“Sex On Fire” by Kings of Leon

"Sex on Fire" opened the campaign for Kings of Leon's fourth album, Only by the Night, in 2008, and it plays like a band that had decided to aim for the back row of the arena. Matthew Followill's guitar chimes and churns, Jared Followill's bass pulses like a racing heartbeat, Nathan Followill drives the whole thing at a gallop, and Caleb Followill, playing guitar too, howls the chorus in a hoarse yelp that sounds half ecstasy, half fever. All four Followills share the writing credit, and the other three stack their voices behind him.

Jacquire King produced it with Angelo Petraglia, recording and mixing it himself, and kept it lean and urgent. It became the first song to take the band all the way to the top in the UK, Ireland, Australia and Finland; in Britain it hit the top on downloads before the physical single was even in shops, and by September 2009 only one digital single had ever been downloaded more there. In the States it topped the Hot Modern Rock Tracks chart and crossed onto the Hot 100.

At the 51st Grammy Awards it picked up two nominations and won Best Rock Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group.

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