I'm a radio Joe of the biz called show
I'm a rockin' popstar with a get up and go
Rubbin' elbows with the big wigs at my sold out shows
I've been on every cover even rolling stone

Put us on MTV
All we really need
Begging on our knees
Please, please, please, please, please

Conforming to the norm straight out of the mold
Compromising each and every ounce of soul
I'm a doin' anything for the records of gold
I only want what I can hold

Put us on MTV
All we really need
Begging on our knees
Please, please, please, please, please

We know that we'll never be better than
Mister slick superstar David Letterman
I promise we'll be perfect gentlemen
Just put us on the show you'll regret us then

Put us on MTV
All we really need
Begging on our knees
Please, please, please, please, please

Thank you very much be sure to label us
We wouldn't want to cause a ruckus or a fuss
AOR, CHR, top forty or bust

Put us on MTV
All we really need
Begging on our knees
Please, please, please, please, please

What I am is a picture on the TV screen
Don't make waves don't make a scene
What I say when I play isn't worth a bean
I'm a video Joe in an industry

Put us on MTV
All we really need
Begging on our knees
Please, please, please, please, please


Lyrics submitted by PrismPuck

Punk Rock Classic Lyrics as written by John Frusciante Michael Balzary

Lyrics © Hipgnosis Songs Group

Lyrics powered by LyricFind

Punk Rock Classic song meanings
Add Your Thoughts

21 Comments

sort form View by:
  • +1
    General Comment

    Are they making fun of popstars and wanabe 'punk stars'! Or are they acctually begging MTV to let them on!

    because their videos were aparently never played

    freakystyleyon November 06, 2005   Link

Add your thoughts

Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.

Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!

More Featured Meanings

Album art
Bron-Y-Aur Stomp
Led Zeppelin
This is about bronies. They communicate by stomping.
Album art
Cajun Girl
Little Feat
Overall about difficult moments of disappointment and vulnerability. Having hope and longing, while remaining optimistic for the future. Encourages the belief that with each new morning there is a chance for things to improve. The chorus offers a glimmer of optimism and a chance at a resolution and redemption in the future. Captures the rollercoaster of emotions of feeling lost while loving someone who is not there for you, feeling let down and abandoned while waiting for a lover. Lost with no direction, "Now I'm up in the air with the rain in my hair, Nowhere to go, I can go anywhere" The bridge shows signs of longing and a plea for companionship. The Lyrics express a desire for authentic connection and the importance of Loving someone just as they are. "Just in passing, I'm not asking. That you be anyone but you”
Album art
When We Were Young
Blink-182
This is a sequel to 2001's "Reckless Abandon", and features the band looking back on their clumsy youth fondly.
Album art
No Surprises
Radiohead
Same ideas expressed in Fitter, Happier are expressed in this song. We're told to strive for some sort of ideal life, which includes getting a good job, being kind to everyone, finding a partner, getting married, having a couple kids, living in a quiet neighborhood in a nice big house, etc. But in Fitter, Happier the narrator(?) realizes that it's incredibly robotic to live this life. People are being used by those in power "like a pig in a cage on antibiotics"--being pacified with things like new phones and cool gadgets and houses while being sucked dry. On No Surprises, the narrator is realizing how this life is killing him slowly. In the video, his helmet is slowly filling up with water, drowning him. But he's so complacent with it. This is a good summary of the song. This boring, "perfect" life foisted upon us by some higher powers (not spiritual, but political, economic, etc. politicians and businessmen, perhaps) is not the way to live. But there is seemingly no way out but death. He'd rather die peacefully right now than live in this cage. While our lives are often shielded, we're in our own protective bubbles, or protective helmets like the one Thom wears, if we look a little harder we can see all the corruption, lies, manipulation, etc. that is going on in the world, often run by huge yet nearly invisible organizations, corporations, and 'leaders'. It's a very hopeless song because it reflects real life.
Album art
American Town
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran shares a short story of reconnecting with an old flame on “American Town.” The track is about a holiday Ed Sheeran spends with his countrywoman who resides in America. The two are back together after a long period apart, and get around to enjoying a bunch of fun activities while rekindling the flames of their romance.