce gets mentioned, and I’m sure a few other celebs are in there… I just can’t recall the lyrics at this moment.
…and if you really, REALLY want to scrape the bottom of the artistic barrel, Will Smith has lines about Shaq and Muhammed Ali (among others) in Gettin’ Jiggy wid it.
Ugh… I feel unclean…
And the Idea of The New Radicals kicking anyones asses is hillarious.
on topic, that song by Donovan (?) “Where so you go to My Lovely” whivh mentions Picasso, Marlene Dietrich, and a load of French sounding names that I cant remember.
THere’s “David Duchovny” by Bree Sharp and “Claire Danes Poster” by Size 14. The Bogart and Bacall Suzanne Vega line is from “Freeze Tag”. The Jesus and Mary Chain have a song called “Bo Diddley is Jesus”. REM has tons of references to people. I’ll let you figure out the songs, but off the top of my head I can think of Lightnin’ Hopkins, Lester Bangs, Lenny Bruce, Leonid Brezhnez, Leonard Bernstein, Maria Callas, and Martin Luther King. Bogie and Bacall, incidentally, also appear in “Key Largo” by Bertie Higgins.
Celluloid Heroes (I know Joan Jett re-did it, but I don’t know who the original artist was. Maybe the Kinks?) mentions Greta Garbo, Rudolph Valentino, Bela Lugosi, Bette Davis, George Sanders (?), Mickey Rooney, and Marilyn Monroe. The song is referring mostly to their stars on Hollywood Blvd.
REM’s “Man on the Moon” mentions Andy Kaufman, Moses, Newton, and Darwin.
“High,” by Tal Bachmann, mentions Cleopatra and Joan of Arc.
“Yer Blues,” by the Beatles, mentions Bob Dylan. Also, John Lennon’s “God” mentions Dylan (referred to by his real name, Zimmerman), the Beatles, and Yoko Ono.
Dylan is quite popular . . . he’s also mentioned in “The Seeker,” by the Who, along with the Beatles and Timothy Leary.
“Hey Hey, My My,” by Neil Young mentions Johnny Rotten.
“Bring the Noise,” by Public Enemy, mentions Louis Farrakhan.
Tom Petty’s “Running Down A Dream” mentions Del Shannon.
Oh, how could I have forgotten Jackie Wilson Said by Van Morrison.
Depeche Mode, New Dress - Princess Di
The Sisters of Mercy, Doctor Jeep - PeeWee Herman, Ike Eisenhower, Lucille Ball, Jane Fonda.
The Sisters of Mercy, Ribbons - Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels.
Stan Ridgway, Harry Truman - Harry Truman (sorry no link for this one) “Harry Truman finally fropped the bomb so we could all go to sleep at night …”
/Coil
Timothy Leary - Moody Blues
Vincent (VanGogh) - Don McLean
(Otherwise known as Starry Starry Night)
How could I forget these?
All by John Mellencamp, in his various names:
Frankie Lymon, Bobby Fuller, Mitch Ryder, Jackie Wilson, the Shangri-Las, the Young Rascals, Martha Reeves, and James Brown in “R.O.C.K In the USA”
James Dean in “Jack & Diane”
Marlon Brando, the Rolling Stones, Johnny Rotten, Bobby Seal, the Black Panthers, Sylvester Stallone, Nikita Kruschev, Fidel Castro, Vanessa Williams (“I saw Miss America/In a girlie magazine”) in “You’ve Gotta Stand for Something.”
Whoops! Forgot to mention:
The Tragically Hip:
My knowledge of the Hip is rather limited. I’m sure there are others in their songs, but someone wiser than I will have to ferret them out.