Gogol Bordello's Eugene Hutz on Soaking Up Culture and Making Crowds Dance

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Gogol Bordello have become staples of the summer festival scene, and their sets are typically weekend-stealers. Their Friday afternoon performance at Lollapalooza was no exception, as Eugene Hutz brought his group's brand of madcap gypsy punk to a rabid crowd at Chicago's Grant Park. Click above to find out how Hutz manages to whip himself into a frenzy for shows and how the group constructs its multi-cultural pastiche songs.

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Song Stories

“Everyday People”

Sly and the Family Stone | 1968

"Everyday People" managed to trailblaze in two different ways -- it was one of the first pop hits to deal with the subject of racial harmony, and it utilized Larry Graham's "slap" technique on the bass guitar, which would soon be copied by countless other bassists. Graham once said about his pulsating style, "I'd never done that before … that's where the freedom of creativity came in for the band, that we'd be allowed to do that." In 1978, the song's line "Different strokes for different folks" would be borrowed for the title of the hit television show Diff'rent Strokes.

More Song Stories entries »

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