When Kings of Leon heard “Sex on Fire” on the radio for the first time

If it were necessary to divide the career of the Kings of Leon in two stages, it would be before and after “Sex on Fire”. The first single from the band’s fourth album, Only by the Night (2008), became a hit and catapulted the American group — which was already known especially in the United Kingdom — to definitive stardom.

The song is so important in the trajectory of the quartet — composed of Caleb, Jared, Nathan It is Matthew Followill — that you couldn’t forget the first time it was played on the radio. The debut took place on the famous Zane Lowe at BBC Radio 1in the United Kingdom.

In an interview with USA Today, Caleb remembered the occasion. The vocalist and guitarist said he was with his wife at a Mexican restaurant.

“We were having tortilla soup and margaritas. I think Andy, our manager, called me and said, ‘Hey, there’s an interview we need you to do now.’ I picked up the phone and it was Zane Lowe. He was debuting ‘Sex on Fire’.”

The musician did not, in fact, have access to a radio device. However, as he needed to give the presenter a brief interview, he stayed on the line listening while the song was performed.

“When he introduced the song, even listening to it on the phone, I thought, ‘Man, this sounds different.’ So we got some shots to go with our margaritas.”

In a 2008 interview with NME, the frontman said he didn’t expect “Sex on Fire” to become something so big. Because when he composed the song, it wasn’t even something serious.

“I had a melody and I didn’t know what to do. Then, one day, I sang: this sex is on fire’ and laughed. I thought it was terrible, but the rest of the band said, ‘it’s good, we have a chorus’. I thought, ‘Fuck you!’, but I ended up keeping it.”

In the same vehicle, but in 2021, Caleb showed that he had a milder view regarding the hit. For him, the track was so important — like the entire album Only by the Night — that perhaps, without this material, Kings of Leon could be closed.

“There comes a point where you can be proud of what you have achieved or you can simply get upset. My bitter side was never because of the music itself, it was because I thought we should have gotten this kind of recognition earlier in our career. When the thing arrives, it arrives. There is no way to recreate or repress this. Without this material, who knows if we would still be recording records today?”

Kings of Leon and “Sex on Fire”

“Sex on Fire” made Kings of Leon reach the top of the charts in Australia, Finland, Ireland and the United Kingdom for the first time. The band reached the highest position on the digital download list in the UK. In the United States, it reached a shy 56th place, but paved the way for the next single, “Use Somebody”climbed to 4th place.

The recognition also resulted in the group’s first nominations for Grammy. In 2008, they competed with “Sex on Fire” in the categories Best Rock Song and Best Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group, with the group winning the latter. Only by the Night It was also nominated for Best Rock Album at the time.