Formerly excellent British band The Streets wrote almost the whole of their entire, execrable third album moaning about how tough it is to be famous.
The most insulting song of the lot is “When you wasn’t famous”, where he whines about the fact that, even though it’s easy for him to pick up ordinary chicks now he’s a celebrity, it’s so hard to go home with celebrity chicks that he feels like he’s a normal person again. Wanker.
Yes, that is why I was terribly amused.
We’re the Replacements, by They Might Be Giants
“Beth” by KISS turned the shitty dues song into an equally shitty love song…
He’s so out of touch with reality that he doesn’t know that IATSE members make damn good money.
Motorhead’s (We Are) The Roadcrew seems like it fits in here too. Especially since Lemmy had been a roadie for other acts (Jimi Hendrix being one such act) previous to being in Motorhead.
My favorite is Live’s Selling the Drama. The lyrics and music together make it seem like the band is on some kind of great ethereal spiritual quest.
I also enjoy The Peppers’ Can’t Stop because the first and foremost point they make about being rock stars is that they fucking love what they do. And, like Live, they indicate that it has to do with a kind of benevolent compulsion more than anything else.
And Rush’s Limelight isn’t too bad either. I love the painfully honest line,
I can’t pretend a stranger is a long-awaited friend.
Agreed that Toby Keith’s How Do You Like Me Now is a POS. Singing about being a famous musician is pretty difficult to pull off without sounding like a total twat. But enough people have pulled it off that I generally have no mercy towards those who fail. 
Piano Man, by Billy Joel
Local H’s All The Kids Are Right is a self-mocking song about putting on a show on a terribly off-night:
Likewise (fittingly) for The Entertainer
Creedence Clearwater Revival again with “Travelin’ Band”
“Listen to the radio, talk about the light show,
Someone got excited had to call the state militia”
Also Skynard’s - “Working for MCA”
My take is that he was writing about life before he became a star, when he was pretty much a working slob, traveling all night from town to town and trying to get a peaceful meal at a local diner. When the rednecks start ribbing him about his hair, I can almost hear him sigh, “Oh, man, here we go again.” Not whiny at all, just tired of it.
Funny how you can get such different perspectives from the same song.
Chicago had “Critic’s Choice” and “Wishing You Were Here.” Google the lyrics to “Critic’s Choice” and imagine them being sung to a critic. They’re absolutely pathetic.
Pearl Jam’s “Corduroy” was pretty much a song about being a rock star.
Ben Folds’ “One Down” is about having to fulfill a contractual obligation to write 4.6 songs.
I hate to admit to knowing and liking this song, but does Britney Spears’ “Lucky” count? Especially in light of her actions over the past few years?
Once Bitten, Twice Shy is another song about rock and rollers’ lives (forget about subsequent pretenders, here’s Ian Hunter belting out the opening lyrics):
Well the times gettin’ hard for you little girl
I’m a hummin’ and a strummin’ all over god’s world
You don’t remember when you got your last meal
And you forgot just how a woman feels
You didn’t know what rock n roll was
Until you met a drummer on a Greyhound bus
I got there in the nick of time
Before he got his hands across your state line
“What’s Your Name?” - Lynyrd Skynyrd
“200 More Miles” - Cowboy Junkies (my favorite of this genre)
“Are Your Sure Hank Done It This Way?” - Waylon Jennings
And “Tonight’s the Night” by Neil Young sorta qualifies (being about the drug death of a roadie).
I heard an old Three Dog Night song last night that reminded me of this thread. It’s a “dues” song from the perspective of the singer’s girlfriend. Play Something Sweet (Brickyard Blues)
Well, I tried to run my game
She said “Man, that’s the same old thing I’ve heard before”
And I’m too tired to go for your show (again and again)
And she started to explain
She said “Man, I ain’t sayin’ what you’re playin’ just can’t make it
But I just can’t take it anymore”
Dire Straights–“Walk of Life” and maybe “Money for Nothing”
Mamas and Papas–Creeque Alley
Don McLean–American Pie
Bob Seger – Against the Wind
Ricky Nelson – Garden Party
Joe Walsh – Life’s Been Good to Me
Motley Crue – Home Sweet Home
Barry Manilow – I write the songs
:d&r: