History KarmaHoudini / Music

KarmaHoudini in {{Music}}.

-->I had my fun, I'm going back to the place I don't call home\\

I'll still come out laughing, coz me? I never fail, loser!

--> I got a story, it ain't got no morals\\

Let the bad guy win every once in awhile....

-->And when the cops came through\\

And still weren't found out (right here)

-->''[[ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections law don't mean shit if you've got the right friends]]\\

--> Hey, don't pay no mind
--> You're under 18 you won't be doing any time

-->He's never gonna make it\\

There's really no escape until he dies

-->The law don't mean shit if you've got the right friends\\

I fought the law and I won

** Other, less profane, versions of the so G also have him get away (although in others he gets his comeuppance, as in RealLife).

* The (thoroughly {{NSFW}}, and [[NauseaFuel Nausea]] and NightmareFuel-laden) [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2-PFtZTUUE music video]] for "Skinless", by the band Music/{{Skinless}}, ends with the video's VillainProtagonist, the deranged SerialKiller known as the Hudson Skinner, completely escaping capture or even exposure for his grisly crimes (one of which forms the bulk of the music video). He pulls this off by framing the members of Skinless for the murders - all the instrumentalists[[note]]guitarists Noah Carpenter and Dave Matthews, bassist Joe Keyser and drummer Bob Beaulac[[/note]] get arrested while the vocalist[[note]]Sherwood Webber[[/note]] narrowly escapes capture due to being in a completely different state[[note]]in reference to Webber's real-life residence in Denver, while the other band members live in upstate New York[[/note]] but is driven underground. In fairness, though, the band is thoroughly complicit in the crimes of the Skinner, and are seen performing "for" the victim in the video.

* "Stagger Lee" sees the titular VillainProtagonist murder a bartender for not caring that he's Stagger Lee, agree to have sex with a woman despite knowing she's married and force the woman's husband to give him a blowjob before executing him. As the song ends here, we have no reason to believe that he was ever punished.

* The narrator's [[{{Jerkass}} father]] in Music/{{Ayreon}}'s [[VillainSong "Day 16: Loser"]].

** The titular character of "Evil Food Eater Conchita". Though she does end up dying, namely by devouring her own body, the fact is she never really suffers any true consequences for committing horrific acts of cannibalism and {{Necromancy}}--even in death, she got what she wanted (to eat every food imaginable) and proceeded to AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence by becoming a demon. At the end of the series, [[spoiler:she effectively gives karma the middle finger by accepting an offer to use otherworldly technology to fly to alternate worlds with her servants so she can sample their denizens in search of the ultimate evil food]].
** Seth Twiright, the series original BigBad, goes without ''any'' real punishment throughout the series. At the end, it's even implied that he [[spoiler:got to reincarnate with everyone else in a new world (though in his defense, he ''did'' help save the world from the final Big Bad)]]!
** "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1S7YxfZiJqM Flower of the Plateau]]", in which Mikulia Calgaround [[spoiler: ''kills'' two people, an ex-suitor/client and ''[[OffingTheOffspring her own son]]'' because they're the only ones who know that she used to be a prostitute. Yet still nobody found out about that]].

* The ''Franchise/EvilliousChronicles'', being a series centered around exploring themes of good and evil, is prone to having a few of these. Most notably...
** The titular character of ''Evil Food Eater Conchita''. Though she does end up dying, namely by devouring her own body, the fact is she never really suffers any true consequences for committing horrific acts of cannibalism and {{Necromancy}}--even in death, she got what she wanted (to eat every food imaginable) and proceeded to AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence by becoming a demon. At the end of the series, [[spoiler:she effectively gives karma the middle finger by accepting an offer to use otherworldly technology to fly to alternate worlds with her servants so she can sample their denizens in search of the ultimate evil food]].

** ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1S7YxfZiJqM Flower of the Plateau]]'', in which Mikulia Calgaround [[spoiler: ''kills'' two people, an ex-suitor/client and ''[[OffingTheOffspring her own son]]'' because they're the only ones who know that she used to be a prostitute. Yet still nobody found out about that]].

* The narrator of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULSKZ7IP930 "The Rake's Song"]] by Music/TheDecemberists murders his three children in an attempt to regain his freedom. He gets away with it, and isn't even bothered with feelings of remorse or guilt over it.
* Dr. Dre's "Forget About Dre":

%%* "Karma Chameleon" by Culture Club.

-->He's never gonna make it//
All the poor people he's forsaken//
Karma is always gonna chase him for his lies//
It's just a game of waiting from the//
Church steeple down to Satan karma//

* Maxwell Edison, the eponymous VillainProtagonist of Music/TheBeatles song Maxwell's Silver Hammer, uses his silver hammer to kill a girl named Joan, his teacher, and the judge at his trial with the implication that he got off scot-free for the murders he committed.

----

* "Getting Away with Murder" by Music/PapaRoach
* Music/BobDylan's song "The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll" tells the story of a wealthy white man who kills a poor black woman in 1960s Baltimore, and receives a six-month sentence in punishment. It's based on a true story.

* Billy Preston's 1972 song "Will It Go Round In Circles":
--> I got a story, it ain't got no morals\\
Let the bad guy win every once in awhile\\
I got a story, it ain't got no morals\\
Let the bad guy win every once in awhile....
* [[OutlawCouple Billy Joe and Bobbie Sue]] from the Music/SteveMillerBand song [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WCFUGCOLLU "Take The Money And Run"]] killed a man while robbing his house, stole his money, and at the end of the song, headed down South and apparently got away with it.
* Johnny in Music/OingoBoingo's song "Only A Lad", who gets away with arson, theft, assault, and vehicular manslaughter because [[SocietyIsToBlame the judge believes it's society's fault he's such a psychopath]]. However, the narrator predicts - or at least hopes - that Johnny will be going to Hell when he dies.
* The narrator's [[{{Jerkass}} father]] in Music/{{Ayreon}}'s [[VillainSong "Day 16: Loser"]].
-->I had my fun, I'm going back to the place I don't call home\\
There's no one there who waits for me, but you won't hear me moan\\
My ex-wives all sue me, and with half my kids in jail\\
I'll still come out laughing, coz me? I never fail, loser!

* I See You Baby by Groove Armada has a music video to match the title: a creepy voyeur has set up video cameras in both the men and women's bathrooms and is watching them. They find the cameras, but after a panic attack he makes a getaway with no implication he'll get caught.
* Dr. Dre's "Forget About Dre":
-->And when the cops came through\\
Me and Dre stood next to a burnt down house\\
Wit a can full of gas and a hand full of matches\\
And still weren't found out (right here)

* Music/JayZ, who constantly bragged on many rap songs how he made a fortune from a huge drug deal back in 1988. Supposedly, the money from this deal helped launch his rap career. Of course, it could all be [[UnreliableNarrator unrealistic bragging]] which is one of the key elements in Gangsta Rap music. [[VillainsNeverLie Then again...]]
* "I Fought the Law" by Dead Kennedys tells the story of Dan White killing George Moscone and Harvey Milk, and only serving five years on manslaughter.
-->The law don't mean shit if you've got the right friends\\
That's how this country's run\\
Twinkies are the best friends I ever had\\
I fought the law and I won\\
I fought the law and I won
* Maxwell Edison, the eponymous VillainProtagonist of Music/TheBeatles song Maxwell's Silver Hammer, uses his silver hammer to kill a girl named Joan, his teacher, and the judge at his trial with the implication that he got off scot-free for the murders he committed.
* The narrator of Robbie Fulks's "I Told Her Lies" reaches the end of his life having never been caught cheating on his wife and considered a paragon of fidelity and loyalty in his community. We never learn how he fares against a higher authority.
* The Music/OzzyOsbourne song "Mr. Tinkertrain" is about a pedophile who gets away with his actions.
* Music/TheOffspring's "Come Out and Play"
--> Hey, don't pay no mind
--> You're under 18 you won't be doing any time
* The very last line of "Junta" by Music/{{Cormorant}} notes that the soldiers who fired upon a huge amount of protesters will likely escape justice.
** "Sold as a Crow" is about one of the MK Ultra tests, poisoning the water of Pont-Saint-Esprit.
* The (thoroughly {{NSFW}}, and [[NauseaFuel Nausea]] and NightmareFuel-laden) [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2-PFtZTUUE music video]] for "Skinless", by the band Music/{{Skinless}}, ends with the video's VillainProtagonist, the deranged SerialKiller known as the Hudson Skinner, completely escaping capture or even exposure for his grisly crimes (one of which forms the bulk of the music video). He pulls this off by framing the members of Skinless for the murders - all the instrumentalists[[note]]guitarists Noah Carpenter and Dave Matthews, bassist Joe Keyser and drummer Bob Beaulac[[/note]] get arrested while the vocalist[[note]]Sherwood Webber[[/note]] narrowly escapes capture due to being in a completely different state[[note]]in reference to Webber's real-life residence in Denver, while the other band members live in upstate New York[[/note]] but is driven underground. In fairness, though, the band is thoroughly complicit in the crimes of the Skinner, and are seen performing "for" the victim in the video.

-->And landed in Sri Lanka none the worse for wear\\
-->I'm thinking of retiring from all my dirty deals\\
-->I'll see you in the next life, wake me up for meals\\

* In Music/{{Miserable}} [[spoiler: The giant woman spends a decent portion of the video chasing down the band members one-by-one and eating them alive. By the end of the video she has succeeded in swallowing every member and walks away, never getting punished for what she did.]]

* ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1S7YxfZiJqM Flower of the Plateau]]'', in which Mikulia [[spoiler: ''kills'' two people, an ex-suitor/client and ''[[OffingTheOffspring her own son]]'' because they're the only ones who know that she used to be a prostitute. Yet still nobody found out about that]].

** "Sold as a Crow" is about one of the MK Ultra tests, poisoning the water of Pont-Saint-Esprit.

* [[OutlawCouple Billy Joe and Bobbie Sue]] from the SteveMillerBand song [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WCFUGCOLLU "Take The Money And Run"]] killed a man while robbing his house, stole his money, and at the end of the song, headed down South and apparently got away with it.

* BobDylan's song "The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll" tells the story of a wealthy white man who kills a poor black woman in 1960s Baltimore, and receives a six-month sentence in punishment. It's based on a true story.

* Johnny in OingoBoingo's song "Only A Lad", who gets away with arson, theft, assault, and vehicular manslaughter because [[SocietyIsToBlame the judge believes it's society's fault he's such a psychopath]]. However, the narrator predicts - or at least hopes - that Johnny will be going to Hell when he dies.

** "Sold As a Crow" is about one of the MK Ultra tests, poisoning the water of Pont-Saint-Esprit.

* The very last line of "Junta" by Music/{{Cormorant}} notes that the soldiers who fired upon a huge amount of protesters will likely escape justice.

--> You're under 18 you won't be doing any time

** This might be averted with follow-up song "The Hazards of Love Pt. 3", in which the spirits of the titular rake's murdered children return to exact revenge on their father.

* DeathMetal. No Seriously. Gore related songs never reveal that the murders getting any comeuppance. Each and every song ends with the killer continuing his crimes.

* "Karma Chameleon" by Culture Club.