Stereogum » Kool And The Gang

20 Songs Named After The Bands That Played Them

tom — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 16:46:23 +0000

Self-titled albums are one thing. But when a band names one of its songs after itself — or, alternately, when a band names itself after one of its songs — it’s a pretty big deal. The song itself comes off looking something like a mission statement, an encapsulation of everything that the band means. When Bad Company names a song “Bad Company,” they want you to know that this song is what they’re all about.

Not too many bands have been brave enough to attempt this trick throughout history. For some reason, a lot of the bands who did attempt it were either metal or hardcore. We’ve collected 20 of them below, and some of them are pretty great. We’ve weeded out all the songs that are only partially named after the groups, which means we’ve weeded out some more pretty great songs. Honorable mentions include Queen’s “Killer Queen,” the Clash’s “This Is Radio Clash,” Big Country’s “In A Big Country,” the Stray Cats’ “Stray Cat Strut,” Das-EFX’s “They Want EFX,” Nas’s “Nas Is Like,” Refused’s “Refused Are Fucking Dead,” Wilco’s “Wilco (The Song),” and of course the Monkees’ “(Theme From) The Monkees.”

Check out our selections and stream the songs below. And in the comments section, let us know what we forgot.

Reunited Van Halen Prep A Different Kind Of Truth, Tour

tom — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 14:25:32 +0000

It’s been a long, long time since Van Halen released an album with their cartoonishly awesome first frontman David Lee Roth. Diamond Dave and the band parted ways spitefully after they released the 1984 album 1984, and then the band went on to make a bunch of bullshit with Sammy Hagar and Gary Cherone replacing Dave. A couple of years ago, though, Roth and Van Halen reunited for a long arena tour, and now they’ve finally made another album. It’s called A Different Kind Of Truth, and it drops 2/7 on Interscope. The single “Tattoo” arrives Tuesday.

Last night, the band got together — with Eddie Van Halen’s son Wolfgang once again lamely replacing original bassist Michael Anthony — to play a small show at New York’s Café Wha?, and they’ve got a whole bunch of much larger arena shows coming up. In February, the band will head out on a bigass North American tour. Kool & The Gang, awesomely enough, will open some of the dates. We’ve got their itinerary below, along with some video of last night’s “Panama,” video.

My Morning Jacket Ring In 2009 At MSG

Scott — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 18:38:56 +0000

It’s a new year, we’re glad to be here … hopefully your hangover has subsided by now. I’ve seen some memorable NYE shows in NYC in recent years — the Strokes/GBV, DB-T, CYHSY, Dirty Projectors — but I don’t remember any as fun as this Jacket show sounds (well, maybe the Strokes). Celebrating at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday night, Jim James and Co. brought Nicole Atkins, Will Johnson, a horn section, and white tuxes to change into before the ball dropped. Their marathon set featured ten covers, including a final encore of “Auld Lang Syne” and two Kool & The Gang classics at midnight (“Get Down On It” was a hit at Bonnaroo last year, but this is their first stab at “Celebration” as far as I know [UPDATE: Ah, they did it last year, too.]). MP3s and video of balloon popping this way…