Well, Oktoberfest is well underway and so the thoughts of many have turned to drinking. Unlike an earlier blog I posted on references to drinking in pop music, today's post focuses on songs in the Billboard year-end Top 30 charts, instead of only the Top 10, and, more importantly, it focuses only on variants of "beer" in the collection. Such variants include not only the word beer but references to brands, such as Bud and Crooked Ides, and containers often associated with beer, such as pint and forty. The full set of variants, and the proportion that each was used, is illustrated in the figure below.

Figure 1: "Beer" variants and their relative use compared to each one another in songs from the Billboard year-end Top 30 charts (1951-2015) (Lamont Antieau, wordwatching.org)

As my earlier post on drinking references in pop music showed, there has been an increase in references to variants of "beer" in pop songs since its first use, especially in the last two decades, although they still appear relatively infrequently, as shown in the figure below:

Figure 2. Number of songs mentioning beer or its variants in the Billboard year-end Top 30 charts (1951-2015) (Lamont Antieau, wordwatching.org) — Figure 2. Number of songs mentioning *beer* or its variants in the Billboard year-end Top 30 charts (1951-2015) (Lamont Antieau, wordwatching.org)

Videos of "beer" songs uncovered by my analysis are posted below (in chronological order).

The original video from that classic album released by Paul McCartney and Wings

Climax Blues Band - I love you 1981 When I was younger man I hadn't a care Foolin' around, hittin' the town, growing my hair You came along and stole my heart when you entered my life Ooh babe you got what it takes so I made you my wife

Men At Work's official music video for 'Down Under'. Click to listen to Men At Work on Spotify: http://smarturl.it/MenAtWorkSpotify?IQid=MenAWDU As featured on Contraband: The Best of Men At Work.

Puff Daddy Can't Hold me down. This is a hot hot song one of my fav... Stubbs production http://www.reverbnation.com/controller/widget_code/player_widget_popup/artist_2128672

pitbull- i know you..

Ke$ha's official music video for 'Tik Tok'. Click to listen to Ke$ha on Spotify: http://smarturl.it/KeshaSpot?IQid=KeshTik As featured on Animal.

P!nk's official music video for 'F**kin' Perfect'. Click to listen to P!nk on Spotify: http://smarturl.it/PSpot?IQid=PFP As featured on Greatest Hits...So Far!!!.

Music video by Nicki Minaj performing Starships (Explicit) #VEVOCertified on Dec. 23, 2012. http://vevo.com/certified http://youtube.com/vevocertified Buy It Now! iTunes - http://bit.ly/NickiRomanitunesDeluxe Amazon - http://bit.ly/NickiRomanAmazondeluxe © 2012 Cash Money Records/Young Money Ent./Universal Rec.

And now for a few "beer" songs not appearing in my Top 30 collection:

Very rare Hank Williams recording, unreleased during his life. The song expresses Hank's deep feelings inside about loneliness and his hard truth about alcoholism, not knowing when to quit. A great track, only played by Hank on his guitar. In the early 1990's Hank Jr had a big hit with it, 'tecnical duetting' his father.

ZZ Top (from Houston, Texas - formed in 1969) with " beer drinkers and hellraisers " - Live Germany - Rockpalast April 19./20 1980 (WDR) * re-uploaded video after account deletion... (on my first channel: MikeNadi, 2007-2011) Billy Gibbons - voc. / guit Dusty Hill - voc.

Donate