Songs that have brief musical references to other tunes in there..

'Lucifer Over London' by Current 93 starts off with the opening riff from Black Sabbath's 'Paranoid'

yeah that one! the transition is stunning

it's the best song really

Ray Mang - Number One seems to have a bit of Turn Your Love Around by George Benson in the melody, but i'm not sure if that was intentional or not.

https://youtu.be/DN60ENBVGVw

another foetus: "enter the exterminator" quotes grieg's "in the hall of the mountain king".

Lots of Ariel Pink songs:

the chorus of "Not Enough Violence" quotes the distorted vibrato guitar that runs through "One Hundred Years" by The Cure.

"Time to Live" quotes the verse melody of "Video Killed the Radio Star" by The Buggles.

"Bubblegum Dreams" quotes the melody of "Son of a Gun" by The Vaselines.

"Another Weekend" quotes the opening of "Private Line" by William Bell and Judy Clay.

"the osmonds" by denim quotes snatches of "kojak" by lee perry and "rock on" by david essex.

Oh that Dinosaur Jr Version of "Quicksand" that starts with the intro from "Andy Warhol"

mysterioso pizzicato in the intros to the sonics' "strychnine" and Kevin ayers's "don't sing no more sad songs" and surely others

toward the end there pavement's "range life" references billy squire's "everybody wants you"

"4th Time Around" by Bob Dylan is a mocking melodic and arrangement quotation of "Norwegian Wood" by The Beatles.

malkmus' "jo-jo's jacket" references dylan's "it's all right ma (i'm only bleeding)" but more lyrically than musically

Liz Phair's "Jealousy" ends with the little ~diddle-oo diddle-oo~ that similarly closes "When The Levee Breaks."

More Joni, she quotes "Do you wanna dance" in "In France They alias on the Main Street"

Lol, "In France They ***Kiss On the Main Street"

In France They Alias on Main Street is a great fucking title as well, thank you for the typo

the queens of the stone-age fortress track which has a neil young riff reference to hey hey, my my

Dave E. and the Cool Marriage Counselors' "Searching Through Sears" references Mr. Ed in the lyrics, then drops in a couple bars from the theme song.

among other can songs the fall's "i am damo suzuki" references "oh yeah"

Thompson Twins use the riff from their "In the Name of Love" in "Love On Your Side

"moonlight in vermont" by captain beefheart quotes "come out" by steve reich and "old-time religion".

"1,000 Umbrellas" by XTC quotes the strings at the end of "Glass Onion" by The Beatles.

Wilco - I'm Always In Love. The end of that song references I'm Waiting For My Man, Velvet Underground.

Neil Young & Stephen Stills - Long May You Run
Maybe the Beach Boys have got you now, with those waves singing Caroline (Oh Caroline no)

this one isn't super brief, but

lana del rey - terrence loves you

"You Only Live Twice" strings are transposed to lana's vocal melody on some of the verses

"Bing Crosby" by Van Dyke Parks interpolates "Pennies from Heaven" by Arthur Johnston and Johnny Burke (made famous by Bing Crosby).

Julian Cope singing the tune from "As Tears Go By" at the end of "Passionate Friend"

Mutantes breaking into "Satisfaction" at the end of "Mágica"

Captain Beefheart, "Beatle Bones 'n' Smokin' Stones" references "Strawberry Fields Forever".

Which reminds me, it's time to break out Nilsson's version of "You Can't Do That", which, according to a guy in the YouTube comments section, and I can't be bothered to check, references (in order): She's A Woman, I'm Down, Drive My Car, You Can't Do That, You're Gonna Lose That Girl, Good Day Sunshine, A Hard Day's Night, Rain, I Wanna Hold Your Hand, Day Tripper, Paperback Writer, Do You Wanna Know a Secret, Girl, Norwegian Wood, Yesterday, Strawberry Fields Forever.

https://www.you.tube.com/watch?v=Ue0Mf7_EHk8

And there's also "Buy My Album" by Nilsson, where he references himself, a good way to solve the problem of what to do for a b-side.

https://www.you.tube.com/watch?v=GrGBtWjS3o4

Another Nilsson one: his cover of "Cowboy" quotes John Barry's "Theme From Midnight Cowboy" at the end.

And, on the same album, "Dayton, Ohio 1903" references "Moonlight Serenade".

"I'm singing a borrowed tune, I took from the Rolling Stones"

"moonlight in vermont" by captain beefheart quotes "come out" by steve reich

wait what

Rush 'Spirit Of Radio' quotes Simon & Garfunkel's "words of the prophets" bit from 'Sound Of Silence'

Yes's "I've Seen All Good People" includes the chorus of "Give Peace A Chance."

(xp) There's also a Trout Mask Replica track that references a track from Sketches of Spain.

Possibly "Sugar 'n Spikes"?

Joni Mitchell's "River" makes prominent use of "Jingle Bells" in the piano part.

Stereolab's The Free Design quotes Dancing Queen, and (I maintain) Op Hop Destination quotes There Is A Light That Never Goes Out.

Cobra and Phases Group Play Voltage in the Milky Night - Stereolab

Johnny Rivers - “Summer Rain” quoting Sgt Pepper right after lyrically referencing it.

xp yes! good call noel

there's a whole youtube series of stereolab songs and the other songs they reference:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNRYm3MsuFo

New Order's Way of Life, from Brotherhood, references Love Will Tear Us Apart in the closing acoustic guitar bit.

“Mind on my money, money on my mind” from Snoop’s “gin and juice” (is this actually the origin?) referenced in like 1,000 hip hop songs.

But that’s a lyrical reference not a musical one, sorry misread the thread title.

Snoop was quoting a Tupac line as well

new noise : ta for the nudges re Foetus.
of course i knew of the Batman theme, but when it comes to lyrics i rarely join the dots.
and even if i had noticed those lyrics i would not have realised.
that said i am pretty sure there is a massive Elton John rip during one of the songs on the live album, MALE.
'Puppet Dude' perhaps ?
been years since i ventured into that part of the archive.

yeah "puppet dude" is a semi-cover of "rocket man" (iirc... it's years since i heard it). more than a "brief musical reference" though.

"moonlight in vermont" by captain beefheart quotes "come out" by steve reich

wait what

admittedly this isn't such a "musical" reference... the captain sings "come out to show them" (quoting reich's piece) a bunch of times right as the song morphs into "old time religion".

Ray Manzarek worked the riff from "House In The Country" by Blood, Sweat & Tears into his "LA Woman" solo.

Didn't Right Said Fred's "I'm Too Sexy" have a bit of Hendrix's "Third Rock From the Sun" in it, or am I thinking of another song? I know someone included Third Rock somewhere.

That video really brings to mind Sasha Frere-Jones' quip describing Jack White: "I have large biceps but also look like Michael Jackson"

I googled that quote, and it led me to this fascinating article about the making of the cover - and the statue - for HIStory. It was sketched out by Drew Struzan, although his version made Michael Jackson look like Guybrush Threepwood from The Secret of Monkey Island.

It was an early use of mo-cap... except that it was static. But yes, they made a model first and then digitised it. "The model ... was then adorned with over four thousand lines that served to mark the topography of the model. This was then used to digitize the model and match the appropriate coordinates to the computer. It was decided that computer graphics technology would be used to create a high quality and realistic image. This would allow the designers to help fine-tune the light, textures, camera angles, and other details."

So they made an expensive and finely-detailed grey plaster sculpture of Michael Jackson, then digitised it in order to make it look like a grey plaster sculpture. Record labels had so much money back then. Apparently Michael Jackson thought that his thighs looked too fat. The sculptor was seven months pregnant - and when she gave birth she called her son Jackson.

Ye Gods:
https://www.artofdesignonline.com/uploads/1/1/7/1/117189571/history-golden-statue-dancing-diana-walczak-1995_orig.jpg

Then they made nine 10 meter statues

https://pophistorydig.com/topics/the-jackson-statues-1995/

I've long been fascinated by that musical pairing between "Up on the Roof" and "Under the Boardwalk" --- these two different forms of escape from the challenges of the city, one sensual/chthonic and the other more cerebral/skyward. And then of course, in "On Broadway," they're right there in the thick of the street. It's as if someone was consciously feeding the group 'spatial' material to go with their space-traveling name, though it's more likely they're just trying to recapture the magic. "At the Club," "Up on the Streets of Harlem," "Saturday Night at the Movies" (eventually followed up with "Kissin' in the Back Row of the Movies").