Most of anyone with a Spotify account now know what “WAP” stands for - and why it was titled with an acronym. And songs that use well-known acronyms, such as Foo Fighter's “DOA” and The Village People's “Y.M.C.A.” don't require much digging or even listening to grasp. Too often, though, bands title their tracks using long-winded acronyms that they fail to even mention in the lyrics (Looking at you, Fall Out Boy, with “G.I.N.A.S.F.S.”) or trick you with a seemingly obvious acronym that means something else entirely, like System of a Down's “B.Y.O.B.” And then there are those cases where the lyrics spell out the literal meaning behind the song acronym, like “O.P.P.,” while further lyrical investigation is required to truly understand it in concept. So, just to clear up any confusion, we've gathered the most memorable acronym songs and laid out exactly what the title initials stand for, with added context where necessary. Vote up the clever acronyms that make a great song title; vote down the acronym titles that fall flat, for whatever reason.
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What It Stands For: Bring Your Own Bombs In The Lyrics: Not referenced Context: “B.Y.O.B.” takes the commonly used acronym for “Bring Your Own Beverage” and pivots it to make a commentary on war, which is started by elite and removed politicians, but fought by the poor.
What It Stands For: All Day I Dream About Sex In The Lyrics: “All day, I dream about f*ckin' / All day, I dream about sex”
What It Stands For: Cash Rules Everything Around Me In The Lyrics: “Cash Rules Everything Around Me / C.R.E.A.M., get the money / Dollar, dollar bill y'all”
What It Stands For: Politically Lying, Unholy, Cowardly Killers In The Lyrics: Not referenced Context: The song references the Armenian genocide of 1915. While the lyrics are directed to the Turkish government who committed the act, it's also a call to the American government to recognize the event.
What It Stands For: Pretty Young Thing In The Lyrics: “I want to love you (P.Y.T.) / Pretty young thing”
What It Stands For: Other People's Property [P*ssy/Penis, depending on gender] In The Lyrics: “O is for other, P is for people, scratch your temple / The last P, well, that's not that simple, uh / It's sorta like well, another way to call a cat a kitten” Context: To be “down with O.P.P.” is essentially to be down with cheating on one's partner.
What It Stands For: F*cked up, Insecure, Neurotic, and Emotional In The Lyrics: “Everything about you is so F-I-N-E, fine”
What It Stands For: Dead On Arrival In The Lyrics: “No one's gettin' out of here alive / This time / Ain't no way, DOA”
What It Stands For: F*ck Off And Die In The Lyrics: “You're just a f*ck / I can't explain it 'cause I think you suck / I'm taking pride / In telling you to f*ck off and die”
What It Stands For: Sick Mother F*cker In The Lyrics: “Look and you'll see / You're a lot like me / You're an S.M.F” Context: Dee Snider of Twisted Sister was forced to spell out the acronym in the famous 1985 senate hearings with the Parents Resource Music Center to address putting warning labels on explicit music.
What It Stands For: Young Men's Christian Association In The Lyrics: “They have everything for young men to enjoy / You can hang out with all the boys / It's fun to stay at the Y.M.C.A.” Context: Though Village People founder Victor Willis said he did purely write the song in reference to his fond memories at the Y, the lyrics have taken on another meaning as the song became a gay anthem.
What It Stands For: Nib (originally) or Nativity In Black In The Lyrics: Not referenced Context: As the lyrics are from Lucifer's point of view, fans long held the title stood for “Nativity In Black,” a reference to the birth of the antichrist. However, the band eventually dispelled this, saying it was based on band member Bill Ward's long pointy beard which resembled a pen nib, and the punctuation marks were merely added for effect. However, the fan-version of the title seemingly took over the original meaning, as a pair of Black Sabbath tribute albums were titled Nativity in Black.
What It Stands For: Bombs Over Baghdad In The Lyrics: “Don’t pull the thang out, unless you plan to bang / Bombs over Baghdad! / Yeah, don’t even bang unless you plan to hit something / Bombs over Baghdad!” Context: Andre 3000 explained the lyric is a reference to the Gulf War: “[The US] was trying to scare them by bombing the outskirts. If you’re going to do anything at all, do it.” However, a few years after its release, it became something of a pro-Iraq War anthem. Big Boi said of its repurposing, “We explain a song when people ask, but we can’t control how they feel about it. In our case, fans know where we stand pretty much… I really think Bush should have gone through the United Nations before going over there.”
What It Stands For: Girl Under You In The Lyrics: “I wanna be the girl under you (Oh, yeah) / I wanna be your G.U.Y."
What It Stands For: White Male American In The Lyrics: “He won the lottery by bein' born / Big hand slapped the white male American” Context: Eddie Vedder described penning the lyrics after witnessing discrimination by the police: [I]t had been a couple of days since I had a shower and I've got my old shoes on and I don't look too great, a little grunge on my teeth or whatever. And I'm sitting there with this guy who's of a darker color than me, and along come these cops… And they just ignored me and [started] hassling him. Compared to me, this guy looks as respectable as f--k... I was just really wound up by it. I had all this f--king energy rushing through me. I was mad. Really f--king angry.
What It Stands For: Sadism and masochism; sadomasochism In The Lyrics: “Sticks and stones may break my bones / But chains and whips excite me… S, S, S and M, M, M” Context: Sadism is pleasure derived from the pain of others; masochism is pleasure derived from one's own pain.
What It Stands For: F*ck This Whole Wide World In The Lyrics: “She said, ‘Come on, come on, just spit casually / Come on, come on and f*ck this whole wide world’”
What It Stands For: Waitress/Actress/Model/Singer In The Lyrics: Not referenced Context: The title acronym refers to the common Hollywood aspiration to be a famous multi-hyphenate professional while also waiting tables to make ends meet.
What It Stands For: Gay Is Not A Synonym For Sh*tty In The Lyrics: Not referenced Context: Bassist Pete Wentz said of the title, I think it was like a prevailing trend at the time […] It was just so prevalent, like, “Oh, that’s gay, that’s gay”, you know? To me it was more so… it was just that people weren’t looking any more in-depth than they could have, you know? Like, you could’ve come up with a better synonym than that.
What It Stands For: Anna Nicole Is A C*nt In The Lyrics: Not referenced Context: While the song's sentiment seems pretty one-note ("You make me sick"), on their DVD Sake Bombs And Happy Endings, Sum 41 frontman Deryck Whibley said it was the band's special “love" song for Anna Nicole Smith. After her passing in 2007, they stopped performing the song.
What It Stands For: Non-Specific Urethritis In The Lyrics: Not referenced Context: The song was jokingly titled after the infection (often sexually transmitted), which guitarist Eric Clapton allegedly had at the time.
What It Stands For: Get Off My D*ck In The Lyrics: “I know the reason you feel a lil' way / I know just who you wan' be / So every day I thank the Man upstairs / That I ain't you and you ain't me / Get off my d*ck / Woah (Get the f*ck off my d*ck)”
What It Stands For: Make America Crip Again In The Lyrics: “The president say he wants to Make America Great Again / F*ck that shit, we gon' Make America Crip Again, cuz” Context: Snoop Dogg said the song is not a political statement, but explained, “Certain people feel like we should make America 'great again,' but that time they're referring to takes me back to separation and segregation so I'd rather make American Crip again.” (Snoop also says Crip refers not to gang violence but to their initial purpose to be role models for kids.)
What It Stands For: F*ck U Scott Storch In The Lyrics: Acronym not referenced directly, but: “You know who you are / This is for you" Context: The “interlude” song on Aguilera's Back to Basics is a diss track aimed at her former producer Scott Storch, who worked with the singer on Stripped. The two had a falling out reportedly caused in part by her refusal to send a private plane to collect him for work on Back to Basics. Storch responded: It’s pretty pathetic that she would do a song like this. I worked on half of her last CD and sold her millions of copies. Obviously she cares more than I do that I didn’t do this album, but I can’t blame her, with an album full of fillers, over-singing, and lame Vegas-like cabaret music.
What It Stands For: F*ck To Forget (according to fans) In The Lyrics: Not referenced directly, but: “I f*ck him 'cause I really miss you”
What It Stands For: Wet -ss P*ssy In The Lyrics: “Bring a bucket and a mop for this wet -ss p*ssy”
What It Stands For: Love Of My Life/Loss Of My Life In The Lyrics: “You said I'm the love of your life… You're the loss of my life”
What It Stands For: Bad B*tch Academy In The Lyrics: “Welcome to the Bad B*tch Academy / I'm a feisty b*tch, I'm a pricey b*tch, I'm a hot girl”
What It Stands For: Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation In The Lyrics: “I save d*ck by giving it CPR (Yes) / Put my mouth on it like CPR”
What It Stands For: F*ck Up The World In The Lyrics: “After that government cheese, we eating steak / After the projects, now we on estates / I'm from the bottom, I know you can relate / F*ck up the world / Just f*ck up this world”
