History Main / IsntItIronic

* "[[TheSoundOfMusic My Favorite Things]]" is not a Christmas song. It has at most two lyrics which bring wintertime to mind, and one of those lyrics is supposed to be [[HaveAGayOldTime about groceries]]. Nevertheless, popular culture has more or less superglued the song to the Christmas season.

* Talk to a teenage girl. Any teenage girl. Chances are, in 2005, when they were in high school or junior high, [[BlackEyedPeas My Humps]] was their "song". [[CompletelyMissingThePoint Given that the song makes fun of women who act like sluts and brag about their fancy clothes to attract men's attention...]]

* Many-a commercial for a hardware store, office supply store, or heck, even cars has made use of Bachman Turner Overdrive's "Takin' Care Of Business: "Takin' care of business/and workin' overtime!" However, the song is actually a RockstarSong with the singer singing how, since he's in a band, he's ''not'' working like every other workaholic out there: "And if you ever get annoyed,/look at me, I'm self-employed/I love to work at nothin' all day!"

* Again with DavidBowie music being inappropriately used! [[http://unrealityshout.com/blogs/single-review-x-factor-finalists-2010-heroes This review]] of ''TheXFactor'''s 2010 Christmas charity single, a cover of ""Heroes"", goes into much detail about how a song that mocks the idea that WarIsGlorious is a poor match-up to a charity supporting injured soldiers.
** ''TheXFactor'' is guilty of this, too. "Heroes" has nothing to do with war in anyway, shape or form.

** On the subject of Pink Floyd, "Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)" is seen as a cheerful, joking protest of school rules, when it's really a protest against conformity and verbally abusive teachers. (At the recent 12/12/12 concert for Sandy relief, Roger Waters got in on the act by using cheerful teenaged girls to sing the second verse. It was... bizarre.)

** General Electric using "Sixteen Tons" in a clean coal commercial.
** The "Look What They've Done to My Song, Ma" example.

** EarthTheBook names this as "the precise moment when culture and commercialism stopped fighting and started making sweet, sweet love."

* Many KidzBop albums (probably all of them) give shades of this when you hear children cheerfully singing gems like "Oops!... I Did It Again" (about toying with another's emotions), "Burn" (about a devastating breakup), "Dirty Little Secret" (about cheating in a relationship), amongst others. Ostensibly, this is a good alternative to letting your kid listen to the songs as they're originally recorded by artists with dubious wholesomeness... but if they're covering unwholesome songs to begin with, what's the point? A few lyrical tweaks don't make most of them kid-friendly.

* Website/{{Cracked}}.com has its [[http://www.cracked.com/article_16757_9-most-inappropriate-soundtrack-choices-all-time.html Top 9]] of "Inappropriate Soundtrack Choices".

** Let's be honest...what ''else'' would you do if you were the YMCA? Ignore the one pop culture phenomenon ever to recognize your existence? Also, even though the DoubleEntendre is obvious, the surface meaning (a place where folks can go have a workout or swim or socialize or find social services remains true and is quite complimentary of your organization...so why not?

-->--''Series/ThirtyRock''

* The soundtrack for ''Film/{{Godzilla}}'' included the song "No Shelter" by RageAgainstTheMachine. While the song did mention Godzilla by name, it was only to note that it was "pure motherfucking filler." The entire song is about American pop culture blinding people to the real problems in the world, used to advertise the most [[HypeBacklash overhyped movie ever.]]

* Parachute Club's GLBT anthem "Rise Up!" used for frozen dough.

** It goes the other way too, being lampshaded quite frequently by DJs who think they're being more subversive by playing it than they actually are.

* Germany's ''Deutschland sucht den Superstar'' (you could say ''[[AmericanIdol German Idol]]'', it's the same branch) uses Melanie C's "Next Best Superstar" to celebrate their winner. ''"Crack a smile in denial; throw your morals on the fire"''.

* {{PinkFloyd}}'s "Money" is ofter used to promote "do crazy stuff on the air for money" type radio contests. (at least where this troper lives). It's about how money and greed makes you do stupid things.

* When the Republicans used Music/{{Heart}}'s "Barracuda" as UsefulNogtes/SarahPalin's theme song, Nancy Wilson responded that the song "was written in the late 70s as a scathing rant against the soulless, corporate nature of the music business, particularly for women..." Specifically, about some record execs spreading a rumor that Nancy and her sister were "involved".

* In 2009, the British National Party used the Manic Street Preachers' "If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next" on their website, without permission. The song contains the lines "If I can shoot rabbits, then I can shoot fascists". The song was removed when Sony threatened legal action.

* "[[{{Cabaret}} Tomorrow Belongs to Me]]" has been recorded by more than one White Nationalist band. At least they're honest.
* Stephen Harper, Prime Minister of Canada, sang John Lennon's "Imagine" with a little Asian girl for a photo op during his 2011 campaign trail. Stephen Harper is a conservative who planned to buy warplanes to wage war in the middle east, boost military spending, reduce gun control, and has much of his backing from conservative religious communities. YokoOno was so displeased, she demanded that Website/YouTube pull all videos of the performance.

** PM Harper had earlier sang "I Get By With A Little Help From My Friends" with the Toronto Philharmonic Orchestra during a parliamentary crisis in which all the other party leaders threatened to band together and form a coalition government against him.

** [[{{Glee}} It's also not a bold, daring song about interior design.]] [[CampGay But then, it's generally not taken that way.]]

* {{Barbie}} had been advertised with "Barbie Girl" by Music/{{Aqua}}. Granted, they've changed most of the lyrics, but ''really''...

* A Best Buy commercial a few years back used Sheryl Crow's "Soak up the Sun" for their summer sale. This is a song about a poor girl who "don't have digital...don't have diddly squat" and knows "It's not having what you want/it's wanting what you've got."

** ''Independence Day'' is frequently misused as a simple patriotic anthem, ignoring the verses (which describe an abusive relationship ending in suicide from the point of view of a young child).

* When the Republicans used Heart's "Barracuda" as Sarah Palin's theme song, Nancy Wilson responded that the song "was written in the late 70s as a scathing rant against the soulless, corporate nature of the music business, particularly for women..." Specifically, about some record execs spreading a rumor that Nancy and her sister were "involved".

* Despite being a song about a troubled relationship, with a bridge starting with "why don't we break up / there's nothing left to say", Robbie Williams' ''Sexed Up'' has been frequently used to score a love montage on Italian reality TV. CueIrony.
* PBS's History Detectives uses a part of the song "Watching The Detectives" by Elvis Costello as their theme song. The song appears to be about a young woman's very violent death, in great contrast with the usually more family friendly content of the show.
* A commercial for ''America's Next Top Model'' once used "High School Never Ends", by BowlingForSoup. The song itself is about a teenager entering high school, seeing how pretentious and superficial people are, and waiting it out for four years. Then discovering that the rest of life is the same way. First verse: "Four years, you think for sure/that's all you've got to endure/all the total dicks, all the stuck-up chicks/so superficial, so immature/But then when you graduate/you take a look around and you say 'Hey, wait!/This is the same as where I just came from,/I though it was over, aww, that's just great.'"

* Music/BillyJoel's "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Of3YyS7Rvfo Just the Way You Are]]" is traditionally played at weddings, to the point that it's becoming a cliché. This ignores its ridiculous assumptions that a) it's wrong to change with time, b) and if you are changing, it must be for your mate. Not to mention that, while listing the things that the hypothetical woman "shouldn't" change, the song lists a number of her [[StealthInsult faults.]] In fact, this becomes HilariousInHindsight when one stops to consider Joel's own history with women, which he lampshaded at one performance of this song at Gillete Stadium[[labelnote:More]] To elaborate: he made a "so-so" gesture with one hand while singing (and playing) the line: "I said I love you/That's forever"[[/labelnote]].
* {{Outkast}}'s ''Hey Ya'' is a somber song about falling out of love masquerading as an upbeat pop number. Well aware of this trope, in the middle of the chorus Andre 3000 sarcastically quips, "Y'all don't want to hear me, y'all just wanna dance."
* Nena's ''99 Luftballons'' is a perky, upbeat-sounding pop song that frequently gets used in dance halls, proms and other upbeat social events. The song itself is an anti-ColdWar song about [[ANuclearError a swarm of children's balloons triggering a nuclear war]]. Part of what helps this is that the song was originally released in German.

-->-- ''Series/ThirtyRock''

* Billy Joel's "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Of3YyS7Rvfo Just the Way You Are]]" is traditionally played at weddings, to the point that it's becoming a cliché. This ignores its ridiculous assumptions that a) it's wrong to change with time, b) and if you are changing, it must be for your mate. Not to mention that, while listing the things that the hypothetical woman "shouldn't" change, the song lists a number of her [[StealthInsult faults.]] In fact, this becomes HilariousInHindsight when one stops to consider Joel's own history with women, which he lampshaded at one performance of this song at Gillete Stadium[[labelnote:More]] To elaborate: he made a "so-so" gesture with one hand while singing (and playing) the line: "I said I love you/That's forever"[[/labelnote]].

* [[{{Eagleland}} Sam the Eagle]] from ''TheMuppetShow'' sings "American Women", but he doesn't even make it past the first two lines before realizing his mistake.

* Parodied in ''TheSimpsons'' when "At Seventeen" is sung (unironically) during a Miss Teen USA-style beauty pageant.

* FamilyGuy featured an episode where Peter is confined to a wheelchair for a time. He gets a montage of scenes showing him trying to adapt to this situation set to EltonJohn's ''"I Guess That's Why They Call It the Blues"''

* It would be difficult to describe [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Awy4biqD_dA "White Wedding"]] by BillyIdol as having LyricalDissonance, given the dark melody is very fitting for a song about a man resenting his younger sister's fiancee, while the bride starts having second thoughts but is forced to accept her fate. Yes, it has been played at many many weddings since its 1982 release.

** Having Finn sing "Losing My Religion" while having a crisis of faith, even though that song isn't about religion.

* In 2012, Chevrolet Argentina (a GM brand) [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFi_T0q5eGk put up a commercial]] for their new S10 pick-up truck, picturing it in different country-fair expositions (coal-mining fairs, yerba mate fairs, etc; common events in Argentina's country), showing it being used in tough-as-nails jobs, with a voice-over narrating fragments of a poem describing how strong and powerful the truck was ("You are a superb and proud specimen of your kind/And whether taming horses /or killing tigers /You are an Alexander /Nebuchadnezzar"). The poem? "A Roosevelt", by Rubén Darío. The thing being described? The USA under Roosevelt. And what is it about? It's an anti-imperialist poem about how Latin America isn't going to fall to Roosevelt's USA without a fight. It is one of the most famous anti-American-imperialism pieces in Latin American left-wing literature. Considering that GM is an American brand, and even more, considering that it is now partially own by the US goverment, one wonders if the marketing people were being ironic or just didn't read the whole thing through.

** Let's be honest...what ''else'' would you do if you were the YMCA? Ignore the one pop culture phenomenon ever to recognize your existence? Also, even though the DoubleEntendre is obvious, the surface meaning remains true of your organization...so why not?

* FanYay aside, "YMCA", a song about [[AllGaysArePromiscuous having sex at the YMCA]], in ads for...the YMCA.

* Many-a commercial for a hardware store, office supply store, or heck, even cars has made use of Bachman Turner Overdrive's "Takin' Care Of Business: "Takin' care of business/and workin' overtime!" However, in the rest of the song, the singer is singing about how he's a lazy guy who's happy with how he's ''not'' working like every other workaholic out there: "And if you ever get annoyed,/look at me, I'm self-employed/I love to work at nothin' all day!"

* The "Zoom Zoom" jingle that appears in commercials for Mazda is actually an old Capoeira song which goes "Zum Zum Zum, capoeira mata um", which roughly means "Zoom Zoom Zoom, Capoeira (can) kill you, or (Capoeira kills someone)". Mazda carefully excises all this nonsense about Capoeira, natch -- all they care about is the zooming.