Ten great genre songs about songs and genres

PUNK – “PUNK ROCK 101” by Bowling for Soup (2003)

“Don’t forget the delay – On the very last verse.” With that reminder, Jaret Reddick continues his instructional manual on the punk life lifestyle, complete with dickies and sweatbands, spiked hair, and new vans. He further explores the musical schism between Fat Mike and Bon Jovi, wrapped up in the sad story of a failed romance. OK – he doesn’t really explore much of anything, and the story is far more snarky than sad.

Like Todd Snider's takedown of grunge, this is a satire that does not seem to honor its subject. But I’m going to offer a slight counter to that. By pleading  “Would someone please save us from punk rock 101,” I’d like to believe BFS is really skewering the repetitive monotony that came to plague punk rock by the early 2000s. Punk rock, like grunge, might still be vital, but its platitudinous oversaturation has rendered it sterile. I mean, we criticize that which we love, don’t we?

METAL – “METAL IS FOR EVERYONE” by Freedom Call (2016)

No qualifiers are needed here. “Metal is for everyone – The sound is made from steel – Bound for pride and victory – The law of right and wrong.” This is an anthem.

The German power metal outfit links metal to universal symbols of power – kings, dragons, heroes… Ramy Ali’s machine gun drumming plows forward while the power fuzz of Lars Rettkowski’s rhythm guitar keeps pace. And Chris Ray keeps chanting out the inclusive sentiment contained in the title until you kind of start believing him, even is you never were much of a metalhead.

But I understand that this particular song may be a little too symphonic and soft for some of you, so as I close this little essay, I will offer one alternative. Sweden’s Dream Evil’s 2004 ”The Book of Heavy Metal” can step in if you want something a touch harder.

That concludes our look into genre songs about genres and songs, the people who perform them, and those of us who listen.

More music news and analysis: