Cage The Elephant Release New Song Featuring Iggy Pop, “Broken Boy”
Photo by Neil Krug
Cage The Elephant, the staple alternative-rock band, shared a new single “Broken Boy” on Thursday. “Broken Boy” appeared as the first track on their latest album Social Cues, but now features the “Godfather of Punk” Iggy Pop for a new twist with some punk flavor.
“Broken Boy” fades into the eerie sounds of what reminds us of the title track from the popular ‘80s-inspired TV show Stranger Things. With futuristic synthesizer sounds and a feature from an ‘80s superstar, “Broken Boy” sounds like a blast from the past. As the volume creeps up, so do the drums, and as the angsty banging away on the drum kit gets louder and louder, it almost becomes deafening.
With a Stranger Things intro and sloppy, fast-paced, punk-style drumming, it’s kind of confusing what kind of genre this might be, or if this is even Cage The Elephant at all. However, 30 seconds in, we’re blessed with the nostalgic sounds of classic Cage The Elephant. Lead vocalist Matt Shultz comes in with his raspy voice that’s defined the sound of 2000s alternative rock and their classic bouncy guitar riffs take us back to classics off their 2015 album Tell Me I’m Pretty.
Featuring lyrics of true rebellion, “Broken Boy” goes full punk with Shultz coming in with, “I was born on the wrong side of the train tracks and I was burned by the cold kiss of a vampire.” Shultz sounds like a boy who is truly broken; angsty teen vibes at their finest.