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Self-titled: A Quick Look at Rock and Roll Self-referentialism

Jul 2, 2010 Line 6 General
Posted by Line6DP

As musicians, our enthusiasm for our music can be absolute. We lie awake at night pondering everything from band names to CD art to our guitar rigs. We are forced to re-read pages of books and magazines because a single word or phrase can launch our imaginations into endless loops of music-induced orbit.

Not easily contained, this burning emotion can grow exponentially, building with volcano-like intensity. For many, the only way to release this pressurized passion is to invoke the ultimate gesture of unbridled musical enthusiasm: write a self-titled song and release it on a self-titled album.

Hitting the Trifecta

The band-song-album triumvirate is the sweetest confection produced by a special recipe of equal parts enthusiasm, ego and “us-against-the-world” attitude. Bands like Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, Minor Threat, and Motörhead certainly fit comfortably into this category. Bands like the Monkees, well…

The band…	released the song…	on the album…
Bad Company	Bad Company	Bad Company
Black Sabbath	Black Sabbath	Black Sabbath
Iron Maiden	Iron Maiden	Iron Maiden
Minor Threat	Minor Threat	Minor Threat
The Monkees	(Theme From) The Monkees	The Monkees
Motörhead	Motörhead	Motörhead
Wilco	Wilco (The Song)	Wilco (The Album)

Close Enough for Rock and Roll

Some groups can be counted for writing self-titled songs that don’t appear on self-titled albums…

Band	Song	Album
Dr. Octagon	Dr. Octagon	Dr. Octagonecologyst
Voivod	Voivod	War and Pain

…while others not inclined to strive for the eponymous hat-trick may settle for a more accepted convention, the self-titled album. (That list is huge. Thankfully, someone else created it.)

Warranting their own list, many bands opt for slightly less direct ways to express who they are, what they do, and whether or not they are funky.

Band	Song	Album
Cactus	Cactus Music	V
DRI	Who Am I?	Dirty Rotten LP
The Flying Burrito Brothers	Hot Burrito #3	Flying Again
The Jimi Hendrix Experience	Are You Experienced?	Are You Experienced?
Public Enemy	Public Enemy No. 1	Yo! Bum Rush The Show
Prince and the New Power Generation	My Name is Prince	Love Symbol
Queen	Killer Queen	Sheer Heart Attack
Run-D.M.C.	They Call Us Run-D.M.C.	Tougher Than Leather
The Who	Who Are You	Who Are You
Wu-Tang Clan	Clan In Da Front	Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)
	Wu-Tang: 7th Chamber
	Wu-Tang Clan Ain’t Nuthing Ta F#$k Wit
	Wu-Tang: 7th Chamber—Part II

Un-categorizable?

The song “R.A.M.O.N.E.S.” was written and performed by Motörhead but later covered by, guess who, the Ramones for a version of their farewell album, Adios Amigos.

What Else?

Can you think of more? What am I forgetting? Add them in the comments!

Note: Because self-referential content is a bigger anomaly in rock than in hip hop, many hip hop examples were deliberately not included. (Wu-Tang Clan was included for their sheer dedication to the cause – four song titles on a single album!)

Tags: attitude, bad company, black sabbath, cd, dr. octagon, dri, flying burrito brothers, iron maiden, jimi, minor threat, monkees, motorhead, prince, public enemy, queen, ramones, run dmc, self-titled, the who, wilco, wu-tang