For more than 30 years, Cake has perfected a style that could only be described as .. well, Cake. The alt-rock band made a name for themselves throughout the 1990s and early aughts with their distinct style that fused rock, funk, folk, pop, country, jazz, and Latin with their penchant for satirical, if at times smug, lyricism.
Videos by American Songwriter
They’ve churned out fan favorites from the jump, crafting songs by no one’s book but their own. Here are 10 classic Cake songs that showcase their genius.
10. “Let Me Go”
Appearing on their 1998 album Prolonging the Magic, “Let Me Go” opens in a plucky groove and from there erupts into an alt-rock aria of racing strings and sturdy beats. The tune is the perfect slice of Cake – sweet, but also a song you can sink your teeth into.
9. “Sheep Go To Heaven”
“Sheep Go To Heaven” is another Prolonging the Magic track. Darkly tinged and textured with erratic horns, the song is a tongue-in-cheek reference to Matthew Ch. 25 in the Bible. The passage reads that man will be divided between sheep and goats and as the song suggests, Sheep go to heaven / Goats go to hell.
8. “Comfort Eagle”
From the 2001 album of the same name, “Comfort Eagle” is an ominous-sounding alt-rock rager of a song. In Cake fashion, it is dripping with sarcasm, detailing the corporate world of the music industry and “The Man” who calls all the shots.
7. “Frank Sinatra”
“Frank Sinatra” joined some of the band’s most successful songs on the 1996 album, Fashion Nugget. The song may be a deeper cut, but it is still essential to the Cake catalog. Stripped back to feature a fusion of styles, “Frank Sinatra” has jazz flourishes and a Latin flair all caught in an alt-rock kaleidoscope.
6. “War Pigs”
Appearing on their 2007 compilation album B-Sides and Rarities, the band’s cover of Black Sabbath’s “War Pigs” is a funked up, bass-driven re-imagining. Several other covers, like Barry White’s “Never, Never Gonna Give You Up” and the country ballad “Ruby, Don’t Take Your Love to Town,” join the hard rock standard on the album.
5. “Love You Madly”
Another from Comfort Eagle, “Love You Madly” is a funk-fueled bop, textured with bright horns and a bass line impossible not to groove to. The hit has it all, down to the sweet, yet assertive lyrics.
4. “Never There”
On the Prolonging the Magic track “Never There,” Cake sings of the strains of a long-distance love against a spacey rock arrangement. With serious sounds paired with precisely enunciated lyrics, Cake means business with this song.
3. “I Will Survive”
“I Will Survive” appears on Fashion Nugget and was one of the album’s biggest successes. While the song is not a Cake-penned tune, it has become a definitive Cake song. The band strips back and slows down the Gloria Gaynor cover for a gritty rendition.
2. “Short Skirt / Long Jacket”
Comfort Eagle was graced by the funk rock hit “Short Skirt / Long Jacket.” Slightly nonsensical, but so singable, the song is Cake through and through.
“I think it was inspired by seeing somebody with those two oppositional fashion gestures,” frontman John McCrea once told Rolling Stone of the song (quote via Songfacts.com). “And that’s sort of what the song is about, directly oppositional forces housed within the same mechanism or personage. I saw this woman as trying to arrive at balance–the skirt going up and the jacket going down.”
1. “The Distance”
“The Distance” alone made Fashion Nugget the slam dunk album that it was. The band’s biggest hit is not only a banger, but it also offers lessons in life.
(Photo by Scott Legato/Getty Images)
