60 Songs About Blame

FlourishAnyway believes there is a playlist for just about any situation and is on a mission to unite and entertain the world through song.

Enough Blame to Go Around

There's a whole lot of conflict and finger pointing these days. When a problem occurs, instead of accepting responsibility, let the blame game commence. Something goes awry, and people quickly rush in to find fault—as if that will fix anything.

Have you noticed these tendencies? Do you engage in these behaviors yourself? Instead of acknowledging a wrong, people often deny liability, pass the buck, ignore their own role in making a bad situation worse, and hope that a scapegoat will be found to take the heat.

Although sensitive types may profess that it's nobody's fault, others pin responsibility for their troubles on one another and external circumstances. If any of these are familiar, make yourself a playlist of pop, rock, country, and R&B songs about blame.

1. "Blame It on You" by Jason Aldean

The regretful man in this country pop crossover hit from 2020 misses his ex and wouldn't blame her if she is bitter. Although he could attempt to find other excuses on why she left, the man realizes it's his fault. Now he's blowing through money and driving around trying to forget her. Those old memories just won't let him be.

2. "You Give Love a Bad Name" by Bon Jovi

There are at least two sides to every breakup—actually, three if you count the truth—and according to this dejected suitor, he lays all responsibility for his heartbreak at the feet of the vixen who knew well what she was doing when she rejected him. The man in the classic 1986 hair metal song accuses his ex-girlfriend of game playing and issuing false promises while acting coy. Her angelic smile has done him irreparable emotional damage:

Shot through the heart
And you're to blame
Darling, you give love a bad name.

This was Bon Jovi's first Billboard #1 hit. The song was rumored to be about actress Diane Lane, who was 20 years old at the time. She dated lead singer Jon Bon Jovi for five months, and the couple parted ways over her partying with guitarist Richie Sambora.

3. "Blame It" by Jamie Foxx (Featuring T. Pain)

This cringeworthy R&B song was a big hit back in 2009. (Honestly, what were we thinking?) Drunk people cannot consent, despite what the narrator implores, "Blame it on the a-a-a-a-a-alcohol / Blame it on the a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-alcohol."

If there's any blame to be had, it should go to the guy who is at the bar who is aggressively trying to get another man's girlfriend drunk in an effort to sexually get it on with her. Plus, he's drinking and driving. Way uncool.

4. "Blame It on the Boogie" by The Jacksons

Disco was all the rage when The Jacksons released this 1978 uptempo number about a man whose honey doesn't want to do anything else but dance. He must have some groovy dance moves because she can't take her eyes off him. They spend all their extra time at the disco rather than at home having "Bow Chicka Wow Wow" time, if ya know what I mean.

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5. "Blame It on Me" by Post Malone

When celebrity comes to an artist hard and fast, they can feel like they're being restrained and stripped down of essential pieces of themselves. It's as if everyone is grasping for a portion of them.

This slow pop R&B track from 2018 reveals the raw distress of fast fame. The narrator feels trapped and cut down. Having played the game for show, he's caught in a cycle where now every day is the same. He's burned out, evident by his anguished cries about not being about to breathe and his pleas of "It's not my fault."

6. "Blame" by Calvin Harris (Featuring John Newman)

This is the poorest excuse for infidelity I've heard in a long time. In this 2014 global EDM hit, guilt supposedly burns a man up for cheating on his significant other with another woman who was an old friend.

This loser's sorry-not sorry apology falls pathetically short when he promises that next time he'll be better. Addressing his lover, he insists that she blame his errant ways on the night rather than attributing his poor choices to him. Nope. Not a chance.

7. "Blame" by Jesse Rutherford

If you think smoking weed isn't harmful, think again. According to the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), 1 in 10 people who use marijuana will become addicted. If they start before the age of 18, that statistic is 1 in 6. Either way, the guy in this 2017 pop ditty acknowledges to himself that he is one of them, just as his deceased father was an alcoholic. All he seems to think about is smoking weed.

Although the young man has tried to cut back (especially at his doctor's recommendation), he finds that it's not easy. Through his substance addiction the narrator empathizes with his father. Research has shown that heavy marijuana smoking in one's teens has been linked to signficant, permanent drops in IQ and smoking high-potentency marijuana daily could increase the chances of developing psychosis.¹ That should be reason enough to get get help, but it's probably not.

8. "Blame It on Your Heart" by Patty Loveless

Sooner or later we all get what's coming to us. If you're lucky, you receive the rewards of your good behavior. But if you're bad, like the low-down man at the center of this 1993 country chart-topper, then others will root for your demise and pin the responsibility for your downfall right where it belongs: you.

The gal in this song sought to be her boyfriend's one and only lover, but he betrayed her and left her lonely. Now she's kicking him to the curb like yesterday's garbage:

Well the love we had is gone
So blame it on your lying, cheating, cold dead beating
Two-timing and double dealing
Mean mistreating, loving heart.

This song has some of the most memorable put-downs in country music, all rattled out in one breath.

9. "Blame It on Me" by George Ezra

Both love and life sometimes require one to take a leap of faith and follow one's dreams. Not everyone has the hutzpah to blindly do that, however.

In this perky, uptempo folk rock song from 2014, a man beseeches his female partner to take a chance and advance their treasured relationship. Although he offers to shoulder all of the blame should failure result, his more cautious signficant other throws away what they have together. After all, some of us need predictable familiarity above all else.

10. "Blame It on the Tetons" by Modest Mouse

This 2004 indie rock song is a commentary on today's popular unwillingness to take personal accountability for mistakes. Rather than admit failure or imperfections, we are quick to blameshift or find an easy scapegoat. As a result, the narrator imagines that it's as if we are all helplessly stranded in a metaphorical burning building—stuck in a moral quandry that is consuming us alive. Perhaps the way out, he surmises, is to rise above the conflict like a cloud, taking a bird's eye view. Technically, Most clouds are between 10,000-60,000 feet.²

11. "I Blame You" by Ledisi

There is pure sparkle in this girl's step as she glows glows, smiles like a fool, and dances through her day. She takes time to smell the roses, models in the mirror (looking fine), and cannot contain her schoolgirl giddiness. What's happened to her? Love (or something like it) has struck her. She teases her lover that he's accountable for this dramatic change in her. This sultry R&B was released in 2014.

12. "Baby Come Back" by Player

Forget stupid pride. When the man in this 1977 soft rock love song acted like a jerk, his girlfriend broke up with him, leaving him to learn the hard way that his feelings were genuine. Miserable and unable to forget her, Romeo grovels and pleads for a second chance to make this right:

Baby come back, any kind of fool could see
There was something in everything about you
Baby come back, you can blame it all on me
I was wrong, and I just can't live without you.

13. "Nobody to Blame" by Chris Stapleton

When you have an hateful and vindictive ex on your hands, most people wouldn't admit that they deserve it, but the man in this 2015 country song is unusual in that way. His estranged wife tore his image out of their wedding photo, threw his clothes out in the yard, and sunk his treasured hot rod in the local pond. And that's just for starters.

Although the guilty hearted narrator doesn't come clean to us about what he did to infuriate his ex, only one thing will provoke someone like this: infidelity.

14. "Don't Blame It on the Whiskey" by Jon Pardi (Featuring Lauren Alaina)

In the dying throes of a troubled relationship, the couple in this mournful 2019 love ballad is trying to save what they have, if possible. It's clear that they've been through this game before, fighting all night and throwing darts at each other. The more they drink, the more sharper and more terse their hurled words become.

This time is different, however, in that they eventually implore each other to do some soul searching and resist blaming alcohol for the hurtful words that have been spoken. They need a come to Jesus meeting about whether their marriage will survive.

15. "Look What You Made Me Do" by Taylor Swift

Why take any responsibility when you can throw it back to your archnemesis? Taylor Swift casts some major shade in this 2017 chart-topping pop ditty that became a viral hit.

Although the singer has cryptically reported that the song is about realizing that you cannot trust certain people, critics are more pointed. They argue that it is about both the music industry deviously controlling artists, as well as Swift's feuds with both Kanye West and Katy Perry.

Although frenemies Perry and Swift reconciled in 2018, Tay-Tay's protracted public battle with West still has legs. It began when the mentally ill rapper interrupted her acceptance speech for best female video at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards with his rambling "I'mma let you finish" outburst. He wanted to proclaim to the audience that Beyoncé was more deserving.

The two stars' much-talked-about enmity spiraled out of control from there. While they occasionally appeared to bury the hatchet, their truce was only temporary. The artists have referred to each other in songs. Additionally, others have also become embroiled in the feud.

16. "How Am I Supposed to Live Without You" by Michael Bolton

Oh, Michael. You can't blame her for this.

In this love ballad from 1989, Michael Bolton plays the role of a narrator who has loved a female friend for years. Helplessly he has pined away for her from the friend zone, failing to make his move when suddenly he hears the news today that she has fallen in love with another man.

The poor guy is crestfallen to learn that he has not only lost the girl he loves to someone else but also she'll be moving away. Tough break, buddy, but this is just one of those things.

17. "Blame" by Bastille

Inspired by The Godfather, this 2016 alt rock song is about the dramatic interplay between two gangsters in the last moments before one dies at the hands of the other. Spiteful pleasure is taken in making the victim beg for his life while he pleads, "Don't pin it all on me."

18. "Blame It on the Stars" by Andy Grammer

What may be a compelling influence strategy to some people is mere flaky detritus to you and I. The guy in this 2014 pop song uses horoscopes to try to convince his love interest to run away with him to Vegas and get married. He insuinuates that they were predestined to be together.

19. "Blame It on the Rain" by Milli Vanilli

Milli Vanilli was one of the most popular artists in the late 1980s and early 1990s, but they will always be known as that German dance-pop duo who lip synched their way to a Grammy Award for Best New Artist then gave it back.

This 1989 song was their last chart-topping hit before scandal left them pointing a finger for the fraud on their record producer. "Blame It on the Rain" is about a man who insists that his heartache is to blame on external factors.

20. "Sorry, Blame It on Me" by Akon

Controversial R&B singer Akon says he wants to take responsibility in several domains of his life in this 2007 hit. Firstly, he apologizes to his significant other for neglecting and disrespecting her, for bringing shame upon her, and for being absent for extended periods of time. (Akon reportedly has six children by three different women, so we aren't sure which lady he's alluding to, however the general sentiment seems legit.)

Secondly, the singer takes the blame for stress he caused his loving single mother. When Akon's father abandoned the family, she was left to support them. Akon unfortunately gave his mother heartache with his legal troubles. He has declared that he was part of an auto-theft ring and spent several years behind bars as a result.

Thirdly, he issues a defensive account accepting blame for a troubling incident in which he danced onstage in a sexually provocative manner with a 15-year-old girl. As a result of public outcry, Verizon withdrew sponsorship from Gwen Stefani for which Akon was the opening act. Stefani lost $3 million in revenue as a consequence. Sorry.

Even More Songs About Blame

Sources

¹Know the risks of marijuana. (2020, December 16). SAMHSA - Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. https://www.samhsa.gov/marijuana.

²Clouds tease the mind, protect life on earth. (2019, April 24). National Geographic. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/clouds-1.

© 2021 FlourishAnyway

Comments

FlourishAnyway (author) from USA on October 21, 2021:

Devika - Thank you for your support and enthusiasm. Have a great week.

Devika Primić from Dubrovnik, Croatia on October 20, 2021:

FlourishAnyway You have another list of songs and this time it is one of my best list. Blame is often on others than on ourselves. These songs are incredible!

FlourishAnyway (author) from USA on October 20, 2021:

Heidi - Thanks for that add. I hope you are doing well and enjoying the nice fall weather. Don't blame yourself so much!

Heidi Thorne from Chicago Area on October 19, 2021:

Me? I'm an "it's my fault" and "I'm sorry" person to a fault. Hubby is constantly correcting on this one.

My add is Madonna's "Sorry" from Confessions on the Dance Floor. Even though he's saying "sorry," she's clearly not accepting his lame excuses.

Have a great week!

FlourishAnyway (author) from USA on October 18, 2021:

Adrienne - I appreciate your stopping by. Gone are the days when people blame themselves. Now I think we tend to automatically cast blame elsewhere. Have a wonderful week with the doggos.

Adrienne Farricelli on October 18, 2021:

Thanks for compiling such an extensive list of songs discussing blame. It is interesting reading what are some possible triggers that caused these authors to write a song about this topic.

FlourishAnyway (author) from USA on October 18, 2021:

Liza - I try to mix it up with old and new while also mixing genres too (to the extent that the songs are available within the various genres). Thank you for your comment. Have a glorious week!

FlourishAnyway (author) from USA on October 18, 2021:

Bill - Usually I start with a word or idea but it that is often triggered by a song from a previous playlist. Thanks for the question and the kind compliment. Hope your week is fabulous!

Bill De Giulio from Massachusetts on October 17, 2021:

Another great list, Flourish. How do you come up with a topic for your playlist? Do you start with a theme and search for songs that fit, or do you start with a particular song that appeals to you and work off of the message in that song? Whatever your method, it works. Have a great week.

Liza from USA on October 17, 2021:

Gosh, this is a cool song list with "blame" as the main subject, and I can confirm that some of the songs on the list are my favorite. I like the fact that you have compiled old and new songs in the list, Flourish.

FlourishAnyway (author) from USA on October 17, 2021:

Bill - You know, you could turn this playlist thing into a game. Maybe you have something.

FlourishAnyway (author) from USA on October 17, 2021:

Linda - There's so much finger pointing. I recall being in college in a large lecture hall. It was a psych class and someone asked a question. It was refreshing to actually hear the professor admit, "Sorry, could you repeat your question? I wasn't listening." We all need to take a look in the mirror at our roles in things large and small and own our behavior. Linda, you've been in my thoughts. I hope you are well.

FlourishAnyway (author) from USA on October 17, 2021:

John - Glad you found some that you enjoy. Thanks for the visit. Have a good week.

Bill Holland from Olympia, WA on October 17, 2021:

I was drawing a big blank when suddenly "Blame It On The Basanova" or however you spell it, popped into my brain. Thank God I came up with at least one, eh?

Happy Sunday my friend!

Linda Lum from Washington State, USA on October 17, 2021:

What a fun list, and what a timely topic! No one takes responsibility any more. It's always someone else's fault. As you might expect, I didn't know the new ones and tapped my toes to the oldies. That back stories are my favorite part of these. I really enjoyed this one. Thanks, Flourish.

John Hansen from Gondwana Land on October 17, 2021:

Wow, what a huge list of songs about "Blame." There are some good ones amongst it though. Thanks for all the work compiling these, Flourish.

FlourishAnyway (author) from USA on October 17, 2021:

Peggy - I hope you were able to find some new songs that were interesting listens. Thanks for dropping by to leave a comment. Have a fabulous week!

FlourishAnyway (author) from USA on October 17, 2021:

Dona - I recall being surprised by that when I found out too. Thank you for reading and commenting. Have a good weekend!

FlourishAnyway (author) from USA on October 17, 2021:

Umesh - Thanks for your encouraging words. Have a wonderful weekend!

FlourishAnyway (author) from USA on October 17, 2021:

Misbah - I appreciate your warm comment. Thank you for stopping by to read and leave a supportive, uplifting note.

FlourishAnyway (author) from USA on October 17, 2021:

Pamela - Once you know some of these singers' backstories, it's harder to separate the biography from their music. I think less of certain artists because of their behavior (yep, I blame them). Thanks for stopping by to take a look.

Peggy Woods from Houston, Texas on October 16, 2021:

You continually amaze me in your collection of songs with a theme. Numbers 12 and 16 were familiar, but there are so many others you listed that are new to me. Enjoy the balance of your weekend!

Dora Weithers on October 16, 2021:

If I ever knew, I forgot that Jamie Foxx sings. I'm surprised. As usual, an impressive list. Thank you.

Umesh Chandra Bhatt from Kharghar, Navi Mumbai, India on October 16, 2021:

Another beautiful compilation by the author. Well done Flourish. Keep it up. All the best.

Misbah Sheikh from "a Serene Land" (This Existence Is an Illusion) on October 16, 2021:

A fantastic collection of songs. Ha, blame Games. ;) Flourish, I've listened to a lot of the songs from your playlist. Look What You Made Me Do, Nobody to Blame, Blame It on Your Heart, Blame It on Me are some of my favourites.

Thank you so much for sharing! Have a wonderful weekend.

Blessings and love as always.

Pamela Oglesby from Sunny Florida on October 16, 2021:

I like many of these songs, Flourish. I like song by Jadon Aldean as I like a low voice like his, and I usually like his songs. I think the Taylor swift song is good but I am not really a fan of her.

U a not familiar with some of these singers, but overall this is another very good article, Fl;ourish.