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In the right context, any chorus/hook of a song can be a breeding ground for Memetic Mutation. Many examples here and whole Meme articles have been further mutated through Misheard Lyrics. Just do a YouTube search for them, you can't miss 'em.

Just a warning: this page is a bit outdated. YouTube being YouTube, many of these links are broken, private, or removed.

Caramelldansen has its own page- please put entries for those in the Caramelldansen Vid page.


Musicians with their own pages:


Other music memes:

  • "Dragostea Din Tei" (AKA "Numa Numa"), a Romanian-language pop song by the Moldovan band O-Zone, which was popularized as a viral video on the English-speaking Internet by a guy named Gary Brolsma.
  • "Never Gonna Give You Up" by Rick Astley. Also known as the "Rickroll", it's probably one of the best-known viral videos ever.note 
  • "Trololo" by the late Russian singer Eduard Khil, which later served a similar role to the Rickroll as a viral video from misleading links on the Internet.
  • One of these tunes that defined the Turn of the Millennium, "Oh I'm a Gummy Bear, yes I'm a Gummy Bear! Oh I'm a yummy tummy funny lucky Gummy Bear."
    • "Look for the Gummy Bear album in stores on November 13th", the introducing promotional line used before the music video, became used as memetic voiceover in 2019. The line also spikes in popularity every November 13th.
  • MMMM...whatcha sayyyyyy.....? Mmm...thatcha only meant well...? Well, o'course ya did...note 
  • Rebecca Black, "Friday"
  • Blue Öyster Cult's "(Don't Fear) The Reaper," better known as the song that needs a little more cowbell.
  • "They see me rollin', they hatin'."note 
  • The bridge to "Shine" by Collective Soul, chugging guitar riff followed by Ed Rolan abruptly shouting "Yeah!" note 
  • "You spin me right round, baby right round like a record, baby right round round round.note 
  • Gunter glieben glauchen globen! note 
  • "Killing In The Name" by Rage Against the Machine. All together now, "FUCK YOU I WON'T DO WHAT YA TELL ME!" Explanation 
  • Drowning Pool, "Bodies": Let the bodies hit the floor, let the bodies hit the floor, let the bodies hit the... *tsss* *tsss*... FLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!. note 
  • "Requiem For A Tower". Also known as "Prince Negaafella - Introduction" or simply as the "End of the World" song. This music is often played during compilations detailing apocalyptic, potentially human-civilization-ending events.
  • Fall Out Boy spawned many, most notably "I'M A LITTLE MAN, I'M ALSO EVIL, ALSO INTO CATS!" note  Also from the same song, "GAH! DAH! ARH! REH!" which has also found its way onto merch.
  • Foo Fighters, "Best Of You"
  • Green Day's "Wake Me Up When September Ends" often inspires jokes on September 30 or October 1 about reaching out to warn the band and wake them up. The band has stated they disapprove this, given it's a Grief Song regarding when Billie Joe's father died. (during the COVID-19 Pandemic in 2020, there was instead a variant saying the year was so rough nobody should try waking them up)
  • The Insane Clown Posse's "Miracles", with such charms as "Fucking magnets, how do they work?" and "There's magic everywhere in this bitch".note 
  • Lost Horizon's "Highlander (The One)" woah-oh-oh-ah-ah-ah-aaaa-ha-ah-ah-ah note 
  • Kendrick Lamar knows you wan' dih dihh.
  • Linkin Park
    • CRRRRAAAWWWWWLLIIIINGGGG IINNNNN MYYYY SKIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNN! THESE WOOOOOUUUUNNNNDSSS THEY WILLLLLL NOT HEEEAAALLLLLLLL...note 
    • I TRIED SO HARD/ AND GOT SO FAR/ BUT IN THE END/ IT DOESN'T EVEN MATTEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERnote 
    • "If (x) came out in 2007."note 
  • Evanescence
    • WAKE ME UP! (Wake me up inside!) CAN'T WAKE UP (Wake me up inside!) Explanation 
    • SAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAVE MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE Explanation 
  • Loituma's cover of the Finnish folk song Ievan Polkka. It got combined with a gif of a scene from Bleach which resulted in the Leek Spin or Loituma Girl meme.
  • My Chemical Romance, "Welcome To The Black Parade": WHEN I WAS...note  An inverted version of this meme often shows up on Tumblr. Users would post the first line to a song and then subsequent reblogs would continue the song... until, inevitably, someone would derail it with "to join the black parade."
    • The piano riff the song opens on, or even the specific G5 note, is famous for getting a reaction out of anyone who has ever heard the song.
  • Neutral Milk Hotel, In The Aeroplane Over the Seanote 
    • "I LOVE YOU JESUS CHRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIST!" Explanation 
    • "SEMEN STAINS THE MOUNTAINTOPS!"note 
      • "Prepare your mountaintops" note 
    • The cover artnote 
      • "It's a potato." note 
  • Napalm Death's "You Suffer".note 
  • Paul McCartney's Temporary Secretary. Due to the song's weirdness, it has become a recurring joke among Beatles fans. Some of these fans even started liking the song unironically.
  • *NSYNC:
    • "It's Gonna Be Me", or rather, "It's Gonna Be MAY". note 
      • Hilariously enough, the meme even put the song briefly back on the sales charts.
    • "Bi Bi Bi"note 
  • Bill Conti, "Gonna Fly Now". No, it's not called "That Rocky Song". note 
  • South Korean pop star PSY is best known for his 2012 song "Gangnam Style", which is still one of the most viewed videos on YouTube ever.
    • HEYYYYYYYYYYYYY, SEXY LADY! From a line in the song.
    • OPPAN GANGNAM STYLE!note 
    • It's been misheard as, among others. "Open Condom Style", "Open Condom Star", "Open Gundam Style", and "Open Gungan Style" (Jar-Jar Binks, of course)
    • And then there's the choreography...
    • "Gentleman" produced MOTHER FATHER GENTLEMAN! from the lyrics. A mishearing has this as MOTHERFUCKER GENTLEMAN! Motherfucker is commonly corrupted into "Mother Father" in Korea.
    • The music video to "Daddy" is one are this, as well as the lines "Hey, where'd you get that body from?" and "I got it from my daddy". Like "Gangnam Style", many parodies popped up, though not to the same extent.
  • Queen, "Bohemian Rhapsody" from A Night at the Opera
  • Lynyrd Skynyrd's song "Sweet Home Alabama" is often referenced in online memetic jokes about stereotypes of the Deep South, particularly incest.
    • They also have the most Iconic Song Request of all time, "Free Bird"! Which is a pre-internet meme, with even a memetic response with a middle finger ("here's your free bird!").
      • Guitar Hero 2 uses this song for the Final Boss. "You always knew this would happen. The audience is calling for Free Bird."
      • The original memetic joke/heckle request was The Allman Brothers Band's "Whipping Post", which is even longer than live performances of Free Bird, and would use one entire side of an LP. Not that it isn't good. The album the Ur-Example appears on placed on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time at number 49.
      • In Finland the equivalent joke is "Soittakaa Paranoid!" ("Play Paranoid!", requesting the song by Black Sabbath), first originated as a joke by a reporter for a local music magazine, since then spiraled out of control. At least two notable bands have also recorded songs called "Paranoid" to have something to play if someone cracks the joke.
  • "Livin' In The Sunlight, Lovin' In The Moonlight" by Tiny Tim is closely associated with Half-Life's G-Man, thanks to popular YTMNDs created with Garry's Mod.
  • Tommy Tutone, "867-5309/Jenny" note 
    • A similar situation occurred in the mid-2000s when rapper Mike Jones decided it was a good idea to put his number (281-330-8004) into all his songs. Fortunately he included the area code, so the only phone that had to be shut off was his own.
  • Trinidad Jame$, "All Gold Everything"
    • "Popped a molly, I'm sweatin' — WOO!"note 
  • "I'm Too Sexy" by Right Said Fred produced the "I'm too sexy for my shirt" meme "III'm...too sexy for my shirt, too sexy for my shirt, so sexy it huuurts..." which later became "I'm too sexy for my _____" with any object replacing "shirt."
  • The musician Samwell became momentarily famous for the Camp Gay song "What What, In The Butt?," which led to more slash/yaoi parodies than could be counted generally consisting of the song overlaid on a particularly Ho Yay laden clip compilation or the like, and which itself even appeared on South Park.
  • "Crank That" by Soulja Boy became a memetic ear worm for a fair bit of 2007-08. It also produced a lot of "Crank That" parodies, especially "Kosha Boy", ''Crank Dat Haruhi Suzumiya Brigade" and "Crank Dat Spiderman".
    • FL Studio > Packs > Legacy > Hits > HIT_2 / Percs > PERC_SteelDrum_C5Explanation 
    • Soulja Boy's foray into odd, rambling songs allegedly inspired by anime produced a couple of others:"Bitch I looklike Goku," "Bitch I look like Gohan, smokin' up that marijuana" with a goofy Gohan face, and the song "Anime", consisting of lyrics like "Lookin' like Death Note" has given us "Anime, Annie-May, I'd fuck dat bitch, any day".
  • The Next Episode by Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg
    • "Smoke Weed Everyday", the last line of the song, is often remixed with various other items. Combined with a .gif of Snoop Dogg dancing in his video for "Drop it Like it's Hot", various weed-themed remixes have appeared.
    • Super Weed Brothers, Attack On Weed, and even a Pac-Man weed parody.
  • Lose Yourself by Eminem
    • The lyrics "His palms are sweaty/Knees weak, arms are heavy/There's vomit on his sweater already/Mom's spaghetti" made the song a perfect unintentional parallel to Spaghetti Stories, a meme commonly found on 4chan and similar websites about embarrassing stories of social awkwardness/ineptitude.note  The phrase "Mom's Spaghetti" is also in itself memetic. In context, it refers to someone who is so nervous he vomited the last food he ate onto his clothes. It however sounds funny, and is memorable enough to make it the most recognizable, non-chorus part of the song.
    • Became an Ascended Meme when Eminem opened a takeaway spaghetti restaurant in Detroit, called "Mom's Spaghetti".
  • Vaporwave was this to an extent once upon a time, though a lot of it was borne from snark. This song in particular really caught on. Once the genre started getting more attention, it didn't take long for people to start making remixes and joke mashups with it. This has died down as time went on, as vaporwave has grown considerably since then and has begun to be taken more seriously, but as a result, the genre now suffers from Public Medium Ignorance, as many people will still dismiss it as a meme, much to the chagrin of fans and artists.
    • In the same vein, "the aesthetic".note 
    • "It's just Diana Ross slowed down."note 
  • "I Love, I Love, I Love My Wife - But Oh! You Kid!" was "written" by Harry Von Tilzer in 1909.
    • The song immediately became a staple of Vaudeville performers.
    • It soon spawned countless knick-knacks, imitations, parodies, cartoons captioned with the song's hook, and a backlash by both Moral Guardians and people who were just sick of it. The song and phrase turned out to have a long shelf life; H. L. Mencken was complaining about it in 1921, and it's been referenced in works created many years after that. More information.
  • "98 PERCENT COMPLETE" became a meme in the X Japan fandom, as a result of Yoshiki Hayashi repeatedly stating that the first new album by X Japan in more than 20 years is "98 percent complete" on Twitter since 2010.
    • Yoshiki himself produced two minor memes related to him via his Twitter: the Fan Community Nickname of "nurses," and many nurse-themed fan creations, and his love for bananas (which even managed to get noticed by Dole to the point that they mailed him several crates of bananas). Before that, there was the "Rice Monster" meme, created from a post he made on his then Myspace blog about a nightmare he'd had of being eaten by a "rice monster" as a result of a special rice diet he was on to get in shape for the band reunion. There's also the meme of him being a vampire.
    • Another related to X Japan is the Heath X Fernandes Cargo Ship, which resulted from Heath seeming to have an orgasm onstage at Lollapalooza 2010 due to the vibrations of his bass.
    • A short-lived meme happened in the '00s, "Lick pens," created by a famous lyrics translations page's attempt to avoid being banned by their ISP or attracting "enlargement" spammers, by removing the "i" from one word in the original lyrics for Stab Me In The Back. This meme is actually a way to tell how long someone's been a fan of the band for real - usually someone who references having heard of the meme has been around since at least 2005, and likely earlier. Unless they just read about it here.
  • Ylvis's The Fox became this within a day or two of the music video being put up on YouTube. The chorus is the most memetic part of the song. note 
  • Tay Zonday, "Chocolate Rain"
    • The whole song.note 
    • ScrewAttack once parodied this in their Shitty-Ass Game of the Year awards to explain just how bad Vampire Rain really was.
      • When nominated for the 360 SAGY: "Vampire Rain...! It's so boring you might kill yourself. Vampire Rain...! It's supposed to be like Splinter Cell. Vampire Rain...! Its load times are downright horrible. Vampire Rain...! No redeeming qualities at all!"
      • Winning the 360 SAGY: "Vampire Rain...! Its slow gameplay is like a bad joke. Vampire Rain...! It received over half of the votes. Chocolate Rain...! The song is not half as bad as the game. Vampire Rain...! Will make you want to sell your 360!"
    • Tay Zonday released a spoof of his own song entitled Cherry Chocolate Rain for a Dr. Pepper ad.
      • I move away from the mic to breathe in.note 
  • "Don't Stop Believin'" by Journey has gained meme status, especially after The Sopranos' non-ending. You burst out in song in a crowded area and see how many people join. It's rather impressive when it works.
    • In Detroit, the men they hire to play music at sporting events deliberately invoke this trope at every possible opportunity. They'll even mute the loudspeaker volume for the "born and raised in South Detroit" bit (because "South Detroit" does not exist - south of Downtown Detroit there is only Canada), causing many a facepalming from visiting fans and television spectators. It's almost a REQUIREMENT to know the song if you're from the area... or at least that part of it anyways.
    • Doesn't help that "South Detroit" is a nickname for the Canadian city of Windsor (which was very nearly named South Detroit).
    • And then Glee happened, and everybody knows the song.
  • The Dancing Baby meme: One of the older memes that have since fallen out of favor, a GIF of a CGI dancing baby set to either The Macarena or The Blue Suedes' Hooked on a Feeling (the latter inspired by Ally McBeal). In the old day's stuff like that pretty much went around via e-mail or appeared on websites.
  • Kick Out the Jams by MC5 has become a phrase in itself, especially with the epithet "kick out the jams, motherfuckers!!".
  • Boards of Canada's "Aquarius":
    • "ORANGE." Explanation 
    • "YEEEeeeaahh, that's right..."
    • Sixty-ten... Explanation 
  • The Twelve Days of Christmas: "...and a partridge in a pear tree." note 
  • "Uptown Funk" note 
    • "I'm too hot! (Hot damn!)"
    • "Stop, wait a minute!"/"Fill my cup, put some liquor in it". note 
  • "Shit's Fucked":
    • Everybody Knows Shit FuckExplanation 
  • Time Machine ModulusExplanation 
    • "Hey this is actually pretty good, not cringe-worthy at all" (and many variants thereof)Explanation 
  • Beyoncé
    • I woke up like this.
    • Surfboard, surfboard, surfboard. Graining on that wood.
    • I've been drinking watermelon.
    • He better call Becky with the good hair.
    • If you like it then you shoulda put a ring on it. note 
  • Bon Jovi:
    • "Shot through the heart! And you're to blame!" This line is popularly put over someone literally being shot in media.
    • Whooa, we're halfway there, whoa, [insert image of something mundane or weird that has the same rhythm as "livin' on a prayer", preferably also that rhymes]!
    • An image of a lizard on a deckchair with the meme text "Woah, we're halfway there, woah, lizard on a chair" surfaced, it got popular and spawned its own spin-offs.
  • Nickelbacknote :
    • The starting lyrics of the song Photograph became a pretty popular meme in 2015, where the photograph lead singer Chad Kroeger is holding would be changed to something random and the lyrics themselves would be tweaked to represent it.
  • Plies' "Ran Off On Da Plug Twice" is known for the rapper doing a running man-style dance while saying the aforementioned lyric. It became viral after football players do this dance when scoring a touchdown.
  • "Pimp My Metal" jokes in association to the Within Temptation song "And We Run", which is one of the few Symphonic Metal songs with rap sections, done by Xzibit.
  • "The Seventh Element" by Vitas.
    • "Weird Russian Singer,"
    • Chum Drum Bedrum
    • Ahaha, hahaha, hahaha, haaaaaa, blalalala ahaha!Explanation 
  • "Elektronik Supersonik", a spin-off from Jetlag Travel Guides, become an entire Fountain of Memes thanks to You No Take Candle lyrics and '80s throwback Stylistic Suck.
  • Ghost Town DJ's, "My Boo".
    • "At niiight, I think of yoooouu/I want, to be your laaady babyyyy!" Explanation 
  • Michael Jackson
    • "Cause this is Thriller! Thriller night!" Explanation 
      • The zombie dance number from the music video is the most memorable thing about the song, and its choreography has become a staple of its parodies.
  • How could this happen to me...?Explanation 
  • Thanks to the "Epic Maneuvre" meme on YTMND, "Ghost Love Score" by Nightwish is the go-to song when dramatic music is needed. Sometimes used to invoke Mundane Made Awesome, by playing the song over a clip of someone doing something completely normal.
  • "O Fortuna" is the go-to music to illustrate something sinister.
  • "It's Mr. Steal Your Girl". Explanation 
  • In an example some might find in bad taste, Gas Gas Gas, a song used in the Initial D anime, has apparently gained popularity on /pol/ by virtue of associations with a different kind of gas, as a look through the YouTube comments will attest. Which in turn has led to this. Make of it what you will.
  • Shout, shout, let it all out! These are the things I can do without, come on! I'm talking to you, come on! Explanation 
  • Corona's "The Rhythm of the Night" has two memetic mishearings "Is this the Reebok or the Nike?" (possibly originated from Spanish) and "Jesus Humilha Satanas".
  • Drake's "Hotline Bling" had a memetic music video and many jokes out of the opening line ("You used to call me on my cell phone...").
  • You Reposted in the Wrong Neighborhood note 
  • "It's So Cold In The D" note 
  • "It's My Life Whatever I Wanna Do" by Vennu Mallesh has spawned several jokes due to its goofy (and often grammatically incorrect) lyrics such as "I am a very good bad boy" and "My neighbor thinks that I am wasting my time/He don't know that he is wasting his time".
  • From Brazil, Charlie Brown Jr.'s song "O Coro Vai Come" has many memes out of the Singer Name Drop line "Meu tu não sabe o que aconteceu! Os caras do Charlie Brown invadiram a cidade!" (Man, you don't know what happened! The guys from Charlie Brown have invaded the town!"). Most notably, Trolling by saying the first part only to complete with the song lyrics, using the second part as a response to "you don't know\believe what happened", and of course, the original Charlie Brown being brought along.
  • Running in the '90s by Max Coveri, of Initial D fame. While it's been a meme since the days of YTMND, it's recently popularity on Tumblr and YouTube, often played over videos of something going at high speed, especially if it's drifting.
    • Eurobeat in general, or rather Eurobeat played on Initial D, has become a meme in itself, with tons of driving and drifting videos using tracks from the anime, most popular being Deja Vu. A good example of this kind of meme can be found here.
  • "Shooting Stars" by Bag Raiders is usually featured in scenes where people fly across the space.
  • "Whales" by Hail Mary Mallon (rap superduo composed of Aesop Rock and Rob Sonic) has received much attention due to being featured in numerous mashups, most famously one with "Tem Shop" off of the Undertale soundtrack.
  • Simple Minds' "Don't You (Forget About Me)" became this after it was featured in the How It Should Have Ended parody of Inside Out, despite it having alternate lyrics about Bing Bong in that video. This was just one of many usages of that song in popular media from the late 2000s onward (including Victorious, The Goldbergsnote , Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, The Handmaid's Tale and most notably the "Bellas Finals" medley in ''Pitch Perfect") that caused the song to be put back into frequent rotation on radio stations, and lead to satellite radio station "80's on 8" making their own parody that airs in-between songs.
    • In a number of these instances, the chorus will chime in when someone is freeze-framed while pumping their fist in the air, as a direct reference to The Breakfast Club. See the aforementioned HISHE video and the end of the Kimmy Schmidt episode "Kimmy Kisses A Boy" for examples.
    • Don't you forget about me or my son ever again.
  • Bob Rivers' The Twelve Pains of Christmas is very popular among people who make AMVs. It's hard to not look for a popular animated show or movie and not see an AMV of that song.
    • Ditto for "Hijo De La Luna" by Mecano.
  • "Sounds of Silence" by Simon & Garfunkel has become the catch-all song for any depressing or despairing moment. Or even just the first line, "Hello, darkness, my old friend..."
  • "What's with these homies who be dissin' my boy?" note 
  • Anyways, here's "Wonderwall"! note 
  • The ting goes SKRRRRA!!!note 
    • The girl said: "Take off your jacket," I said: "Babes, MANS NOT HOT!"note 
  • "009 Sound System - Dreamscape"note 
  • SomeBODY once told me the world is gonna roll me...Explanation 
  • What Redbone would sound like if XExplanation 
  • SPOOKY SCARY SKELETONS SEND SHIVERS DOWN YOUR SPINEExplanation 
  • AHHHHHH/Advanced CountryExplanation 
  • Haddaway's "What is Love" has a tendency to make its listeners bob their heads. like Chris Kattan (although some are known to get down like Rickie and Delia at the World Happiness Dance instead).
  • "'Scuse me while I kiss this guy!"Explanation 
  • From siromaru and cranky's "conflict": "zuorhi viyantas was festsu ruor proi"Explanation 
    • ズォールヒーwwwヴィヤーンタースwwwワースwwwフェスツwwwルオルwwwプローイwww ユクwwwダルフェwwwスォーイヴォーwスウェンネwwwヤットゥwヴwwwヒェンヴィwネースExplanation 
    • "conflict" on every Rhythm GameExplanation 
  • Toto's "Africa" has become very memetic, either due to Nostalgia Filter, the music video, the narmtastic lyrics, or all of the above.
  • "Konbini/X Goes to the Convenience Store"note 
  • Shadilay went from an '80s italo pop song to becoming the hymn of the Egyptian chaos god Kek, due to the Band and lead singer sharing its name Pepe with another internet meme.
  • Despacito 2Explanation 
  • "Broken Promithes Promithes" Explanation 
  • "What if Stacy’s mom was Jessie’s girl?" (or some variation of the idea)Explanation 
  • "Crab Rave", a song by Irish EDM producer Noisestorm, has gained traction on the Internet by its use in mashups and remixes, and eventually became a byword for celebrating "deaths" (both literal and metaphorical) of people and things who will not be missed. The music video has also received multiple edits, usually adding ironic quotes that don't fit with the song's upbeat nature.
    • Now a videogame is being developed by the same artist, Noisestorm, called Crab Champions. It's about crabs fighting each other with guns. How can a meme go so far?
  • Hit or miss, I guess they never miss, huh?note 
  • "Am I ever gonna see your face again?" "NO WAY GET FUCKED FUCK OFF!"note 
  • "Baby shark, doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-doo..."note 
    • "Onara pu-pu-pu-pu, unchi buriburi..." note 
  • Hoes mad (x24)Explanation 
  • "Yer done bud. We got the chat logs. You came to meet up with a child huh. So give us a smile for the camera. Creep Catchers!" by K-Blitz. Essentially the theme song written about the Canadian grassroots organizations that have dedicated themselves to busting online pedophiles who arrange a meetup (shades of Dateline To Catch A Predator). The phrase "Yer done bud" is often uttered by one of the "catchers" as the "creep" in question either walks off in shame (knowing that this encounter will be shown on the internet) or is arrested. The song has even shown up in the YouTube videos of organizations that use names other than Creep Catchers, such as P.O.P (Prey on Predators).
  • Ether by Nas has been used by online personalities to ether (or humiliate) someone online such as in a YouTube video. Tariq Nasheed and Tommy Sotomayor have both used the "Ether" beat in their online insulting rants against callers with opposing views.
  • "Darude - Sandstorm".Explanation  The Fine Brothers even did a YouTubers React episode on it.
    • An inversion has come up where, if a video actually does feature the song, someone will comment asking what the song is, then add "And don't say Darude - Sandstorm".
      • Song - Name
  • IKZO/"俺ら東京さ行ぐだ" ("I'll Go To Tokyo") Explanation 
  • No S.T.A.L.K.E.R. video is complete without Bandit Radio/Cheeki Breeki. It's a song that can actually be heard playing on some radios scattered around the game. Its upbeat tune goes so much against the overall dark tone of the game that it's a perfect match for any funny video set in the Zone.
  • X parties too hard and dies Explanation 
  • Vicetone's Astronomia got a surge of memetic popularity in 2020 as the "Coffin Dance", due to a video of the song being played over a troupe of dancing Ghanaian pallbearers, whose moves synced up surprisingly well with the song. The song's now used for situations of imminent silly/stupid deaths.
  • "This song sounds like [something awkward]"note 
    • "This beat was made by The Flying Dutchman"note 
    • "krusty krab type beat"note 
  • "Type beat" parodies: a "type beat" is a rap beat made to sound like one or more popular rap artists/producers, e.g. "Future Type Beat" or "Travis Scott x PARTYNEXTDOOR Type Beat". Naturally, their ubiquity led to various parodies, most of them in the form of a trap beat placed on top of a looping sound effect. Behold, "Pencil Sharpener type beat", "Microwave Type Beat", and of course, "mr. krabs walking type beat". Some of these may end up being Ear Worms.
  • "WHAT THE FUCK'S UP, DENNY'S!?" note 
  • "Tunak tunak tun da da da!"Explanation 
  • "But if you close your eyes" note 
  • Ruler of Everything/"Do You Like How I Walk?"note 
  • Viva La Gamer / I used to roll the dice...Explanation 
  • "Salí con tu mujer". Explanation 
  • "BANANA ASSHOLE"Explanation 
    • "SUCK ON DA PIE YO...THE COCK NO WALK HOME" [horse whinny] "...SAY YO"note/translation 
  • Hatten är din Explanation 
  • Wo ai Beijing Tiananmen, Tiananmen shang taiyang sheng... Explanation/translation 
  • The beginning of the instrumental version of the rapper Capone's 2005 song "Streets Favorite", which features pitch-shifted samples of lyrics from The Shangri-Las' song "Remember (Walking in the Sand)", became famous on TikTok in late 2020, where it accompanies videos of (extreme) misfortune, which stop on a freeze-frame right before a troubling moment as the lyric "Oh, no/Oh, no/Oh, no, no, no, no, no" hits, with zoom-ins on the subject during each piano sting.
  • [insert artist] - "Apple Bottom Jeans" Explanation 
  • The Bloodhound Gang: "Aw shit, here comes Pac-Man!" Explanation 
  • "HELIKOPTER, HELIKOPTER... PARA KOFER, PARA KOFER!"Explanation 
  • Hit those notes.Explanation 
  • "How to Make Gravy" by Paul Kelly inspired many Australians to proclaim the 21st of December (mentioned as the date in the song) "Gravy Day".
"Just add flour, salt, a little red wine, don't forget a dollop of tomato sauce for sweetness and that extra tang"
  • Twenty years after “No Scrubs” by TLC came out, posts like these were everywhere.Explanation 
  • I am in misery/I save dick by giving it CPR/REESE'S PUFFS REESE'S PUFFS (extended version here) explanation 
  • "Yi Jian Mei" by Fei Yu-ching is one of the most memetic songs in mainland China, thanks to this random guy called the "Egg Man" popularizing it by singing the chorus while being surrounded by plum trees covered in snow, befitting the main theme of the song itself.
    • And then we go to the main star of this meme: the chorus itself. "XUE HUA PIAO PIAO, BEI FENG XIAO XIAO..."Explanation/translation 
  • MGMT's "Little Dark Age" had been used as a background to an entity in decline (typically a country or empire), accompanied by a collage of images from more glorious times. Sometimes even accompanied by subtitles consisting of "How does it feel being in a dying _____?" "Euphoric".
  • "Banana Tiger"Explanation 
  • Imagine Dragons, "Demons":
  • Naeil naege yeollineun geon big, big stage-*BONK!*Explaination 
  • Axel in Harlem / I PUT THE NEW FORGIS ON THE JEEPExplanation (Mildly NSFW) 
  • The Beatles:
    • Number nine... number nine... number nine...Explanation 
    • Turn me on, dead man Explanation 
  • EEEEEEEE!!!!! Explanation 
  • She sells sea shells on the seashore, but the value of these shells will fallExplanation 
  • Eric Prydz - "Call on Me" note 
    • Flashing images/[x] doesn't change facial expressions Explanation 
    • The infamous music video, featuring suggestive and Fanservice-y women doing aerobics, has also been subject to jokes, such as claiming the song is better listened to on YouTube, or that it's best to listen to it "in HD" or "with your eyes open".
  • Chipi Chipi Chapa ChapaExplanation 

Memes not tied to a specific song

  • When you download MP3s, you're downloading COMMUNISM!Explanation 
  • Everything except country and rap.note 
  • ONETWOTHREEFOUR!note 
    • Senzuri!note 
  • "I hate how Pavement took music so seriously."note 
  • When Post-Hardcore band Fugazi announced they were releasing a previously unheard album-length demo from 1988, Spin Magazine's Twitter account mistakenly announced the demo was from 1888 (due to a typo, of course). Many jokes about the band having been around since the 19th century ensued.
  • Put some respeck on my name!note 
  • Taking songs from kids media and giving them trap or dubstep remixes is popular on YouTube. The more bizarre and ironic it is, the better. For example, "I'm The Map" from Dora the Explorer, the theme to Little Einsteins, the Krusty Krab from SpongeBob SquarePants, and the theme to Caillou.
    • Its precursor is "kiddie rave" tracks that referenced nostalgic shows and were also obliquely about drugs. The Prodigy's "Charly" (inspired by a safety PIF starring an animated cat named Charly; the title is also slang for cocaine) kickstarted the craze in the early '90s.
  • "The Rumor Come Out: Does Bruno Mars is Gay?"note 
  • The cover art of Unknown Pleasures by Joy Division, a data plot of signals from the first pulsar discovered, has become a popular meme even among people who have no idea where it came from.
  • New Order's "Blue Monday" has become the go-to song to remix videos of Real Life nazis, bullies, and jerks in general getting their comeuppance. Here's an example.
  • When 21 Savage was arrested by the ICE and revealed to be British, jokes, often employing British stereotypes, were quickly made
  • Freddie Mercury [does something] Explanation 
  • Go to the comments of any song and the top comment will almost always be some variation of "Who's listening in [current year]?"
  • In early 2021, a Tiktok musician posted a clip of him singing the whaling song "Wellerman". Another singer recorded himself singing along in a bass voice, then other people joined in, and the whole thing exploded into sea shanty covers (and songs done in sea shanty style) to the point where the New York Times wrote about it.
  • "Oh, you love X? Name three of their albums!" Explanation 
  • Lady Gaga cancelled her 2017 concert at Rock In Rio one day before it would happen for health reasons. The local fanbase made a meme out of her announcement ("Brazil, I'm devastated"), but what really made the rounds was a video of a man driving by "Little Monsters" who waited outside the hotel where Gaga would stay, shouting "She's not coming anymore!" (leading one to respond "Fuck you!").
  • Lizzo playing [insert a fictional instrument] Explanation 
  • "Trve kvlt." Explanation 
  • "Wake me up..." "...before you go-go!" "...when September ends!" "WAKE ME UP INSIDE!"Explanation 
  • "My [family member] used to sing this to me every morning/night" Explanation 
  • "This song was so good that the police came over to my house to listen to it" Explanation 
  • We not making it out of the hood Explanation 
    • WE MAKING IT OUT OF THE HOOD/[x] WITH THIS ONE Explanation 
  • Song roasts in all caps Explanation 
  • R. Kelly:
    • It's the remix to ignition / [insert topic] edition / this line's here to setup the / punchline rhymes with ignition
    • The favourite of children everywhere: "I believe I can fly / I got shot by the FBI / All I wanted was a chicken wing..."
    • Any mention of R. Kelly these days will immediately be proceeded with a piss joke.
    • "My mind's tellin' me nooooooooo...BUT MA BODYYY...MA BOOODYYYYY'S TELLIN ME YEEEEEEAAHUUUUUUUSSSS" Explanation 
      • "I don't see nothing wrong... with a little prison time"Explanation 
    • "Y'ALL KILLING ME WITH THIS SHIT!!!" Explanation 
      • "Robert." Explanation 
      • The exaggerated crying he gives during Gayle King interview too.
      • "I'M FIGHTIN' FOR MY FUCKIN' LIFE!"
      • "I don't know how to hogtie people. Why would I hogtie her?"Explanation 

[drum slam]
AND IIIIIIIIIIII-EE-IIII, WILL ALWAYS, LOOOOVE YOOOOOUUUUUU...Explanation 

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