Sex On Fire

Written for Glyn’s Mixed Music Bag week #25
where we are asked to write about a song by a group
or solo singer beginning with the letter K or L

Kings of Leon is an American rock band formed in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1999. The band is composed of brothers Caleb, Nathan and Jared Followill, and their cousin Matthew Followill. The band’s early music was a blend of Southern rock and garage rock with blues influences, but it has evolved throughout the years to include a variety of genres and a more alternative, arena rock sound. Kings of Leon achieved initial success in the United Kingdom with nine Top 40 singles, two BRIT Awards in 2008, and all three of the band’s albums at the time peaked in the top five of the UK Albums Chart. Their third album, Because of the Times, reached #1.

After the release of their 4^th album, Only by the Night in September 2008, the band achieved chart success in the United States. The singles “Sex On Fire”, “Use Somebody” and “Notion”  all peaked at #1 on the Hot Modern Rock Tracks chart. The album was their first platinum-selling album in the United States and the best-selling album of 2008 in Australia, being certified platinum nine times. The group has 12 Grammy Award nominations, including 4 wins.

“Sex on Fire” has been described as alternative rock. The song was written about lead singer Caleb’s then-girlfriend (and now-wife), model Lily Aldridge. In an interview with Australian radio station Triple J, Nathan Followill explained that the band never intended the song to be named “Sex on Fire” and that it was not intended to be about sexuality.

The song received generally positive reviews. Digital Spy rated the song 4/5 stars, describing it as “a truly stirring single“.  Planet Sound also rated the song 9/10. However, Caleb Followill originally thought the song was “terrible” and it was almost ditched during recording.

In the United Kingdom, “Sex on Fire” entered the official UK Singles chart at #1 on September 14, 2008 and went on to an unbroken 42 weeks on the chart. In Germany, the single debuted at #97 on the German Singles chart; in its 32^nd week on the chart, the song finally reached its peak of number 33. As of February 2011, the song had been on the chart for 60 weeks, a huge effort for a single that didn’t even reach the top 20.

This is “Sex On Fire” by Kings Of Leon

Mixed Music Bag 2024 – Kasabian

Big thanks to Glyn for hosting Mixed Music Bag every week.

Thanks for joining me today and spinning some tunes.

See you on the flip side. 😎

NAR©2024

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