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Fan Music
(aka: Fan Song)

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https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/land_of_fans_and_music.jpg
It's not always this literal.

While Fan Art and Fanfiction are what first come to mind when discussing Fan Works, those are far from the only media that fans create. Fan music is the audio equivalent, being a piece of music created by fans of a work. This can take the form of fitting original lyrics onto an existing melody or creating a song and tune whole-cloth relating to a work of fiction.

Fan music is a common subject of Fanvids and remixes, as their lyrics already relate to the subject in question and are often heavily evocative of specific scenes from the work.

Super-trope to:

  • Filk Song: Fan songs of the science-fiction fandom that are heavily influenced by folk music, and which were the first type of fan song to gain an audience outside of their creator's immediate social circles.
  • Heavy Mithril: Fan songs of the Heavy Metal genre that are focused on fantasy.
  • Nerdcore: Hip-hop fan songs, which often emphasize the social aspects of fandom as well as the topics of the fandom itself.

Examples (sorted by parent work):

    open/close all folders 
    Anime & Manga 
Banana Fish
  • "Asrun Dream" by GACKT is a rare example of a fan song by a major mainstream artist, told from the viewpoint of Ash.

Death Note
Fullmetal Alchemist (2003)
  • Vic Mignogna, the English voice of Edward from Fullmetal Alchemist, did a song named "Nothing I Won't Give" about the 2003 anime that is in Edward's POV.

Gundam
K-On!
  • Raccoon Factory's "Kimi ga Kureta Yume", an original song written as a tribute to the Takotsuboya K-ON Trilogy. It covers the first two volumes of the trilogy, with a later released song, "Day alternates with night", covering the last part.

Naruto
  • Eddie Rath has many Naruto raps and songs, such as "Gaara the Sand Assassin", "Tsunade", "Prince of the Crows" (Itachi), and "The King of Sharingan" (Sasuke).
OnePiece

    Comic Books 
DC Comics
Marvel Comics
  • Mark Foster's song "Spiderman" is a Badass Boast about, well, Spider-Man.
  • Megadeth's title track on their debut album "Killing is My Business... and Business is Good" is influenced by The Punisher, and the second half of "Holy Wars...The Punishment Due" from Rust in Peace is about Frank Castle himself.
  • The Merkins's "Snap My Fingers" is Thanos rapping about his Badass Fingersnap to the tune of "Snap Yo Fingers".
  • Odyssey's "Metal Man" is about Iron Man, the titular 'Metal Man' being him in his armor flying through the sky to save the day.
  • Paul McCartney's "Magneto & Titanium Man" is about the singer finding out from Magneto, Titanium Man, and the Crimson Dynamo that the woman he loves is a banknrobber. Stan Lee, who created all three characters, said that he loved the song.
  • Joe D. Toaster's "Spiderboy" is about Spider-Man (specially the period where he was wearing the black symbiote costume).
  • Brazilian musician Jorge Vercilo's "Homem-Aranha" is about, well, Spider-Man who saves his love interest from a bad guy, and later, after he retires, has to deal with daily chores, like monthly debts, adjusting the TV antenna, and staying up all night to rock his child.

The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck
Spawn
  • Iced Earth's album The Dark Saga is a concept album that tells the story of Spawn.

    Film—Animation 
Frozen (2013)
  • Pritkzer Parodies' "I Don't Know" is an overworked medical student's lament, set to the tune of Frozen's "Let It Go".

When the Wind Blows
  • Iron Maiden's "When the Wild Wind Blows" is a retelling of the film's story, albeit with a different ending as there is no nuclear war.

    Film — Live-Action 
2001: A Space Odyssey
  • Star One's "Starchild" is about humanity reaching its next stage of evolution (the 'starchild' that Dave became at the end of the movie) due to the monolith.

Alien
  • Star One's "Perfect Survivor" is a retelling of the plot of the first movie, with the titular 'perfect survivor' being the xenomorph itself.

Austin Powers
  • Ludacris has "Number One Spot," which is mostly about the Austin Powers movies. It even samples the theme song.

BraveHeart
  • Iron Maiden's song "The Clansman" is based on the film.

The Bride Wore Black
  • Kate Bush's song "The Wedding List" is about the bride's quest for vengeance for the death of her husband.

Children of the Damned
  • Iron Maiden's song "Children of the Damned" is about the Creepy Children featured in the film, with the song treating them with a mixture of fear and pity.

The Chronicles of Riddick (2004)
  • Dire Peril's "Heart of the Furyan" is a metal song about Riddick returning to Furya and getting vengeance on Lord Marshal.

Conan the Barbarian
  • Manilla Road's song "Queen of the Black Coast" is a tribute to the Conan short story of the same name.

Dark City
Deadfall
  • You know that hardcore punk song "Deadfall" by Snot from Guitar Hero: Warriors Of Rock? Yep, this is where it comes from - it's full of quotes and samples and is basically a recap of the film's plot.

Die Hard
  • Guyz Nite wrote a song about Die Hard, that was even included in the fourth movie DVD.

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
  • Neil Diamond's "Heartlight" was heavily inspired by ET, so much so that he allegedly had to pay $25,000 to Universal.

Falling Down
Forbidden Planet
  • Iron Maiden's song "Out of the Silent Planet" is about the monsters who destroyed the planet's civilization (which came from the id of the original inhabitants) leaving the planet to destroy everything they see instead of waiting there for the astronauts to find.

Forrest Gump
Friday the 13th
Godzilla
Halloween
Hellraiser
Highlander
Interstellar
James Bond
Jurassic Park
  • "Weird Al" Yankovic's "Jurassic Park" is a parody of Richard Harris's "MacArthur Park", with the original's melodrama of a cake melting in the rain instead being about the dinosaurs running wild in the park during a storm.

The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner
  • Iron Maiden's song "The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner" is based on the film and is about the determination of the protagonist.

Monty Python and the Holy Grail
A Nightmare on Elm Street
Outland
  • Star One's song "High Moon" from the album Space Metal (all of the songs of which are based on sci-fi movies) is a retelling of the plot of the movie.

Predator
  • Dire Peril's "Yautja (Hunter Culture)" is an extended Badass Boast from one of the Predators to their prey.
  • Iron Maiden has the song the Mercenary, which more or less describes the events of the first movie, even going so far to paraphrase a line from it

Quest for Fire
  • Iron Maiden's song "Quest For Fire" is a retelling of the plot of the movie, cavemen searching for fire to bring back to their tribe.

Scream
Soylent Green
  • Wumpscut's Soylent Green is based on the film of the same name, and uses samples from the film's German dub.

Spider-Man 1
Stargate
  • StarOne's "The Eye Of Ra" is about Ra building the Stargate to rule over Earth, and his battle with the main cast.

Star Wars
The Room (2003)
  • JobbytheHong, of all people, made "Red Dress", as a form of tribute for the movie itself. He has used the instrumental version of this song at every end of his review videos.

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
The Thing (1982)
  • Dire Peril's "Blood In the Ice" is a metal song about the Thing hunting down the humans at Outpost #31 one by one and their attempts to fight back.

V for Vendetta
  • Iced Earth's song "V" is about the titular V and his fight to free society from the oppressive regime that dominated it.

Wet Hot American Summer
When Worlds Collide
  • Iron Maiden's song "When Two Worlds Collide" the angst of the few who manage to escape Earth's destruction in the movie but lose everything.

    Literature 
Alice in Wonderland
  • Jefferson Airplane's song "White Rabbit" is a re-imagining of Alice's adventures as a drug trip.

Brave New World
  • Iron Maiden's song "Brave New World" is inspired by the book, with "a brave new world" being the chorus and the song being from the perspective of John.

A Clockwork Orange
The Cornelius Chronicles
  • Hawkwind also did the song "Needle Gun" about Jerry Cornelius.

Crash
Cthulhu Mythos
Discworld
The Divine Comedy
Dune
The Elric Saga
  • Blue Öyster Cult did the song "Black Blade" about Elric of Melnibone.
  • Hawkwind did an entire album about Elric, The Chronicle of the Black Sword. Notably, writer Michael Moorcock was directly involved with both Hawkwind and Blue Oyster Cult, even occasionally performing with Hawkwind.

The Grapes of Wrath
Ghost Roads
  • Seanan McGuire has written filk songs about her own works, most notably Ghost Roads, for which she's written no fewer than eight songs. She's also written at least three filk songs for the related InCryptid series, which is in the same universe.

Harry Potter
Robert A. Heinlein's works
  • Spider Robinson, as part of a Robert A. Heinlein tribute essay called "Rah, Rah, R.A.H.", wrote his own filk song, "Ol' Man Heinlein" (to the tune of "Ol' Man River" by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein). It can be found in Robinson's anthology Time Travelers Strictly Cash.

Honor Harrington
  • Echo's Children was a filk band from Portland, Oregon. They were perhaps best known for their Honor Harrington filk songs No Quarter, Riding a Tiger, and Fair Was the Blossom, which were featured on CDs that accompanied the sale of Honor Harrington hardcover books in the 1990s and 2000s.

The Hunger Games
Johnny Got His Gun
  • Metallica's song "One" is about Joe as he begs to be put out of his misery, which he is unable to communicate to anyone.

The Little Match Girl
The Lord of the Rings
Mike Hammer
Moby-Dick
  • Ahab are a German funeral doom metal band who write about and sometimes directly take lyrics from Moby-Dick.
  • Mastodon's most popular and arguably best album, Leviathan, is based entirely upon Moby-Dick.

The Moomins
The Phantom of the Opera
  • Iron Maiden's song "Phantom of the Opera" is from the perspective of someone both fascinated and frightened by the Phantom.

Perfume
  • Nirvana's "Scentless Apprentice" is about Jean, the main character, as Perfume was Kurt Cobain's favorite book.

The Picture of Dorian Gray
  • Pagan Altar's song "The Portrait of Dorian Gray" is about the evil contained by the titular portrait, and what might happen if it were released.

Edgar Allan Poe's works
Alexander Pushkin's works
Red Shirts
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
The Road
The Sentinel
  • "Space Odyssey" by The Byrds, which takes the plot of Arthur C. Clarke's short story "The Sentinel" and sets it to a sea shanty-type tune, with a futuristic Moog synthesizer as the main instrument. (Despite the title, it came out before 2001: A Space Odyssey).

A Series of Unfortunate Events
A Song of Ice and Fire
  • The Sword has "To Take the Black", referring to the act of joining the Night's Watch.

Two Little Trains
  • Burl Ives' "Two Little Trains" is a direct narration of the children's book by Margaret Wise Brown.

Ulysses
  • Kate Bush's song "Out Of the Sensual World" is about Molly Bloom, and almost directly (Bush wasn't able to get permission from the Joyce estate to use the original text) quotes her ending monologue about the joy and pleasure of life.
  • Jefferson Airplane's song "Rejoyce" is mostly about Leopold, but touches on several other aspects of the book (Molly's affair and Joyce's Author Avatar Stephen Dedalus).

William's Doll
  • "William's Doll" from the 1972 children's album Free to Be, You and Me and in turn its 1974 TV special is based on a book of the same name by Charlotte Zolotow.

Wuthering Heights
  • Kate Bush's song "Wuthering Heights" is from the perspective of Cathy asking for Heathcliff to let her into his house (with several hints that it's after she dies), and directly quotes the book at several points.

    Live-Action TV 

24


The Andy Griffith Show
Babylon 5
Blake's 7
  • Space One's song "Intergalactic Space Crusaders" is about Blake assembling his crew and their determination to fight back against the Federation, despite the hardships.

Boardwalk Empire
The Brady Bunch
Coronation Street
Dallas
Dexter
Doctor Who
Firefly
Fringe
Game of Thrones
  • Beige Lunatics made a tribute album An Album of Songs about Game of Thrones.
  • Nathan Cox's "Black and Yellow: Baratheon Edition" is an homage to the Baratheon brothers.
  • melosheep made a series of songs remixing lines from the series and setting them music in order to create songs that summarize the first 4 seasons. "The Dragon's Daughter" is season 1 (Jon joining the Night's Watch, Dany beginning her campaign against slavery, the start of the War of the Five Kings), "Save Our Sons" is season 2 (Jon meeting Ygritte beyond the Wall, Theon takes Winterfell, and the Battle of the Blackwater), "The Son of Fire" is season 3 (Stannis is told of Melisandre's prophecy, Joffery revels in being king, Robb pursues vengance for his father), and "Show Them to Freedom" is season 4 (Dany campaigns against slavery and solidifies herself as queen in exile, the Night's Watch defends Castle Black).
  • Not Literally's "A Character I Used to Know" is a parody of "Somebody I Used To Know" about the sheer amount of characters who got killed off in the first season of Game of Thrones.
  • "Bells" and "Blood and Snow" by [1] are both inspired by Game of Thrones.
  • "Only Us" by Miracle of Sound is about the Lannister twins.
  • Unsurprisingly, the lyrics of the power metal band Seven Kingdoms are mostly about the events of A Song of Ice and Fire.

Lost
MacGyver (1985)
  • Kiko Machine released a self-titled album where a handful of its songs are homages to several classic shows that aired on Philippine TV in The '80s and The '90s. On it, "McGyver" (deliberately misspelled on the CD label) is a tribute to MacGyver (1985).

The Mandalorian
Perry Mason
The Prisoner
  • Iron Maiden did two songs based on the show, "The Prisoner" (which downright samples the opening spiel) and "Back to the Village".

Sex Education
  • Pale Waves' "So Sick (Of Missing You)" is, according to the band's lead singer Heather Baron-Gracie, about the relationship between the show's main characters Maeve and Otis.

Star Trek
  • Eric Bogle's song called "Beam Me Up, Scotty!"
  • The Firm's "Star Trekkin" is an Affectionate Parody of the Star Trek: The Original Series, and is the originator of the phrase "It's life, but not as we know it" (which has subsequently been mistaken by many as a line from the actual show).
  • Leslie Fish's "Banned From Argo," an original song (and the old Trope Namer for what is now Persona Non Grata; see the lyrics here) describing what happened when the the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise went on shore leave on the planet of Argo, and the swath of destruction they left in their wake.
  • Actor Robert Picardo has written a fair number of songs about Star Trek: Voyager — which makes sense given that he was part of the main cast.
  • Most of the production of the now-defunct band S.P.O.C.K., if not all of it. Songs include Never Trust a Klingon, Neutral Zone, and Beam Me Up. In fact, it seems to have been the main point of the band.
    • Other Star Trek-themed bands include Warp Eleven, whose lyrics tend to be irreverent and raunchy, and Five Year Mission, who have written a song for almost every episode of the original series and provided music for the DS9 documentary What We Left Behind.
  • Space One's song "Songs of the Ocean" is about Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, with the 'songs of the ocean' being the whale songs that the probe is seeking.
  • Voltaire has the entire album Banned on Vulcan, which has four tracks: "Worf's Revenge (Klingon Rap)" (a Gangsta Rap-esque song about Worf),"The U.S.S. Make Shit Up" (mocks the series's use of technobabble), "The Sexy Data Tango" (a song about Data being... 'fully functional and anatomically correct'), and "Screw the Ocampa! (I Wanna Go Home)" (about the crew of Voyager being sick of the Delta Quadrant).

Takeshi's Castle
  • Kiko Machine released a self-titled album where a handful of its songs are homages to several classic shows that aired on Philippine TV in The '80s and The '90s. On it, "Takeshi" is a tribute to Takeshi's Castle.

The Twilight Zone (1959)
Twin Peaks
  • Bastille's "Laura Palmer" is about the death of the small-town prom queen that kicks off the events of the show.

Xena: Warrior Princess

    Mythology & Religion 
Arthurian Legend
Norse Mythology
  • Der Ring Des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung) by Richard Wagner, which is a series of four interconnected operas drawing on Norse Myth to tell an interconnected story. It's considered to be one of the most thematically and musically complex operas existing.
  • Sundown: Whispers of Ragnarok by Sassafrass is a concept album based on the Norse myths concerning the creation and destruction of the world.

    Tabletop Games 
BattleTech
Dungeons & Dragons
Paranoia

    Toys 
Tamagotchi

Transformers

    Theatre 
Lady in the Dark
Madame Butterfly
  • "Madame Butterfly" by Malcolm McLaren is, needless to say, based on the Puccini opera of the same name.
  • Weezer's Pinkerton is a Concept Album about Madame Butterfly.

    Video Games 
Angry Birds
  • BSHAP's Angry Birds Rap gives a basic rundown of the original game, explaining the basic story and birds introduced during the time.

Blaseball


Dark Souls
Deep Rock Galactic
Detroit: Become Human
Elden Ring
The Elder Scrolls
Gears of War
God of War
  • "Even Gods Cry" by The Turtlenecks, written from Kratos' point of view. It seems rather out of place on an album mostly populated with grunge-metal tributes, although it's clear from the lyrics that it's at least somewhat parodic.

The Great Giana Sisters
Hollow Knight
Jet Set Willy
The Legend of Zelda
Mario
Mega Man
  • The Megas's songs are almost all adaptations of instrumental songs from the Mega Man games, with lyrics added to explore the thoughts and feelings of the characters and to expand on the (sometimes thin) narrative of the first few games.
  • The Protomen, a heavy metal-industrial-country band from Nashville, whose song catalog is based around a Rock Opera adaptation of Mega Man (Classic).

Metroid
The Outer Worlds
  • The Stupendium's song "The Fine Print" is about how much it sucks to live under the hyper-capitalist society The Outer Worlds takes place in.

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
  • Shortly after leaving Outside Xbox, Luke Westaway wrote and released an album titled "Perilous Times"—which features songs dedicated to all 18 Sekiro bosses.

Super Smash Bros.
  • Starbomb's song titled simply "Smash" is about the game, with Luigi lampshading how messed up it feels to be beating up his friends.

Team Fortress 2
  • Hannah M.'s "Human Shield", written from Heavy's point of view, is about his affection for Medic, in a way that could be interpreted as either Heterosexual Life-Partners, or an outright declaration of love.

Touhou Project


World of Warcraft


Zero Wing
  • Big Zig & The Cats set the famous "All Your Base are Belong To Us" intro text to the tune of Edward Elgar's "Pomp & Circumstance No. 1".

    Web Animation 
RWBY

    Webcomics 

Achewood

  • "Here Comes a Special Boy" by Freezepop is all about Philippe.

Narbonic
Homestuck
  • Broadwaystuck is album by a group of fans by the same name which covered various pop songs with lyrics rewritten to related to Homestuck characters. The most well-known of these is "Karkalicious", based off of "Fergalicious" by Fergie.
  • Kylee Henke's "You Can't Fight the Homestuck" is based on "We Didn't Start the Fire" and does an impressive job of listing off the many, many bizarre and often incomprehensible-out-of-context plot threads in the comic.
  • Unofficial MSPA Fans are a group of fans who have released numerous full albums of fan music based on Homestuck. These range from the Land of Fans and Music albums (which are mostly remixes or original instrumental compositions that heavily sample official songs) to SBURB OST (a soundtrack for the in-story videogame SBURB).

    Western Animation 
The Flintstones
Hazbin Hotel
  • "ADDICT" is an electropop song by Silva Hound and sung by Michael Kovach, the pilot voice of Angel Dust, and Kelly "Chi-Chi" Boyer, the pilot singing voice of Cherri Bomb. It is a duet between Angel and Cherri and how they cope with the cruel world around them with drugs, sex, and mayhem.
  • "Insane" is made by Gabriel "Black Gryph0n" Brown, the pilot singing voice of Alastor. The song features the Radio Demon himself singing about his initial arrival in Hell and his subsequent rise to power as one of Hell's most feared Overlords.
  • "Watch 'Em All Burn" is a song made by RUSTAGE and Jonathan Young, done as an alternative Villain Song for Season One Arc Villain Adam.

My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic
Steven Universe
  • Jakeneutron's Fan Music ''Only One Way'' takes place in Steven's Nightmare, an AU where Steven shatters White Diamond and becomes a Fallen Hero. The song itself is an antithesis to Change, a song about Spinel can change for the better. "One Way Out" is Steven's Motive Rant justifying his downward spiral leading him to change for the worse, and shatter the Diamonds before going on a rampage which destroys Homeworld. When Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl find Steven and hoping to bring him him and help him, Steven decides he'll destroy the Crystal Gems if they oppose him too.

 
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Alternative Title(s): Fan Song

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"Bedrock Anthem"

"Weird Al" Yankovic's "Bedrock Anthem" is a style parody of Red Hot Chili Peppers about his desire to live like The Flintstones family does and playfully mocks the ridiculousness of the cartoon as he hypes up how great it is to live in Bedrock.

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