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Cover of Tell Me I’m Pretty by Cage The Elephant — Cover: Tell Me I’m Pretty

Song · Cage The Elephant

“Mess Around” by Cage The Elephant

From the album Tell Me I’m Pretty (2015)

“Mess Around” by Cage The Elephant appears on 19 radio countdowns from 17 stations between 2015 and 2022. It was first released in 2015 on the album Tell Me I’m Pretty. Its best result is #11 on the 91X Top 91 Songs of 2016. In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #37 alternative song of 2016, #6,186 alternative song of all time and #253 of the '10s.

19countdowns

17stations

#11best position

0#1 finishes

0top 10 finishes

2015–2022years charted

Watch

Cage The Elephant - Mess Around (Official Video)

Video from YouTube (CageTheElephantVEVO). Pressing play loads YouTube's player. Watch on YouTube

"Mess Around" led off Cage the Elephant's fourth studio album, Tell Me I'm Pretty, in 2015, with Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys producing and arranging. It came close to being left off. Guitarist Brad Shultz built it around the kind of vicious riffing he loved in Jay Reatard's records, then worried it didn't fit the album; his brother Matt talked him into it, drawn to a rapid-fire vocal attack he'd picked up from OutKast.

What results is a wiry, swaggering garage stomp: Brad Shultz and Nick Bockrath's guitars snapping at each other, Daniel Tichenor's bass and Jared Champion's drums keeping it lean, Matthan Minster on keys and percussion, and Matt Shultz spitting the lines out at speed. Tom Elmhirst mixed it. It topped Billboard's Alternative Songs chart, their sixth number one there, and its video was stitched together from Georges Méliès films, A Trip to the Moon among them.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.

RockLists rankings

Alternative & Modern Rock

Indie & Adult Alternative

All Rock Formats

Year-end countdowns

Year	#	Station	Countdown	of
2015	15	91X San Diego, CA / Tijuana	91X Top 91 Songs of 2015	91
2015	33	89X Detroit, MI / Windsor, ON	89X Top 89 Songs of 2015	89
2015	65	The Buzz Burlington, VT / Plattsburgh, NY / Montreal, QC	The Buzz Top 99 Songs of 2015	99
2015	60	102.7 WEQX Southern Vermont and the Capital District of New York (Albany)	WEQX Top 102.7 of 2015	103
2015	12	WRNR 103.1 Annapolis, MD	WRNR Top 103.1 Songs of 2015	104
2015	49	107.1 The Peak Westchester County, NY	WXPK Top 107 Songs of 2015	107
2015	78	The Current Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN	The Current Top 89 Songs of 2015	89
2016	11	91X San Diego, CA / Tijuana	91X Top 91 Songs of 2016	91
2016	13	CD101 Columbus, OH	CD101 Top 102.5 Songs of 2016	103
2016	24	The Buzz Burlington, VT / Plattsburgh, NY / Montreal, QC	The Buzz Top 99 Songs of 2016	99
2016	15	90.9 The Bridge Kansas City, MO	90.9 The Bridge Top 100 Songs of 2016	90
2016	20	92.3 WTTS Indianapolis-Bloomington, IN	WTTS Top 50 Songs of 2016	50
2016	12	Lightning 100 Nashville, TN	Lightning 100 Top 100.1 Songs of 2016	101
2016	22	SiriusXM Alt Nation National (SiriusXM satellite radio)	SiriusXM Alt Nation's 36 Biggest Alternative Songs of 2016	36
2016	23	WFUV New York, NY	WFUV Top 90 Songs of 2016	90

All-time and decade countdowns

Year	#	Station	Countdown	of
2016	483	WYEP	WYEP 913 Countdown 2016	913
2019	73	103.3 The Edge	103.3 The Edge Top 103.3 Songs of the Decade	103
2019	372	94.3 WCYY	WCYY CYY 500 Most Played Songs (2019)	500
2022	493	101X	101X 500 (2022)	498

Charting alongside it in 2016

Best songs of 2016 →

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