My friend Ken and I decided to listen to an album every day this year. Each week is themed. At the end of each week, we rank what we listened to. To be clear, we aren’t ranking every album that fits the theme. We are only ranking what we chose to listen to during the last seven days.
This week’s theme is “the song is the album is the artist,” meaning self-titled albums that also contain a song with the same name. If that sounds confusing, an example will clarify things. Black Sabbath opens their debut studio album Black Sabbath with a song called “Black Sabbath.” Though not common, there are more examples of this than you’d think.
#7 The Good, The Bad & the Queen by The Good, The Bad & the Queen (2007)
If you told me that Damon Albarn, Paul Simonon, Simon Tong, and Tony Allen were getting together to make an album, I’d assume it would be pretty good. I like the artists all those guys played with (i.e., Blur, Gorillaz, The Clash, The Verve, Fela Kuti). In practice, this supergroup collaboration did not work out, though.
I honestly would struggle to even tell you much about this album. It was so forgettable that I had already forgotten it while it was playing. It was like each of these guys spent so much time trying not to get in the way of one another that nobody did anything interesting.
#6 Kool and the Gang by Kool and the Gang (1969)
Before they were pumping out dance floor anthems, like “Celebration” and “Ladies Night,” Kool and the Gang started out as a funk group from the streets of Jersey City without much need for vocals. In fact, their entire debut album is instrumental.
Because of that, this record often feels like a warm-up, a group whose grooves that would travel the world still trying to find their footing. But even if it’s not all there, these grooves were still strong enough to influence generations. Songs like “Give It Up” have been sampled scores of times, including on hip-hop classics like “Don’t Sweat the Technique.” They hadn’t put it all together yet, but the pieces were in place.
#5 SuperHeavy by SuperHeavy (2009)
About a minute into SuperHeavy’s sole album, I thought to myself, “This singer really sounds like Mick Jagger.” Lo and behold, it was The Rolling Stone wailing over a reggae beat. What was going on?
SuperHeavy was a short-lived supergroup made up of Mick Jagger, Dave Stewart, Joss Stone, Damian Marley, and A. R. Rahman built on a shared bond for the world’s musics, whether it be from the English countryside, the Caribbean Sea, or the mountains of India. That sounds chaotic. But it kind of works. Both Mick Jagger and Damian Marley are too distinct to disappear into a group, but they manage to shape the songs around their respective personalities.
#4 Motörhead by Motörhead (1977)
After being fired from Hawkwind in 1975, the hard-partying bass player Lemmy Kilmister decided to found a new band, Bastard. Some band names likely cap how much you’ll be accepted by the general public (e.g., Diarrhea Planet, Butthole Surfers). “Bastard” is one of those band names. Luckily, Kilmister was convinced by his manager that the name wouldn’t fly. He decided to use the title of the last song he wrote for Hawkwind as his new group’s name: Motörhead.
“Motörhead” is a great name for a band. It’s also a great name for a song. (I guess it’s a great name for an album too.) Though his group is often classified as metal, Lemmy insisted that he was making rock and roll music. Many other hard rockers have claimed much the same. There’s part of me that finds it hard to see the direct line between Lemmy and Chuck Berry. Motörhead plays louder and faster than any of their 1950s forefathers. But there’s another part of me that see what Lemmy means.
Motörhead closes with a cover of “The Train Kept A-Rollin',” a rhythm and blues song that goes back to 1951. As guitarists began to experiment with distortion, they continued covering “The Train Kept A-Rollin'” with great avidity. But the song kept getting heavier and heavier. Tiny Bradshaw → Johnny Burnette → The Yardbirds → Aerosmith. By the time Lemmy got his hands on it, it sounded like a locomotive set aflame. Though he has heavily influenced hard rock and metal players, Lemmy stands in a long line of rock and rollers.
#3 Wilco (The Album) by Wilco (2009)
Most often when a group has a song named after themselves on an album named after themselves, that song is on their debut album. That’s because, as with Motörhead, the group didn’t have a name when they were making their debut album. When Wilco put a self-titled song on a self-titled album, they were 14 years and 7 albums into their career.
Because of this, Wilco’s self-titled track is a bit more tongue-in-cheek than others. In fact, Jeff Tweedy went so far as to describe it as an “infomercial” for the band. That self-awareness is prevalent across this entire record. It’s a folksy, occasionally rocking record that shows an aging group looking in at themselves.
#2 Run the Jewels by Run the Jewels (2013)
Both El-P and Killer Mike of Run the Jewels are emcees that can’t be ignored. Their rhymes are dense. Their voices are gruff. And their messages are direct. Run the Jewels doesn’t mince words about whatever point they are trying to make.
Despite that, all I could think about while listening to this record was the beats. They are propulsive but off-kilter, making you shake so hard that you have to grab hold of the nearest wall. We’ve listened to a lot of hip-hop this year, but I don’t think we’ve heard a record that felt quite like this.
#1 Bo Diddley by Bo Diddley (1958)
On his self-titled record’s self-titled song, there’s something else that is named for Bo Diddley: the beat. The beat on the song “Bo Diddley” has become so pervasive that it is actually known as the “Bo Diddley Beat.” Could I write out the rhythm for you? Sure. But it’s probably easier just to list some songs that use it.
“Not Fade Away” by Buddy Holly. “I Want Candy” by The Strangeloves. “Magic Bus” by The Who. “New York Groove” by Ace Frehley. “She’s the One” by Bruce Springsteen. “American Girl” by Tom Petty. “Faith” by George Michael. “Mr. Brownstone” by Guns N' Roses. “Desire” by U2. “Black Horse and the Cherry Tree” by KT Tunstall. “If It’s Lovin’ that You Want” by Rihanna.
Melding African and Latin rhythms, Bo Diddley’s syncopated beat is a perfect example of the magic of mixing cultures. The song it was originally used in illustrates another level of mixing too. The words in “Bo Diddley” are play on the nursery rhyme “Hush, Little Baby” (e.g., “Bo Diddley buy babe a diamond ring / If that diamond ring don’t shine / He gonna take it to a private eye”).
When you talk about Bo Diddley, you always have to start by talking about his eternal rhythm. But I think people should also be talking about his lyrics. Seldom has anyone achieved the swagger of a line like, “Use a cobra snake for a necktie” on “Who Do You Love.” This is music that grabs you by the throat and forces you to pay attention.
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