Another John Hiatt example, “Little Head,” mentions Eddie Vedder:
I’m talking with a tight red sweater
I’m feelin’ like Eddie Vedder
only twice as cool when she starts winkin’
I’m just so easily led when the little head
does the thinkin’
Grand Funk Railroad, We’re an American Band, Sweet Connie (Hamzy)
R.E.M.,* Man on the Moon*, Andy Kaufman, Elvis. Charles Darwin, Sir Isaac Newton, Mott the Hoople, Fred Blassie
David Bowie, Panic in Detroit, Che Guevara
Side note: That’s a reference to the grand old Oriental Hotel, now part of the Mandarin Oriental chain and which does have a Somerset Maugham Suite. Maugham once stumbled into the hotel during his travels with an advanced case of malaria, where he heard the German manager arguing with a doctor about how a death would be bad for business.
Don’t Stand So Close To Me by the Police mentions Nabakov.
My favorite current one is Macklemore’s Thrift Shop:
Probably shoulda washed this
Smells like R. Kelly’s sheets
Pissssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss
Who wrote Lolita. Again, relevant to the subject of the song. It’s not about Nabakov, but it is about a Lolita.
Whitesnake, Wham!, and Ozzy Osborne get name dropped in Bowling for Soup’s “1985.”
Alice Cooper - Adaptable (Anything For You)
*If you were Lucy
I’d be your Ricky
Now, you ain’t no Hepburn
And I ain’t no Fonda
But if you were drownin’
In Golden Ponda
Say you’re Vampira
And needed plasma*
slightly racy music video
Bowling for Soup - High School Never Ends
Jack Black
Brad Pitt
Bill Gates
Reese Witherspoon
And Mary Kate (I assume Olsen?)
Katie and Tom (Holmes and Cruise)
and a Jessica (I don’t know which – apparently I won’t ever guess what she did)
Shania Twain - That Don’t Impress Me Much
Brad Pitt
Elvis
John Wayne
(and Tarzan and Captain Kirk)
One Night in Bangkok has been mentioned but there is also the line
In a show with everything but Yul Brynner
“You Never Even Call Me By My Name” as sung by David Allen Coe mentions Waylon Jennings, Charlie Pride, and Merle Haggard
“Love Love Love” by The Mountain Goats mentions Sonny Liston and Kurt Cobain
“Rainbow High” from Evita:
I came from the people,
they need to adore me,
so Christian Dior me,
I’m their product,
it’s vital you sell me,
so Machiavell me,
I’m their saviour!
That’s what they call me,
so Lauren Bacall me
Blessid Union Of Souls - Hey Leonardo:
Tyson Beckford
Robert Redford
Leonardo (presumably Dicaprio)
Steve (that guy who played in ‘Fargo’) Buscemi
Pavorotti
Cindy Crawford
Clint “Dirty Harry” Eastwood
Jim Carrey
Beastie Boys - Make Some Noise:
Ted Danson
And you know they got rhymes like Abe Vigoda (Posse in Effect)
Madonna - vogue
Greta Garbo, and Monroe
Deitrich and DiMaggio
Marlon Brando, Jimmy Dean
On the cover of a magazine
Grace Kelly; Harlow, Jean
Picture of a beauty queen
Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire
Ginger Rodgers, dance on air
They had style, they had grace
Rita Hayworth gave good face
Lauren, Katherine, Lana too
Bette Davis, we love you
In the song “Here We Go”, Eminem flows like Troy Polamalu’s hair.
Eminem’s “Marshall Mathers” has a few. Among others, he mentions Vanilla Ice, Britney Spears, Biggie Smalls, and 2Pac:
“An anti-Backstreet and Ricky Martin
With instincts to kill N’Sync, don’t get me started
These fucking brats can’t sing, and Britney’s garbage
What’s this bitch, retarded? Give me back my 16 dollars!”
The German march “Sieg Heil Viktoria” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvL5lMmY88k) mentions Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin in passing. And yes the comments section is even more retarded than usual.
Also the Japanese song “Sore Yuke! Otome No Senshado” released as part of the Girls und Panzer media blitz, references German tank aces Otto Carius and Michael Wittmann. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUeccx1C4ck
There are countless country music songs that mention Hank Williams, Sr. without actually being about him.