Todd Rundgren wrote, Baby Let's Swing, to Laura Nyro, and mentions her several times in the song.
Songs that name other bands/artists
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First few that leap to mind:
Motorhead - "R.A.M.O.N.E.S"
Drive By Truckers - "Three Great Alabama Icons" and "Ronnie and Neil" (Lynyrd Skynyrd and Neil Young)
Clash - "1977" (No Elvis, Beatles, or the Rolling Stones in 1977)
Patti Smith - "Rock'n'Roll Nigger" (Jackson Pollock)
And one of my current enormo-faves, the Hold Steady's very lovely "We Can Get Together" which mentions songs by Pavement and albums by Husker Du but is largely about the suicide of Mathew Fletcher of Talulah Gosh and Heavenly.
Motorhead - "R.A.M.O.N.E.S"
Drive By Truckers - "Three Great Alabama Icons" and "Ronnie and Neil" (Lynyrd Skynyrd and Neil Young)
Clash - "1977" (No Elvis, Beatles, or the Rolling Stones in 1977)
Patti Smith - "Rock'n'Roll Nigger" (Jackson Pollock)
And one of my current enormo-faves, the Hold Steady's very lovely "We Can Get Together" which mentions songs by Pavement and albums by Husker Du but is largely about the suicide of Mathew Fletcher of Talulah Gosh and Heavenly.
U2 indirectly references Bruce Cockburn's "Lovers in a Dangerous Time" in their "God Part II:"
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There's a convoluted but rather convincing argument to be made that Steve Miller references Vernon Green of the Medallions, also indirectly.
From Miller's "The Joker:"
referencing Miller's earlier song, "Enter Maurice:"
likely referencing The Medallions' "The Letter:"
which was only available in a hard-to-hear old recording, until someone tracked down the original author of "The Letter," Vernon Green:
This is all detailed in one post at The Straight Dope, and I now rest easy at night.
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There's a convoluted but rather convincing argument to be made that Steve Miller references Vernon Green of the Medallions, also indirectly.
From Miller's "The Joker:"
referencing Miller's earlier song, "Enter Maurice:"
likely referencing The Medallions' "The Letter:"
which was only available in a hard-to-hear old recording, until someone tracked down the original author of "The Letter," Vernon Green:
This is all detailed in one post at The Straight Dope, and I now rest easy at night.
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Cracker:
What the world needs now is a new Frank Sinatra
So I can get you in bed
What the world needs now is another folk singer
Like I need a hole in my head
Some one-hitter, a few years ago, a song called Do It with Madonna, mentions Madge, as well as P!nk and a few others.
What the world needs now is a new Frank Sinatra
So I can get you in bed
What the world needs now is another folk singer
Like I need a hole in my head
Some one-hitter, a few years ago, a song called Do It with Madonna, mentions Madge, as well as P!nk and a few others.
It has probably been mentioned before, but Pavement's "Stereo" names Geddy Lee 
Veruca Salt's "With David Bowie" names...can you guess?
Lynda Lyndell's "What A Man" names James Brown.
Veruca Salt's "With David Bowie" names...can you guess?
Lynda Lyndell's "What A Man" names James Brown.
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The Tom Tom Club's Genius of Love references James Brown.
Mojo Nixon and Skid Roper had a Song called Debbie Gibson Is Pregnant with my Two-Headed Love Child.
This Is Hell by Elvis Costello:
"My Favorite thing is playiong again and again,
But it's by Julie Andrews and not by John Coltrane"
David Bowie wrote a whole Song For Bob Dylan.
Lavish Cat referenced it in their song for Jonathan Richman:
"Jonathan Richman, I wrote a song for you
Like David Bowie wrote one for Dylan, too"
And I'm pretty sure Richman's Modern Lovers referenced The Velvet Underground and other acts, but I can't seem to find that right now.
They Might Be Giants had a song called XTC vs. Adam Ant also referencing:
"Even the singer of Bow Wow Wow
Can't make up their mind"
If I remember the commentary they had online back then correctly, the idea to that song came when they were recording a cover version of The Dukes of Stratosphears' (aka XTC's) 25 O'Clock, where they included a whole list of eighties' bands, played backwards.
Not sure if this counts, but the Waterboys had a song called World Party. It doesn't really reference the band, but it can be read as a nod towards Karl Wallinger who had just left the Waterboys to form World Party.
Then, of course, both the Waterboys' and World Party's songs are full of references. Here's one from World Party's Sweet Soul Dream:
"I've got some '61 Beatles..."
Or from the Waterboys' Everybody Takes a Tumble:
"Sinéad O'Connor is the guest of honor
and The Blades are going to play
Old Van Morrison's moanin'
something 'bout a copycat..."
The Wateboys were even named after a line from Lou Reed's The Kids:
"I am the Water Boy, the real game's not over here
But my heart is overflowin' anyway"
And their first hit A Girl Called Johnny was a tribute to Patti Smith.
Speaking of which:
She references Hendrix, too. Or was that just in the Godfathers cover?
Mojo Nixon and Skid Roper had a Song called Debbie Gibson Is Pregnant with my Two-Headed Love Child.
This Is Hell by Elvis Costello:
"My Favorite thing is playiong again and again,
But it's by Julie Andrews and not by John Coltrane"
David Bowie wrote a whole Song For Bob Dylan.
Lavish Cat referenced it in their song for Jonathan Richman:
"Jonathan Richman, I wrote a song for you
Like David Bowie wrote one for Dylan, too"
And I'm pretty sure Richman's Modern Lovers referenced The Velvet Underground and other acts, but I can't seem to find that right now.
They Might Be Giants had a song called XTC vs. Adam Ant also referencing:
"Even the singer of Bow Wow Wow
Can't make up their mind"
If I remember the commentary they had online back then correctly, the idea to that song came when they were recording a cover version of The Dukes of Stratosphears' (aka XTC's) 25 O'Clock, where they included a whole list of eighties' bands, played backwards.
Not sure if this counts, but the Waterboys had a song called World Party. It doesn't really reference the band, but it can be read as a nod towards Karl Wallinger who had just left the Waterboys to form World Party.
Then, of course, both the Waterboys' and World Party's songs are full of references. Here's one from World Party's Sweet Soul Dream:
"I've got some '61 Beatles..."
Or from the Waterboys' Everybody Takes a Tumble:
"Sinéad O'Connor is the guest of honor
and The Blades are going to play
Old Van Morrison's moanin'
something 'bout a copycat..."
The Wateboys were even named after a line from Lou Reed's The Kids:
"I am the Water Boy, the real game's not over here
But my heart is overflowin' anyway"
And their first hit A Girl Called Johnny was a tribute to Patti Smith.
Speaking of which:
She references Hendrix, too. Or was that just in the Godfathers cover?
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Modern Lovers - "Velvet Underground"
They were wild like the USA
A mystery band in a New York way
Rock and roll, but not like the rest
And to me, America at it's best
How in the world were they making that sound?
Velvet Underground.
And then there's this "cover" by the very lovely TV Personalities - a band who named checked all and sundry.
TV Personalities - "Velvet Underground"
("Don't sit under the apple tree with anyone but Lou Reed")
The TVPs had a live favourite called "Another Rainy Day In Manchester" that mocked Morrissey at length. This is a really very poor version of it but it's all I could find.
TV Personalities - "Another Rainy Day In Manchester"
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