Birthday Meh Shirt on American Apparel

  • It’s our third birthday! What kind of jerk makes their friends buy a shirt with their name on it for their birthday? This kind of jerk
  • The big celebration is tomorrow – you have one day to train for a Meh-rathon
  • The confetti’d Meh logo is printed on gray, white, black, and red American Apparel, which still exists, sort of
  • Doubles as an advertisement for us, so it’s win-win, for us, anyway.
  • Model: 2001, 2102 (Roughly the dates that the Meh-rathon story will span. Confused? Check back tomorrow and become even more so.)
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Songs of Themselves: Self-Titled Songs

We’re three years old today! Thanks to all you freaks for keeping this going. If we want to walk around wearing a shirt with our own name on it, then by gum, that’s what we’ll do. And you should buy one, too. Please? Come on, IT’S OUR BIRTHDAY.

And if we want to sing a song named after us, we’re going to do that, too. Hey, Meh contributor @JasonToon here. Naming an album after your band is an old move, either as your debut calling card or as a later-career statement of confidence (remember, what we call “The White Album” is officially titled The Beatles).

But naming a single song after yourselves ups the stakes considerably. You’re saying that song is your mission statement, which is a big burden to put on three or so minutes of music. With some help from this piece by my old music-writing colleague Tom Breihan and this massive crowd-sourced list, I’ve put together 14 of my favorite eponymous (see, I told you I used to be a music writer) tunes, also assembled in this redundant-title-heavy YouTube playlist.

Wilco - “Wilco (The Song)” (2009)
“Are you under the impression this isn’t your life?” begins this music commercial for the band, like a pitch for a new wonder pharmaceutical. “Do you dabble in depression?” The answer is a dose of Wilco, who “will love you, baby.”

Motörhead - “Motorhead” (1977)
Motörhead is actually a band named after a song: Lemmy wrote it when he was in Hawkwind, then took it as the name and theme song of his new band. Yes, the band name has an umlaut and the song title doesn’t.

The Ramones - “R.A.M.O.N.E.S.” (1996)
Motörhead did write the self-titled song for another great band, who then recorded their own version. Too bad the Ramones broke up before they could write a song called “Hawkwind” and close the circle.

The Hives - “T.H.E. H.I.V.E.S.” (2007)
Another acronymized theme shows that self-titled songs aren’t always embodiments of the artist’s style: the Hives, masters at hellacious howlin’ garage punk, go disco here.

Talk Talk - “Talk Talk” (1982)
That’s four "talk"s in the title, if you’re scoring at home. Too bad they didn’t also title the album Talk Talk.

Bo Diddley - “Bo Diddley” (1955)
Right from his first single, Bo Diddley let the world know who he was and what he was selling. That’s truth in labeling.

They Might Be Giants - “They Might Be Giants” (1990)
Decades before they created two theme songs for Meh, TMBG recorded their own. Pretty cool that they saved one of their weirdest early songs (it had been kicking around since 1985) for their relatively slick major-label debut.

Minor Threat - “Minor Threat” (1982)
Lots of hardcore punk bands had self-titled songs, which makes sense in a genre where everything from your logo to your choice of footwear was a manifesto.

The Yellow Balloon - “Yellow Balloon” (1967)
A pleasant enough pop-psychedelic number, but I mainly just thought it was funny to put it in between Minor Threat and Iron Maiden.

Iron Maiden - “Iron Maiden” (1980)
Like hardcore punk, metal’s total conceptual package also lends itself to self-titling: one of the founders of the genre, Black Sabbath, started it with the very first track on their very first album in 1970, and pretty much every metal band today seems to have a self-titled song. I like this one from when Iron Maiden was at its fastest and rawest.

Kool and the Gang - “Kool and the Gang” (1969)
Whoa! As an advertisement for the band’s funk prowess, this storming instrumental will have any potential customer asking for more.

Belle & Sebastian - “Belle & Sebastian” (2005)
Is this song about the French children’s novel that both band and song took their name from? I don’t know the book well enough to say and the lyrics don’t offer much. But again, as a one-song sample of the band’s whole vibe, it hits the mark.

Public Image Ltd. - “Public Image” (1978)
OK, so Johnny Rotten/Lydon’s post-Sex Pistols band was originally called Public Image, with the “Ltd.” added as a joke about how bands are just like corporations or whatever. So I’m counting it.

Eyeliner - “Eyeliner” (2012)
Just in case there’s the tiniest speck of doubt what you’re getting here, the album is called High-Fashion Mood Music. Sure enough, it sounds like a Clinique counter run through a synthesizer.

There are hundreds and hundreds more I could have listed here, so if I missed your favorite from Reagan Youth or Bad Company or Rammstein, don’t take it personally - but please do post it in the forum! Until next time, I’ll be working on this kick-ass jam I’m calling “Jason Toon”.

More songs with all kinds of titles are all queued up for you in our past weekend playlists:

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