Eagles of Death Metal Get Sexy

Three years ago, Eagles of Death Metal singer Jesse Hughes was, by his description, "a married, 210-pound working stiff." That was before he teamed with childhood friend (and Queens of the Stone Age frontman) Josh Homme for 2004's blues-rock romp, Peace Love Death Metal. Due in January, the follow-up, Death by Sexy, salutes all the things Hughes loves: ladies, partying hard and Poison.

Homme first met Hughes in high school, playing on the same local soccer team in their hometown of Palm Desert, California. The Eagles formed years later, when Homme convinced Hughes, then a recently divorced journalist, to start rocking out. Hughes, assuming guitar duty while Homme (who goes by the alias Carlo Von Sexron in the Eagles outfit) took over drumming duties.

The first Eagles tracks surfaced on the Homme's Desert Sessions Vol. 3-4 side project in 1998. The pair -- along with additional guitarist Tim VanHamel, from Belgian rock outfit Millionaire -- released their classic-rock-tinged debut album, Peace, Love, Death & Metal, in March 2004.

Their sophomore album was recorded over eight days in Los Angeles. Included on the thirteen tracks are "Shasta Beast," which Hughes says is about "going out with a girl with a curfew," and the swamp-rock Stones send-up "Move in the Night."

But among the record's highlights are in-between-song sound bites from an "artistic discussion" Hughes had with a young female fan late one night in the studio. Says Hughes, "At one point you can actually hear my mustache."

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Song Stories

“I'm Yours”

Jason Mraz | 2008

Jason Mraz re-emerged after his disappointing second album with this lead single, a Jack Johnson-esque ditty about giving yourself fully to someone else. The success of the reggae-tinged song (it earned two Grammy nods and a spot on the Billboard singles chart for well over a year) was something the folk-pop singer never predicted when he wrote it in 15 minutes at home. "I played a happy-hippie chord progression that would probably work without 50 different Bob Marley songs," he told Rolling Stone. "I thought, 'It's too novelty. This is a nursery rhyme,'" concluding that "you can never guess what's gonna be a hit."

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