Badass Boast/Music

"I left my throne a million miles away
 * Boastful Rap in general.
 * The song "Space Lord" by Monster Magnet can be read, at least in part, as a somewhat surreal badass boast:

I drink from your tit, I sing the blues every day

Give me the strength to split the world in two, yeah

I ate all the rest and now I've gotta eat you"

""Bummer": I need a fistful of medication just to keep it in my pants
 * Monster Magnet are defined by that description; it would be easier to list the songs that don't fit this trope (usually, some kind of put-down song), and they almost always combine it with some kind of drug/sexual innuendo or comic book reference. And even their songs that don't fit this trope sound as if they do, because of Dave Wyndorf's "A God Am I" vocal delivery:

"All Friends and Kingdom Come": I can fry you with my eyes, I can blow you to kingdom come, I can take the friends away

I've got mushroom clouds in my hands, and a place in my head for you

"The Right Stuff'": My nerves are made of steel and my eyes are eagle sharp

What would freak the average man does not affect my heart

"Crop Circle": I was born underwater, I dried out in the sun

I started humping volcanoes baby, when I was too young

Started surfing the madhouse and I decided to stay

Got an itch in my cosmic pocket and it won't go away"

""We have been betrayed by the wind and the rain
 * Motorhead's "Orgasmatron" is a badass boast by the personification of religion, politics, and war. Part of the war stanza includes: "I hold a banner drenched in blood, I urge you to be brave / I lead you to your destiny, I lead you to your grave / Your bones will build my palaces, your eyes will stud my crown / For I am Mars, the god of war, and I will cut you down."
 * Quite a few Motorhead songs count as this, especially "You Better Run", including lines like "I'm iron and steel, I'm bad to the bone/If you come looking for trouble honey, don't you come alone."
 * The Rolling Stones' "Sympathy for the Devil" is one long badass boast by Satan, beginning: "Please allow me to introduce myself, I'm a Man of Wealth and Taste / I've been around for a long long year / stolen many man's soul and faith".
 * Listen again. That there's God talking. "Just as every cop's a criminal/ And all the sinners saints/ As heads is tails, just call me Lucifer/ 'Cos I'm in need of some restraint".
 * Say what? Lucifer is the name of Satan, not God. And Mick Jagger has stated very plainly in a Rolling Stone interview that the song is told from the point of view of Lucifer.
 * Manowar's "The Crown and the Ring" is a long, Norse-flavored badass boast, including the stanza: "High and mighty alone we are kings / Whirlwinds of fire we ride / Providence brought us the crown and the ring / Covered with blood and our pride".
 * King of Kings.
 * As with Monster Magnet, pretty much every flippin' song, only letting up when they tackle "serious" subjects like Vietnam Veterans' Syndrome or the Guyana massacre. They think they're the house band at Valhalla, what else would one expect?
 * Blind Guardian's "And then there was silence" with

The sacred hall's empty and cold

The sacrifice made should not be done in vain

Revenge will be taken by Rome""

""We don't regret it

So many men have failed but now he's (gone)

Go out and get it

The madman's head it shall be thine

We don't regret it

That someone else dies hidden in (disguise)

Go out and get it

Orion's hound shines bright

No hope

The blind leads the blind

Carry on

Though future's denied"

"Mare or stallion

There's far more inside

We are in at the kill we'll cheerfully die.""

"I feel the fire burning in my veins
 * "I Am Murloc" is basically one long badass boast on behalf of the murlocs. This makes it a parody, since murlocs in the game are just humorous and annoying Goddamn Bats.
 * The same band has also done "Power of the Horde" which is one long serious badass boast on behalf of a Farseer of the Horse.

Lightning strikes at my command!

By storm and earth

By axe and fire

We have come to claim this land!"

"I am immortal!
 * "Princes of the Universe" by Queen. Sword-wielding immortals are just that badass.

I have inside me blood of kings!

I have no rival!

No man can be my equal!"

"Here I am!
 * Another song from Queen's soundtrack to Highlander, "Gimme The Prize (Kurgan's Theme)".

I'm the master of your destiny!

I am the one, the only one!

I am the god of kingdom come!

GIMME THE PRIZE!"

"I'm made of bones of the branches the boughs and the brow-beating light
 * "The Queen's Rebuke" from a concept album by The Decemberists features the hero's fae foster mother, boasting her immortality and power over the forest:

While my feet are the trunks and my head is the canopy high

And my fingers extend to the leaves in the eves, and the bright

Brighter shine, it's my shine"

"No hesitation / When I am commanded to strike
 * "Indestructible" by Disturbed is one long boast. And it works.

You need to know that you're in for the fight of your life

You will be shown / How I've become

Indestructible / Determination that is incorruptible

From the other side a terror to behold / Annihilation will be unavoidable

Every broken enemy will know / That their opponent had to be invincible

Take a last look around while you're alive

I'm an indestructible Master of war!"

"You might say that I'm the last man standing now,
 * "Divide," off the same album, though it doesn't go to nearly the same extreme:

Though you'll try, you'll never find a way to break me"

"I am an instrument of violence / I am a vessel of invincibility
 * "Warrior" from the next album takes this to a stupidly extreme level, sounding as if Dave Draiman watched multiple episodes of Dragonball Z for reference.

I cannot leave this undecided / Stepping down to battle another day

Remember me for all time, this / Determination is a vital part of me

Surrender now or be counted / With the endless masses that I will defeat

Broken down till your hope has died / Beat down till the victory's mine

Stand up and show me some pride, are you ready?

I'm one with the warrior inside / My dominance can't be denied

Your entire world will turn into a battlefield tonight

As I look upon you / Through the warrior's eyes now

I can see the fear that will ensure my victory this time

I can't be told of compromise / They'll never doubt the body lying at my feet

A most formidable reminder / They will speak my name for eternity

I have no need of any guidance / I am a weapon, powerful beyond belief

Seen through the warrior's eyes / I never need to question how to defeat you"

"For green is the heart of your greed
 * And then there is their theme song for Stone Cold Steve Austin.
 * Flogging Molly is rather fond of these too. One of my favorites:

That much I can tell

You may think you're the captain of me

But I'm your coffin ship from hell"

"But you won't

No, no, no you won't

You won't make a fool out of me"

"I pledge my allegiance, to all things dark
 * Voltaire's "When You're Evil" is one long boast by a goofy Card-Carrying Villain. Or so it seems. The first few verses describe pretty silly cartoon villainy. And then...

And I promise on my damned soul

To do as I am told, Lord Beelzebub

Has never seen a soldier quite like me

Not only does his job, but does it happily."

"I'm the fear that keeps you awake

I'm the shadows on the wall

I'm the monsters they become

I'm the nightmare in your skull

I'm a dagger in your back

An extra turn upon the rack

I'm the quivering of your heart

A stabbing pain, a sudden start."

"I've seen angels fall from blinding heights
 * Chris Cornell's James Bond theme "You Know my Name" is basically one long one. Sample:

But you yourself are nothing so divine

Just next in line"

"Northwards ride on a thousand orcs,
 * Although this is less a Badass Boast than a chilling prophesy about how Bond will inevitably change into a cold-blooded killer.
 * Mirdautas Vras by Summoning. Translated excerpt:

On wolves with giant bloody fangs;

They take the storm and power

Of Mordor through the world!

Fire and ice -- the Nazgul fly!

It is a good day to kill!

Painted red is earth and sky -

Even Manwe shall bow down!"

"Who can, who can find you clear springs of water? But I -- but I can!
 * Also Farewell:

Who can, who can tell you the age of the moon? But I -- but I can!

Who can, who can call up the fish from the depths of the sea? Yes I can!

Who can, who can change the shape of the hills and the headland? I can!"

""This is my hour. Do you not know death when you see it? Die now!""
 * AND it includes an audio sample from a second example of the trope:

"Try so hard to break me,
 * Ozzy Osbourne's "Not Going Away" has a good one, short and sweet.

But all your diamonds turn to sand"

"All legends tell of me
 * Given that Rage Against the Heavens is pretty much The Crown's raison d'etre, these are pretty common in their lyrics. One particularly memorable one is from the song "Deathexplosion" (no, really)

Creating a killing spree

What the legend doesn't say

IS THAT I'M COMING BACK ONE DAY!"

"Do you mean to challenge me? Because your speech is threatening
 * The Finisher by Oh, Sleeper is, pretty much in its entirety, one of these from God to Satan. And, within Christian doctrine, a deserved one since, well, He's God:

to the writer of your history[...]

Your whisper may sway the weak, but when I speak it roars the seas.

Your challenge has been met, because with a breath I could snap your neck.

This won't be like the first time you tried, because my patience and mercy

for you has run dry[...]

Because if that tree keeps them from seeing me, I'll burn off your limbs,

you will never shade again. You'll bow at my feet or I'll rip out your knees

and make of your face all the carnage you crave[...]

From the armories the angels sing, you will fear them when they lift their wings.

They will sing to a world reborn, they will sing as I cut off your horns.

I'll cut off your horns!"

"I'll smash your face in
 * Dio era Black Sabbath had "I", another boast-in-song-form, this one from the point of view of an Anti-Hero. The end of the last verse, however, outbadasses the rest of the song.

But with a smile

All together you'll never

Be stronger than me"

"I'm gonna fight em' off
 * The White Stripes -- "Seven Nation Army"

A seven-nation army couldn't hold me back"

"Crawl with me into tomorrow
 * Flobots' "Handlebars" is one giant Badass Boast.
 * Rage Against the Machine's "Sleep Now in the Fire":

Or I'll drag you to your grave

I'm deep inside your children

They'll betray you in my name"

"I'm the voice inside your head
 * Foo Fighters -- "Pretender":

You refuse to hear

I'm the face that you have to face

Mirrored in your stare

I'm what's left, I'm what's right

I'm the enemy

I'm the hand that will take you down

Bring you to your knees"

"You'll take my life but I'll take yours too
 * Iron Maiden's "The Trooper"

You'll fire your musket but I'll run you through

So when you're waiting for the next attack

You'd better stand there's no turning back."

"We are the twilight and we are the dawn
 * All verses in Judas Priest's "Hard As Iron" is a Badass Boast of some kind. The chorus of "Blood Red Skies" is also a Badass Boast: "You won't break me/You won't make me/You won't take me/Under blood red skies", as are "Tyrant", "The Ripper", parts of "Invader", "Killing Machine", "Electric Eye", "Riding on the Wind" if you assume it's in 1st person, "You've got Another Thing Comin'", possibly "Love Bites", "Heavy Du-" let's just say "a lot".
 * Tribute is a Badass Boast by Tenacious D about how they accidentally played "The Best Song In The World" to kill a shiny demon threatening to eat their souls.
 * I! AM! AMERICAN BADASS!
 * What? No mention of Nox Arcana and "Blood of Angels"? That song is basically a long Badass Boast... from the point of view of Fallen Angels! Lyrics include:

We are the silence when all else is gone

(...)

Ours is the power and ours is the might

Ours are the shadows that swallow the light

Worship us mortals, bow down to our reign!

The blood of the angels, it beats in our veins.

(...)

Once we were scattered, in hiding, alone...

Now we have marshalled to regain our throne."

"You taught me hate, I'll teach you fear.
 * Break You, by Lamb of God. Many of their songs are like this:

Open the eyes, kill despair.

You tried to squeeze the life from me.

Son of a bitch, I'm going to break you."

"My name's Johnnie
 * "Devil Went Down to Georgia" by Charlie Daniel Band. Admittedly, it's for a duel by fiddles, but...

And it might be a sin

But I'll take your bet

And you're gonna regret

Cause I'm the best that's ever been."

"I am the one that hides the universal secret of all time
 * You mean a badass fiddle duel.
 * "A National Acrobat" by Ozzy-era Black Sabbath.

Destruction of the empty spaces is my one and only crime

I've lived a thousand times, I've found out what it means to be believed

The thoughts and images, the unborn child that never was conceived"

"Flee from me, humanity, though it availeth thee not.
 * Nile's music, many songs being retellings of old myths, is naturally full of these. Some prominent ones include:
 * The Eye Of Ra:

Hide in the deserts and the mountains, let fear grow in your hearts,

For I am vengeance and bloody death."

"I have gone forth,
 * Permitting The Noble Dead To Descend To The Underworld:

Even I, the vindicated Osiris.

The great ones on earth await me,

The scribes on their mats magnify me.

I am as Re the eldest of the gods,

I have taken possession of the sky,

I have inherited the earth,

Who shall take away the sky and earth from me?

I know you and I know your names."

"Embraced within the coils of Set,
 * User Maat Re is a song being sung from the perspective of Ramses the Great, to his father, Seti I, the entirety of which is a series of badass boasts, speaking of the nearly innumerable acts that are the reason he's known as "The Great." The twist is that Ramses has literally been driven insane by his own desire to live up to his father's legacy, which he never felt worthy of, and begins hearing his father's voice in his head, telling him "Thou hast done nothing."
 * The one that takes the cake, however, is Those Whom The Gods Detest. The whole song is a screed against the Egyptian gods, as a way of saying, in the words of Karl Sanders: "Oh yeah. Bring it on biatch. Do your worst." The final lyric stands out:

I have no fear of the second death.

Of being slashed with knives,

Of being butchered on the slaughtering blocks.

No god or demon will feed on my entrails or drink my blood.

No blind servant of the throne of Ra

Shall I willingly allow to devour me.

No consuming flames of uttermost damnation shall I fear.

No tongue speaking words of redemption shall ever penetrate my will.

Darkly splendid, I remain unconquered.

...

I am counted amongst the legions of the unrighteous

Who dread not being immersed in the pits of fire.

We are they whom the gods detest.

We are they whom the gods detest."

"I'm goin' home, gonna load my shotgun
 * You don't see a lot of female country singers on this list but Miranda Lambert's Gunpowder and Lead certainly counts:

Wait by the door and light a cigarette

If he wants a fight well now he's got one

And he ain't seen me crazy yet

He slap my face and he shook me like a rag doll

Don't that sound like a real man

I'm going to show him what a little girls made of

Gunpowder and lead"

"We are the fate of Hell and
 * Coheed and Cambria's albums are a sci-fi epic about Claudio Kilgannon, prophesied to defeat Supreme Tri-Mage Wilhelm Ryan, the man responsible for his family's deaths. In the song The End Complete, which describes their Final Battle, Ryan boasts:

The call of Justice

We are now waiting while you wish us away

With your plans in all deliverance

Won't take us over, baby!

God (He will not save you)

Is not (He will not save you)

here! (He will not save you from this)"

"I'm rocking like The Clash
 * One-man acoustic punk troubadour Hamell On Trial's "The Meeting" gives us

It's acoustic kind of meanery

I'm as bad as Nine Inch Nails

Except I don't need machinery!"

"I'm retired nigga I already ruled the world
 * War is the Answer by Five Finger Death Punch is one long Badass boast..
 * The number of ludicrous claims Lil B has made boggles the mind. Here's a sample of what he has claimed about himself:

I'm Bill Clinton

I'm Paris Hilton

I'm Hugh Hefner

I look like Bill Gates mixed with Obama

Girlfriend look like Ellen [Degeneres]"

"Hoes on my dick 'cause I look like Jesus
 * One of his songs is titled "I'm God"
 * His song "Wanton Soup" is about "fuck[ing] your bitch" and then "eat[ing] wanton soup."
 * Pretty sure "Look Like Jesus" takes the cake:

Young Based God coming straight with the heater

Niggas getting mad cause I dress like Jesus Christ

I'm that pretty bitch, I'mma fuck her all night"

"I am more powerful than all the armies of the world
 * First two minutes of Megadeth's "Prince of Darkness" are boasts from Satan itself, culminating in:

I am more violent than violence, more deadly than death

I have destroyed more men than all the nation's wars

I am relentless, unpredictable, waiting for your last breath"


 * "I Am The Cool" by Screamin' Jay Hawkins.

"This is V for vengeance
 * Eluveitie's Kingdom Come Undone is basically a 03:22 Badass Boast Crowning Music of Awesome consider the chorus:

This is V for vehemence

This is V for victory

This is V for Vercingetorix

[...]

This is V for verdict

This is V for valour

This is V for venture

This is revolt

This is kingdom come undone"

"Under this sun no shadows will fall
 * Sabaton has several on behalf of many military units, like Panzer Battalion:

Piercing our eyes as we charge

An armoured battalion on course to the east

Closing the end of it's march

This time we're here to finish a job

Started a decade ago

Driving the animals out of their holes

To bury them 6 feet below

Armoured tanks of mass destruction

Killers in the east

Rats who dares to stand before us

Feel our guns go live

Death in the shape of a panzer battalion

Insect of terror don't run face your fate like a

Man cannot outrun our panzer battalion

Thousands of tons of armour and guns

Making it's way through the sand

Our panzer battalion is back for revenge

Artillery sweeping the land

First strike is ours no mercy is shown

There's rivers of blood in our track

Breaking their lines of defence with our tanks

Infantry watching our back

Blow their SAM sites clear for air strike

Ready for the storm

Minefields swept there's no surrender

Feel our napalm burn"

"The priesthood is trembling
 * Their ambgiously-non-war songs tends to go into that direction as well, for example Birds of War:

the five knights of light has betrayed mankind

Now known as the dark ones

we strike down on earth with powers from hell

We ride on the wind we ride through the sky

like unholy birds of war we fly

we bring agony and insanity

Once blessed by the light now serving the night

and soon cursed by every man on earth

We follow our lust, in no god we trust

Come join us

Leave this world behind and you will find satisfaction

fight on our side you cannot hide from us forever more

Once greeted as heroes

now treated as foes wherever we go

Recruiting more warriors

the hordes of undead march on our command

Now mankind will pay from this very day

every man on earth will curse his birth

We spread fear and pain resistance in vain

We march in the dark your kind is our mark

avoid the daylight in dark we fight

We'll control your souls you'll end up like ghouls

Come join us!"

"St. Jimmy's coming down across the alleyway
 * "St. Jimmy" from Green Day's American Idiot is prety much one big Badass Boast:

Upon the boulevard like a zip gun on parade

Light of his silhouette, he's insubordinate

Comin' at you on the count of 1, 2—(1, 2, 3, 4!)

My name is Jimmy and you better not wear it out

Suicide commando that your momma talked about

King of the forty thieves and I'm here to represent

The needle in the vein of the establishment

I'm the patron saint of the denial

With an angel face and a taste for suicidal

Cigarettes and ramen and a little bag of dope

I am the son of a bitch and Edgar Allen Poe

Raised in the city in the halo of lights

Product of war and fear that we've been victimized...

Are you talking to me? I'll give you something to cry about! ST JIMMY!

My name is St. Jimmy, I'm the son of a gun

I'm the one that's from the way outside, now

I'm a teenage assassin executing some fun

In the cult of the life of crime, now

I really hate to say it, but I told you so

So shut your mouth before I shoot you down, old boy

Welcome to the club, and give me some blood

I'm the resident leader at the lost and found

It's comedy and tragedy

It's St. Jimmy, and that's my name...and don't you fucking wear it out!!!!"

"I am the nightmare that crushes your dreams
 * Dr. Steel has one in Lament for a toy factory:

I’m the greatest creator this world’s ever seen!"

""Harrasin' arrestors harass and arrest us,
 * Kanye West's Jesus Walks has:

Sayin' 'we eat pieces of shit like you for breakfast!'

'Huh, y'all eat pieces of shit?...'""

"I got your number
 * He's nicking Adam Sandler jokes now? Ladies and Gentlemen, the voice of a generation.
 * It's that kind of generation.
 * Clutch has a few.

I steal your thunder

I got your mother's maiden name tattooed on my arm!"

"Well I'm standing next to a mountain
 * Jimi Hendrix: "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)"

And I chop it down with the edge of my hand"

"Well I am Death, none can excel,
 * Jen Titus does a brilliant one in "O Death", honoring Death itself

I open the door between Heaven or Hell.

My name is Death and The End is here."

"Yes... I am the scythe in the field at summer
 * Given their love of fantasy and sci-fi pulp, Purple Prose and use of first person PO Vs in their songs, Bal-Sagoth's lyrics are positively stuffed with elaborate and original Badass Boasts. Particular credit though, has to go to the song Of Carnage and the Gathering of Wolves:

I am the thunder which awakens the earth

I am that which gives the night air its chill

...

I am far beyond the ken of men

My gaze shall make the night tremble!"

"Well if you see me comin' better step aside
 * The country song "Sixteen Tons", originally performed by Merle Travis and made famous by Tennessee Ernie Ford(and covered by numerous other artists ranging from other country acts such as Johnny Cash to Swedish doom metal bands like Memento Mori) features this segment:

A lotta men didn't and a lotta men died

One fist of iron, the other of steel

If the right one don't get ya then the left one will"