r/Music • u/Fallingbike • 8h ago
discussion Musical name drop chain - longest chain possible?
Last night my brother and I were trying to come up with the longest musical name drop chain. This would be where a song by a musician or band mentions another artist. In turn, that artist mentions a third musical act and so on. (E.g. Hootie & the Blowfish “Only Want to Be With You” to Bob Dylan “Highlands” to Neil Young to …?)
What’s the longest or best chains? Any infinite loops?
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u/MisterBigDude 6h ago
This isn't longer than the one you mentioned, and I'm not sure it's exactly what you're looking for, but it came to my mind.
In "Sweet Home Alabama," Lynyrd Skynyrd sang: "Well, I hope Neil Young will remember, a southern man don't need him around anyhow" (referring to his song "Southern Man").
In "Play It All Night Long," Warren Zevon sang: "Sweet Home Alabama, play that dead band's song." (So he didn't name the band, but it's a clear reference to Skynyrd.)
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u/Fallingbike 4h ago edited 4h ago
I’d suggest the order would be Warren Zevon “Play it All Night Long” to Lynard Skynyrd “Sweet Home Alabama” then link to Neil Young “Downtown” onward to Led Zepplin … “Boogie With Stu”, maybe? That song mentions “tutti frutti “ which brings it round to Little Richard.
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u/4737CarlinSir 3h ago
David Bowie mentions TRex (All the Young Dudes) , who mentions Bob Dylan (Ballrooms of Mars), who mentions Alicia Keys (Thinder on the Mountain), who mentions Jimi Hendrix (Unbreakable).
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u/cloudstrifeuk 2h ago
Bowie wrote all the young dudes, but it was recorded by Mott The Hoople.
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u/bamsuckah 1h ago
Bowie also released his own version
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u/cloudstrifeuk 47m ago
Yes, 23 years after the original recording.
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u/4737CarlinSir 8m ago
Mott the Hoople might be better here, as Queen mentioned them in 'Now I'm Here'
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u/DoctorSelfDestruct 7h ago
Not sure this exactly applies to your question, but the song Revolution Man by The Union Underground has tons of Beatles callouts.
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u/Fallingbike 6h ago edited 6h ago
It does, but it doesn’t go too far. No call outs from the Beatles come to mind, so it’s a 2-link chain. How could we leverage a call out to Sargent Pepper?
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u/MooseMalloy 6h ago
You should be able to patch Reunion’s Life is a Rock (But The Radio Rolled Me) into nearly any chain.
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u/Fallingbike 6h ago
That’s a good one, but I don’t know that anyone name drops Reunion the band. It would have to be the start of the chain, but sooo many jumping off points from there.
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u/Fuzzy_Welcome8348 4h ago
Dr. Dre drops Eminem in "Forgot About Dre".
Eminem drops Jay-Z in "Till I Collapse" ("It goes Reggie, Jay-Z, 2Pac and Biggie...").
Jay-Z drops Dr. Dre in "Izzo (H.O.V.A.)" ("Streets is demanding, "Danny, damn it's shorty!" / Drew Ha, Dr. Dre, whatup to Ma$e")
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u/stratdog25 8h ago
I think Duncan Sheik’s “That says it all” could be at the top of any of these and branch out thusly.
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u/Fallingbike 7h ago edited 7h ago
That’s cool. Didn’t know that song before but it’s got a ton of name drops. Could work like a spoke-and-hub type loop.
One thing we had observed is that Bob Dylan and James Brown have a ton of name drops, but they don’t do many themselves ( Highlands being the only one that comes to my mind)
Edit: typo and link
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u/BrotherItsInTheDrum 7h ago
I think rap might be the way to go. One infinite loop that immediately came to mind: Dr Dre mentions Eminem in Still DRE, and Eminem mentions Dre in Forgot About Dre.
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u/Fallingbike 6h ago
That’s cool. Self-referential infinite loop.
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u/BrotherItsInTheDrum 5h ago
Heh, yeah I guess Dre mentioning himself is technically an infinite loop too.
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u/Longey 8h ago
don't bullshit me with the "metal" shit. It's as metal as aluminum.
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u/crustysock69 6h ago
Slow Jams?