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⇱ Villain Song - TV Tropes


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Villain Song

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β™« From the brain that brought you the Big Ben Caper,
The head that made headlines in every newspaper! β™«
"Oh no. When the bad guy is that happy, it always, always means... BAD GUY SONG!"

The Villain Song is an over-the-top, gloating cackle about their Evil Plan, philosophy of life, or why they do what they do (their leitmotive?). Said philosophy is usually that the world is there for the taking, or that the world has wronged them and they will take revenge, or that they just like hurting people and nobody is going to stop them. The villain usually gets lots of eye candy to go with their song β€” live performers will dance up a storm, while animated villains will get pyrotechnics all around them. If they don't get huge visuals, it better damn well be because the song itself steals the show, and trying to distract from that with a lot of flashy visuals is just asking for a chandelier to fall on someone. This song is usually delivered in a minor key and typically features dramatic evidence of the villain's evil nature, such as playful abuse of loyal minions, taunting of prisoners, or random destruction of incidental locations of the villain's secret lair, usually for the purpose of abusing minions or taunting prisoners.

The nuttier the villain is, the better the song is. The Barnum (see "Master of the House" from Les MisΓ©rables) and the Straw Nihilist (see "Epiphany" from Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street) get particularly good ones.

This song is almost always a measure of how important the villain is. If the villain has one, they'll get equal billing with the hero, and will probably steal the show. If they don't (e.g. Dr. Carrasco in Man of La Mancha, Charlie Cowell in The Music Man), they're not very important to the plot, and nobody qualifies as the Big Bad. Villains can get other songs where they pretend to be nice, but if they don't get at least one song to strut their villainy, they're (usually) not important (the big exception being villains who successfully offer a Deal with the Devil: There, the hidden malice and seductiveness is usually the point of the song anyway).

Occasionally followed up by an Evil Laugh and/or a Fade Around the Eyes immediately, and a Dark Reprise later on.

Depending on genre, it can overlap with Creepy Jazz Music, Rotten Rock & Roll, Freaky Electronic Music, Sinister Tango Music, Ominous Latin Chanting, and Ominous Pipe Organ. It is by no means limited to these genres, though.

Compare Villain Love Song (where the villain sings about their admiration towards an object of affection, which can overlap), "The Villain Sucks" Song (which is sung about the villain by someone else), Rock Me, Asmodeus! (the devil directly involved in rock & roll), and Hero vs. Villain Duet (in which the hero sings with the villain while confronting them).

Contrast No Song for the Wicked. Now has its own Wiki.πŸ‘ Image

Disney has had so many examples that they get their own page. All examples from media by Disney go there, while all the other pages are strictly for non-Disney examples from the media they cover.

Please note that just because a song is sung by a villain, doesn't necessarily make it a Villain Song. The Phantom of the Opera may have a showstopper in the form of "The Music of the Night", but he doesn't use it to gloat over his villainy. Villain Songs don't have to be personally sung by the villain either (see the title song from Spaceballs), though exceptions are fairly rare outside examples of "The Villain Sucks" Song.

noreallife


Examples subpages:

Other Examples:

    open/close all folders 
    Advertising 
  • Louie the Fly: Starting with ads in the 1960s, Australian insect repellent brand Mortein gave a Villain Song for their Talking Pest of a mascot.
    Louie the Fly, I'm Louie the Fly, straight from rubbish-tip to you!
    Spreading disease with the greatest of ease, straight from rubbish-tip to you!
    I'm bad and mean and very unclean, afraid of no one, except the man with the can of Mortein.
    Hate that word, Mortein!
  • Magic: The Gathering advertised Streets of New Capenna with a song for each of its demonic mafia crime families.
  • Raid Insecticide Campaign: In Argentina, a seriesπŸ‘ Image
    ofπŸ‘ Image
    fourπŸ‘ Image
    adsπŸ‘ Image
    depicted bugs gloating about what they did in the house to the tune of popular songs. However, the songs had "Raid" as their very last word, causing the singer's fellow bugs to scream it in terror before dying in an explosion as expected of such ads.
    Comedy 
    Comic Books 
    Literature 
  • Some of the Captain Future books have a few lines from the Space Pirates' anthem:
    From Mercury to Pluto,
    From Saturn back to Mars,
    We’ll fight and sail and blaze our trail
    In crimson through the stars!
    We’ll cram our holds with plunder
    From every world and moon...
  • The Goblins' songs in The Hobbit. Justified by the fact that everyone sings at some point or other in the novel, and, to a lesser extent, its sequel The Lord of the Rings, but also justified by the fact that music has great power in Middle-earth.
  • The closest thing to one in the Left Behind books is Nicolae Carpathia's self-indulgent national anthem "Hail Carpathia", which gets twisted by Buck Williams into "The Villain Sucks" Song "Fail Carpathia".
  • The Mental State: While more of an Anti-Hero than a straight-out villain, Zack performs a rendition of Alice Cooper's 'No More Mr. Nice Guy' while imagining all the changes he is going to implement to the prison he now has complete control over.
  • H. P. Lovecraft wrote a poem titled "NemesisπŸ‘ Image
    " from the perspective of an ancient, sinister Eldritch Abomination. (Now with a musical versionπŸ‘ Image
    to the tune of Billy Joel's "Piano Man"!)
  • Peter Pan: An Older Than Radio example, given that the pirates have a habit of bursting into song (probably a holdover from the original stage production):
    Avast belay, yo ho, heave to
    A pirating we go!
    And if we're parted by a shot
    We're sure to meet below!
  • Shows up a lot in Redwall. Triss has three ("That's The Freebootin' Way", "'Tis Nice To Be A Villain" and "Plunder, By Thunder").
    • In Rakkety Tam, the villains sing a let's-get-frenzied song, which the audio book sets to a heavy beat and bass guitar.
    • In Marlfox. "Who be death? We be death! Dis de blade wot stop your breath!"
    • There are Flinky's many songs in Loamhedge. All of them are great, but the darkest is the "Vermin Lullaby", which was a normal lullaby at first, before it suddenly got Darker and Edgier in the second chorus.
    "So hush now, lullaby, foxy close yer eyes, and you'll soon make lovely vittles, for the ants and flies". Squick.
  • A Song of Ice and Fire: "And who are you, the proud lord said, that I must bow so low..." You know Lord Tywin Lannister is badass when, in Westeros of all places, he has his own theme tune, The Rains of Castamere. It is about how, while still a young man, he wiped out Houses Reyne and Tarbeck for rebelling against the Lannisters. When it was played to another rebellious Lord they reconsidered their position. Later it is used as the signal for the Red Wedding, when enemies of the Lannisters and thousands of their troops are massacred.
  • The Star Trek novel How Much for Just the Planet?, being a rather... different... Trek story, features "My Own Sweet Tyrannical Way", sung by Queen Janeka. Having captured Sulu, McCoy, and a pair of Klingons, she launches into a high-kicking musical number about what a pain in the ass is it to be a barbarian queen in these crazy modern times... her litany of complaints include an uncomfortable Chainmail Bikini, dodging Klingon Promotion attempts, keeping a rowdy barbarian horde under control, and paying the heating bill for the Underground Lair. Though in the end, she concludes it's totally Worth It, since the Evulz are too much fun to give up.
  • "The Robber's Song" from the Norwegian children's book (and later play) When the Robbers came to Cardamum Town by ThorbjΓΈrn Egner is the three titular, not very villainous, robbers, Kasper, Jesper and Jonatan, singing about their nightly exploits. Due to the popularity of the book and the clever lyrics, the song is known by pretty much everyone in Norway, Denmark and Sweden:
    We sneak around on tip-toed feet
    when we are going robbing.
    We only rob whate'er we need,
    it's our way of shopping.
    Now darkness lies across the land
    the town is sleeping to a man,
    and we're going robbing with bags in our hands,
    we are Kasper and Jesper and Jonatan.
  • The Witches: The Grand High Witch and her followers sang the song "Down with Children" as they expressed excitedly at the thought of children turned mice being killed.
    Pro Wrestling 
    Puppet Shows 
    Web Animation 
  • The Amazing Digital Circus has "The One Who's Running the Show"πŸ‘ Image
    sung by Caine as the series' only song, which is entirely diegetic as he uses his Virtual-Reality Warper powers to put on a cheery music number as he tortures the cast for insulting him. The end of the song has him standing atop their dismembered bodies before the music cuts out to dead silence for the rest of the scene, hammering home the song as a sadistic demonstration of his power over the cast. He even makes a reference to series inspiration I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream in the lyrics to emphasize how much he's become like AM, the character who originally inspired him.
    Caine: Seems our regime has plummeted south. Don't need to scream, if you ain't got a mouth!
  • Played for Laughs in asdfmovie12, with a nameless potted flower joyfully singing as he strolls down a road... about how he's going to eat human skin.
  • Parodied in Beauty and the Beast (Phelous).
    • Wabuu plays the role of Gaston from Disney's Beauty and the Beast, so at one point some characters in the tavern attempt to sing the song "Gaston" but with Wabuu's name. Due to their grating voices and lack of musical accompaniment, it sounds terrible, and the "song" is over after just a few seconds. Wabuu is not pleased.
    Wabuu: That was it? That song was soooo lame!
    • A few minutes later, Wuschel is singing the song again, but Wabuu tells him it's too late now and shoots him.
    Wabuu: It's too late to suck up through song now, Wuschel!
  • Camp Camp: The second season's opener has Daniel's half of "Better Than You," where Daniel finally drops his charismatic Nice Guy act and reveals the true depths of his evil, openly gloating to David about how he intends to poison and sacrifice the children of Camp Campbell whilst simultaneously sticking it to David about how he's so much greater than him, both as a person and a camp counselor.
  • DEATH BATTLE!:
  • Epithet Erased has a few:
  • Hazbin Hotel has Alastor's Dark Reprise of Charlie's earlier Inside Every Demon is a Rainbow, where he uses her tune to sing about how sinners can't actually be redeemed and Charlie's endeavor is pointless.
  • Homestar Runner:
  • With Inanimate Insanity Season 2 having several elements of an animated musical in the second half of the season, naturally the two villains of the seasons would have their own villain songs.
    • Taco’s Tirade, albeit closer to a Villainous Lament, has the titular character bemoaning her destroyed relationships and how she’s beyond redemption, as well as offering a peek into her motivations.
    • The Future Is So Yesterday serves as one for Steve Cobs, giving an ode to his evil ambitions and the more sinister plans he uses Meeple for.
  • FilmCow's "Make Me SmileπŸ‘ Image
    ", sung by a psychotic anthropomorphic ferret definitely counts. It's a cheerful, jaunty tune that features holocaust denial, a pro eugenics attitude, molestation, murder and cannibalism. It's absolutely hilarious.
  • Dr. Strangeglove's Music VideoπŸ‘ Image
    from the online networking site, Moshi Monsters.
  • Ollie & Scoops: In "Old Crumplecranks," the titular character sings a jazz number introducing himself to Poopsie and Rudy, with lyrics about how dangerous he is, and how he plans to kill the two cats.
  • Ratboy Genius: Little King John sings two in RBG Dreams Minecraft:
    • After kidnapping Summer, he sings the creepy Potato KnishesπŸ‘ Image
      song, although it's more about the things he makes in his factory than about how evil he is.
    • However, he later got another oneπŸ‘ Image
      in the first Interlude, largely about stealing Happyman's factory for himself.
  • The extended version of The Electric Cheese YouTube Poop Robotnik gives Sally the AIDsπŸ‘ Image
    adds the songs "Still Monitor His Every Move" and "Make Sure He's Finished", both performed by Sonic the Hedgehog (SatAM) Robotnik by way of a Voice Clip Song.
  • RWBY:
    • "When It Falls"πŸ‘ Image
      , the opening theme of Volume 3, is either from Cinder or Salem's perspective, and describes how the world will fall and innocents will perish in massive quantities. The singer goes on to blame the subject (likely Ozpin) for the death and destruction that will befall their people, and how division and disharmony will be rampant in this new Dystopia.
    • "I'm the One"πŸ‘ Image
      plays during Emerald and Mercury's tournament battle against Coco and Yatsuhashi. The song is sung from the perspective of Emerald and Mercury, talking about how their pasts have placed their combat and Semblance abilities far above those of their opponents. Some of the smack-talking and boasting in the song coincide with dialogue and actions that occur during the fight. Coco and Yatsuhashi, who are considered some of Beacon Academy's star fighters, are completely curb-stomped by the villainous duo, confirming how dangerous Emerald and Mercury are to student-level fighters.
    • "Divide"πŸ‘ Image
      first plays during the ending of the Volume 3 finale, which introduces the Big Bad, Salem. During the show's pilot episode and the final episode of Volume 3, Salem gives a long speech about the origin of legends and humanity, and how Ozpin's correct to consider humanity stronger when it unites. She boasts of her plan to divide humanity and destroy everything that Ozpin has worked for, concluding that she can't wait to watch him burn. The song "Divide" takes its lyrics from Salem's two speeches, also ending with the desire to watch him burn. From Volume 4, certain refrains from the song play in the background whenever she is on screen and scheming.
    • "Lionize"πŸ‘ Image
      is introduced during the Volume 6 Character Short which details how Adam became a villain. The song is a self-aggrandizing boast about how a lifetime of torture and abuse at the hands of humanity creates a hero that will become immortalized as a legend for crushing and subjugating humanity. The Short is about how the Faunus elevate Adam in power and status for being the hero they've been yearning for, to fight humanity for their rights. However, the Short also ends with Adam losing everything because ego, selfishness and obsession leads to everyone who once had faith in him turning on him for becoming a monster.
    • "All Things Must Die"πŸ‘ Image
      plays during the fight between Raven Branwen and Cinder Fall in the Vault of the Spring Maiden. Reflecting the views of both villains, the lyrics reflect the battle as they explain that all things come to an end, and that the others' life is about to be ended. As the song progresses, they urge the other to give up and surrender to death.
    • "One Thing"πŸ‘ Image
      plays when Neo returns to the screen in Volume 6, explaining why she's decided to fight Cinder. It hints at her past, suggesting that she was alone and without purpose until Roman Torchwick changed her life and gave her a name. She blames Cinder for what happened to Roman and that she's fallen onto hard times once more since his death. The Neo that fights Cinder is wearing tattered clothing and Roman's hat, and Cinder has to directly address the death of Roman to end the fight.
    • The ironically named "Hero"πŸ‘ Image
      , which reflects the views of General James Ironwood as he swears to do anything in his power to protect his people and kingdom by any means necessary. However, after he decides that those means will require him to betray his allies, the song takes on new meaning.
    • Ok Goodnight's "Awake"πŸ‘ Image
      is adapted into a theme for Cinder, reflecting her views as she kills her tormentors and betrays her mentor in search of identity.
    • Played for Laughs with "That's a Big Ursa!"πŸ‘ Image
      , a tuned and remixed version of some of Russel Thrush's dialogue regarding a massive Grimm. It was featured exclusively on the Volume 1 DVD.
  • While he's really just a lackey to the Big Bad, Geodude in Starter Squad gets "Rock Smasher"πŸ‘ Image
    , a heavy metal number he belts out while beating the crap out of Villain Protagonist Charmander.
  • The Sun's Tear: Kaa gets one in the form of "You'll Be MineπŸ‘ Image
    ", a devious lullaby performed by Kaa as she finalizes her control over Sanaya's mind and gloats about it.
  • Supermarioglitchy4's Super Mario 64 Bloopers: "Creative Control" is a wild, jazzy number from Mr. Puzzles that explains his backstory and obsession with TV, why he kidnapped the SMG4 crew, and his dream of achieving a five star rating on one of his creations, all while dragging his unwilling cast through a series of homages to various shows and movies.
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Video Example(s):

Tensai Doronbo

Most - if not all - episodes of Yatterman introduce the Doronbo Gang, the inspiration for most anime examples of this trope, by having them sing this little ditty.

Example of:
Terrible Trio

β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜… 4.91 (11 votes)

Alternative Title(s): Bad Guy Song

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Most - if not all - episodes of Yatterman introduce the Doronbo Gang, the inspiration for most anime examples of this trope, by having them sing this little ditty.

How well does it match the trope?

4.91 (11 votes)

Example of:

Main / TerribleTrio

Media sources:

Report

0:50

Tensai Doronbo

2:05

Gaston Reprise

2:13

The One Who's R...

0:51

Skrawl's Song

0:37

Goat Tears

1:06

BFFs

1:48

Goblin Town

1:54

Fat Cat

1:07

"We're the Grem...

1:09

Step into the Dark

2:28

Brighter

2:10

Bye Bye

1:27

Rabbid Pirate S...

2:28

Are You In or Out?

2:30

VOX POPULI

2:06

VOX DEI

1:34

Evil Broccoli

1:58

Stuff Me

1:48

Robot Power

1:30

Fry-Day 2

1:40

"The Trapper Song"

2:18

Don't You Forget

1:59

Gravity

2:28

Once We Get Up ...

1:29

The "Gloomium G...

1:12

Zombie Slave

1:16

My Evil Buddies...

0:31

Pearish

1:08

Rotten Smoothie

1:02

Paranoia

1:05

Abu Hassan &...

0:45

The Ultron Song

2:22

It Feels So Goo...

1:46

The Rat Song

1:51

Freeze Freeze F...

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VeggieTales - T...

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The Doctor Will...

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Tu Enemigo

2:28

Pick Poor Robin...

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Bitch

1:54

Hello, Little G...

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He's Tex Richman

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Your Idol

2:13

Bones and Skin

1:59

Rocky Road to D...

2:18

Crossing the Line

2:18

Adore Me

1:55

Queen Aggie's S...

1:35

Good at Being Bad

2:02

Bad Guy's Gonna...