How Kings of Leon's feelings on Sex On Fire changed over the years

4 September 2024, 14:00 | Updated: 4 September 2024, 14:04

Kings of Leon on Sex on Fire's billion streams milestone

By Jenny Mensah

Caleb and Jared Followill spoke to Radio X's Dan O'Connell earlier this year about their single surpassing a billion streams and how their feelings towards the song has changed over the years.

Loading audio...

Kings of Leon's Sex on Fire is 16 years old this week.

Released on 4th September 2008 from the band's fourth studio album Only By The Night, the song catapulted the already successful band into the stratosphere and has become a mainstay on during their live performances ever since.

However, the song's popularity hasn't always been an easy pill to swallow for Caleb Followill and co. Find out why here...

Do Kings of Leon like Sex on Fire?

Back in May 2024, the Sex on Fire hit the headlines for surpassing the billion streams mark and asked if it's something they ever imagined would happen, they told Radio X's Dan O'Connell they were "blown away" by the achievement.

"Sex on Fire is a weird one," revealed bassist Jared. "It's almost grown in a cult fashion since it came out. It was pretty big and I think Use Somebody was even bigger and now Sex on Fire is the biggest one and we didn't expect it and we still are blown away."

Frontman Caleb admitted: "It's one of those songs that we used to kind of... you don't dread playing it, but it's one of those things where you would just see how much bigger of a response it got to everything else and it made you feel bad for the rest of [the set].

"But then you get to a point of pride where you go, 'Man we did this. We wrote this song. Let's go out there and enjoy it."

He added: "We always know we have it in our pocket and between that and Use Somebody, I don't think there are many places in the world where we couldn't break into those songs and people wouldn't be like, 'Oh I know this song!'"

Kings of Leon with their Sex On Fire single inset. Picture: Press

When it comes to achieving more bucket list moments, the band added that there were "always new" things to achieve, but creating a legacy is up there.

"There's always new boxes," said Jared. "I mean, I think that we all probably have lofty goals, but without ignoring the fact that we've hit a lot of awesome milestones, I think that respect is a big one and creating a legacy.

"Going down as a band that was important and meant something and did good things."

Quizzed if they see themselves becoming like The Rolling Stones or U2, the bassist admitted: "That's the dream," before his brother said: "I feel like you have to be at a certain level for that to make sense."

The frontman added: "To be playing shows at their age in a small venue doesn't make as much sense. [To be] at the level where you're playing those big places and people are coming out just to celebrate your catalogue... I don't know.

"I feel like we talk about it a lot. Like, 'When is the last bit of it?' And every time we think it's getting close, when it gets here, we're like, 'Oh no, not yet. Let's keep going.'