Kings of Leon “didn’t want” ‘Sex on Fire’ to be on ‘Only By The Night’.
The 2008 track has become the band’s biggest single, but they were reluctant to take advice from their record company because of their concerns the song would overshadow the rest of their album.
Discussing having freedom when recording upcoming new album ‘Can We Please Have Fun’ without the pressure of a record company, Nathan Followill told NME: “There was a little pressure, like, ‘Oh, we don’t have a label,’ but there was more freedom as far as knowing that this record isn’t gonna be finished and then you’re gonna have a couple guys in suits come sit down and be like, ‘That’s a single, that’s a single.’ “
Frontman Caleb Followill added : “Usually whatever the label likes. I’m like, ‘Oh, I hate that.’ A lot of times they’re right and it ends up being successful.”
Asked an example, he said: “’Sex on Fire’. I didn’t want it on the album. But I knew it was… I knew it had potential, but I felt like there were other songs… I knew instantly, ‘Everyone’s gonna hear this and they’re not gonna listen to the rest of [the album].”
When it came to writing the band’s upcoming ninth album, Caleb felt like he was “on a huge acid trip” because he’d never been so inspired.
He said: “I know it’s gonna sound crazy but there was a moment, making this record, where I truly felt like I was the most inspired man in the world.
“I saw things in colours and shapes and sounds. It was just like I was on a huge acid trip. For months!”
“I’d see something on TV and go, ‘Ooh – I can apply that.’ And while it was happening, I was thinking, “Man, I wish other people could feel what I’m feeling right now.”