Stop trying to make "What's the dillio?" happen: Songs that hitch their wagon to slang of the moment

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A sign of crass desperation, or a charming time capsule? TS: "Feelin' Groovy" versus "No Scrubs." Obviously there are gray areas (like the TLC song) where it's hard to say whether the song is trying to promulgate never-before-used slang (the Urban Dictionary/Fetch effect) or just cashing in on briefly-in-vogue sayings, a la "Mabel (She's The Bomb)." Anyway, share your favorite examples.

Thread dedicated, of course, to "What's the Dillio?" by Mest:

She was just my friend and now I want more
There's something special to her she's not just another whore
I said
What's the D D D Dillio, Dillio
What's the D D D Deal Deal, Deal
What's the D D D Dillio, Dillio
What's the D D D Da DEAL

Doctor Casino, Thursday, 24 July 2008 01:51 (fifteen years ago) link

http://cdn.last.fm/coverart/300x300/22145.jpg

and what, Thursday, 24 July 2008 01:53 (fifteen years ago) link

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/92/OLIVIA_-_OLIVIA.jpg

7. "Whoadie" (featuring Petey Pablo)

Whiney G. Weingarten, Thursday, 24 July 2008 02:20 (fifteen years ago) link

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41Y42YX5DRL._SL500_AA240_.jpg

Mr. Snrub, Thursday, 24 July 2008 02:48 (fifteen years ago) link

i'm sure in 5 years, Honky Tonk Badonkadonk will qualify.

Bo Jackson Overdrive, Thursday, 24 July 2008 03:19 (fifteen years ago) link

haha, yes, Hella Good is a fantastic example!

Doctor Casino, Thursday, 24 July 2008 16:50 (fifteen years ago) link

which came first: knockin da boots or knocking da boots?

forksclovetofu, Thursday, 24 July 2008 16:56 (fifteen years ago) link

oh and on the Hella Good tip:

http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/I/518JQY245QL._AA240_.jpg

Doctor Casino, Thursday, 24 July 2008 17:01 (fifteen years ago) link

Man, remember when every parent wanted to build jokes around confusion over whether something was "bad" 'cause it was bad or "bad" 'cause it was good?

Doctor Casino, Thursday, 24 July 2008 17:02 (fifteen years ago) link

And when I say stupid, I mean stupid, not fresh.

Oilyrags, Thursday, 24 July 2008 17:05 (fifteen years ago) link

Lol phat is a compliment

Oilyrags, Thursday, 24 July 2008 17:05 (fifteen years ago) link

http://z.about.com/d/rap/1/0/N/1/-/-/NellyHotinHerre.jpg

lex pretend, Thursday, 24 July 2008 17:07 (fifteen years ago) link

i feel like as this thread goes on we're getting more and more into songs that invented or popularized a slang term, as opposed to actually hitching their wagon to a term already in use.

some dude, Thursday, 24 July 2008 17:10 (fifteen years ago) link

Yeah. I feel like there's got to be a bunch of pop-punk songs that do this, but I'm not well-versed in pop-punk.

jaymc, Thursday, 24 July 2008 17:12 (fifteen years ago) link

...'nothe Beach Boys...
http://www.progboard.com/graphx/covers/4210.jpg

christoff, Thursday, 24 July 2008 17:14 (fifteen years ago) link

http://hitparade.ch/cdimages/bloodhound_gang-fire_water_burn_s.jpg

Hello my name is Jimmy Pop and I'm a dumb white guy
I'm not old or new but middle school fifth grade like junior high
I don't know mofo if y'all peeps be buggin' givin' props to my ho 'cause she fly
But I can take the heat 'cause I'm the other white meat known as Kid Funky Fried

jaymc, Thursday, 24 July 2008 17:18 (fifteen years ago) link

"My way or the highway" certainly existed before Limp Bizkit, but it wasn't popular either...I wonder if attempting to revive hopelessly outmoded slang counts for something.

Was there ever a song based around "...NOT!" ?

Doctor Casino, Thursday, 24 July 2008 20:03 (fifteen years ago) link

Hollaback is a mild version of this.

God I can still summon that Mest song in my memory, I cannot think of a more annoying fucking song.

call all destroyer, Thursday, 24 July 2008 20:07 (fifteen years ago) link

Was there ever a song based around "...NOT!" ?

-- Doctor Casino, Thursday, July 24, 2008 4:03 PM (9 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

"Waffle King," recorded in 1990, was originally supposed to appear on "Weird Al" Yankovic's album Off the Deep End. However, by the time the recording of the parodies for the Off the Deep End album began, Al had written all the original songs that were to appear on his next album. Because he was concerned that one of the jokes from the song "I was Only Kidding" might be played out by the time Alapalooza would finally be released (A reference to the movie Wayne's World with the line "I really love you-- NOT!"), he recorded "I Was Only Kidding" and included it on Off the Deep End in place of "Waffle King". "Waffle King" was instead used as the b-side of the Smells Like Nirvana single.

some dude, Thursday, 24 July 2008 20:15 (fifteen years ago) link

The Isley Brothers--I Turned You On

Sockittome!

kornrulez6969, Thursday, 24 July 2008 20:30 (fifteen years ago) link

"Sock it to me" is all over the place - the Monkees' "Goin' Down" and "Get On Up" by the Esquires come swiftly to mind.

Doctor Casino, Thursday, 24 July 2008 21:50 (fifteen years ago) link

http://bp2.blogger.com/_Zj-n6R9PKAo/R-8At6JScHI/AAAAAAAAAps/eCcdVqbbBbQ/s400/KOOL+&THE+GANG+FRESH.jpg

not sure if that link will work but it's Kool and the Gang's "Fresh". I'm pretty sure that slang was around before the song.

Euler, Thursday, 24 July 2008 21:55 (fifteen years ago) link

even as a bad boy fan its still hard to hear rakim going "you know its jiggy when you hear the sound" on the hook to "guess who's back"

and what, Thursday, 24 July 2008 23:14 (fifteen years ago) link

Can't find a good image for it, but Gene Chandler, "Groovy Situation"

Joseph McCombs, Friday, 25 July 2008 05:30 (fifteen years ago) link

two weeks pass...

The proverbial nail-in-your-creative-coffin.

soundofair, Sunday, 10 August 2008 00:14 (fifteen years ago) link

lol @ "Waffle King"

Curt1s Stephens, Sunday, 10 August 2008 00:39 (fifteen years ago) link

was my way or the highway popular pre-RESERVOIR DOGS?

piscesx, Sunday, 10 August 2008 01:35 (fifteen years ago) link

wasn't that a quote from patrick swayze's roadhouse?

stevie, Tuesday, 12 August 2008 09:23 (fifteen years ago) link

one year passes...

Can't believe I forgot "Mable (She's The Bomb)" by Goldfinger.

Doctor Casino, Sunday, 6 September 2009 15:40 (fourteen years ago) link

Sk8ter Boi

The Loneliness of the Single-Issue Googler (los blue jeans), Sunday, 6 September 2009 17:02 (fourteen years ago) link

Bitchin' Camaro

Pullman/Paxton Revolving Bills (Pillbox), Sunday, 6 September 2009 18:12 (fourteen years ago) link

was my way or the highway popular pre-RESERVOIR DOGS?

"my way or the highway" was the title of a Y&T song from the mid-eighties and was around long before that.

steampig67, Monday, 7 September 2009 11:43 (fourteen years ago) link

I am pretty sure that "Bitchin' Camaro" was done ironically with the same intent as this thread!

Cave17Matt, Monday, 7 September 2009 11:49 (fourteen years ago) link

here y'all go:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzYPtNf2cG8

Doctor Casino, Monday, 7 September 2009 12:48 (fourteen years ago) link

hahahahahahahahahahaha omg hahahahahahahahahaha

Cave17Matt, Monday, 7 September 2009 13:02 (fourteen years ago) link

NICE.

Must be tons of surf songs (and things from other subcultures that produce lots of bands) that do this. Pearl Jam cover some Nuggets-y song called "Gremmie Out Of Control," revolving around the term "gremmie," which I guess signifies an inept, wannabe surfer...

Doctor Casino, Monday, 7 September 2009 13:37 (fourteen years ago) link

I am pretty sure that "Bitchin' Camaro" was done ironically with the same intent as this thread! - still counts

Seems like this is even worse when your band name is slang-derived, esp. when it is lame slang that never really caught on to begin with. Next thing you know, you're trying to release your very serious Buddhist-themed sixth album, titled The Earth, The Sun, The Rain, but your band is still named fucking Color Me Badd:

http://blog.cleveland.com/andone/2008/10/color%20me%20badd.jpg

Pullman/Paxton Revolving Bills (Pillbox), Monday, 7 September 2009 15:18 (fourteen years ago) link

Eddy Arnold - "Hep Cat Baby"
Edd Byrnes - "Kookie's Mad Pad"

The Loneliness of the Single-Issue Googler (los blue jeans), Monday, 7 September 2009 22:42 (fourteen years ago) link

five years pass...

"Trap Queen"

Mr. Snrub, Saturday, 4 April 2015 21:41 (nine years ago) link

Jay-Z & Kanye West - "H.A.M."

Doctor Casino, Friday, 10 April 2015 13:55 (nine years ago) link

"can't trust thots"

katherine, Friday, 10 April 2015 14:51 (nine years ago) link

"What's the dillio?", which is my last name with one vowel changed, was a bit of a problem for me when I was substitute teaching in the early '90s.

clemenza, Friday, 10 April 2015 14:59 (nine years ago) link

did nobody upthread mention "Pretty Fly (for a white guy")

bernard snowy, Friday, 10 April 2015 15:00 (nine years ago) link

"think i need a ginger ale / that was such an epic fail" (katy perry)

billstevejim, Friday, 10 April 2015 15:46 (nine years ago) link

The Chainsmokers, "#SELFIE"

jaymc, Friday, 10 April 2015 15:47 (nine years ago) link

hmmm some of this slang has transcended 'the moment' tbh

dyl, Friday, 10 April 2015 16:12 (nine years ago) link

this is a very embarrassing thread to look back on

lex pretend, Friday, 10 April 2015 16:13 (nine years ago) link

Xpost sure, but nobody knows that at the moment of hitching the wagon!

Doctor Casino, Friday, 10 April 2015 21:53 (nine years ago) link

i heard a middle aged white guy say "what's the dillio" recently and suddenly felt very nostalgic for the period when Busta Rhymes was hugely famous

some stupid push back (some dude), Friday, 10 April 2015 22:00 (nine years ago) link

"Trap Queen"

― Mr. Snrub, Saturday, April 4, 2015 5:41 PM (6 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

"trap queen" is a phrase particular to that song and is treated more as a premise than a catchphrase, and "trap" has been peppered across platinum albums and hit songs consistently over the past decade with no signs of going away anytime soon, so poor example

some stupid push back (some dude), Friday, 10 April 2015 22:02 (nine years ago) link

"What's the dillio?", which is my last name with one vowel changed, was a bit of a problem for me when I was substitute teaching in the early '90s.

― clemenza, Friday, April 10, 2015 7:59 AM (7 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Clemenza Whetsthedillio

difficult listening hour, Friday, 10 April 2015 22:37 (nine years ago) link

Funny...Last name: Dellio. (My anonymity on here's worth about two cents.)

clemenza, Friday, 10 April 2015 23:04 (nine years ago) link

one year passes...

New Tove Lo album to thread

boxedjoy, Sunday, 15 January 2017 22:20 (seven years ago) link

three years pass...

P.O.D. - Boom (2001) - specifically "Here comes the boom"

Doctor Casino, Sunday, 23 August 2020 17:37 (three years ago) link

this is THE “here comes the boom”


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzlFEZir684

brimstead, Sunday, 23 August 2020 18:29 (three years ago) link

hard to dispute that, tbh. maybe if P.O.D. had recruited Sean Paul or Mr. Vegas, it'd be a fair fight, but DMX's commitment to the title is tough to overcome.

Doctor Casino, Sunday, 30 August 2020 17:15 (three years ago) link

wow. in case of YouTube decay, that's MC Hammer's 2006 release, "Hyphy, Dumb, Buck, Krump," which is a pretty incredible title for this thread. the backing track is also very blatantly trying to get on the crunk bandwagon. great find.

Doctor Casino, Sunday, 30 August 2020 18:15 (three years ago) link

he was always trying to jump on some bandwagon, but that seemed to be the closest he got to getting on one during its zeitgeist!

sorry for not labeling, thanks for jumping on that :)

pass the cur's dossier (Neanderthal), Sunday, 30 August 2020 18:18 (three years ago) link

one year passes...

dancery

Mr. Snrub, Friday, 8 April 2022 23:31 (two years ago) link

New rosalia album is borrowing and popularizing “saoko” as a word at least in meme culture, as well as “motomami” which afaik is made up.

✖✖✖ (Moka), Tuesday, 12 April 2022 04:28 (two years ago) link


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