The Current is celebrating the greatest groups in music history with the 893 Essential Bands countdown in the days before and during Minnesota Public Radio's Spring Member Drive. You voted, we tallied, and starting today at noon, we’ll start counting them down. 

It’s a big project, and we’ve certainly been thinking about bands a lot over here — even more than usual. Something that dawned on us is a lot of bands follow a good writing guideline when they’re making music: Write what you know. As a result, a lot of bands write songs that may be:
• about being in a band;
• about creating a band;
• about playing in a band;
• about a favorite band;
• about hearing a band;
or songs that name-check a band or are completely self-referential.

There are a lot of songs like that out there, so let’s celebrate all that today before we launch into the 893 Essential Bands countdown as voted by you.

So for today’s 9:30 Coffee Break, what songs that reference bands in some way (see list above) do you want to hear?

Respond with your song ideas in the comments below.

Have an idea for a Coffee Break topic? Submit your idea for a future theme and browse past Coffee Breaks in our archive.

Songs Played
Art Brut – Formed a Band
The Nude Party – Chevrolet Van
Paul McCartney – Band On The Run
The Mamas And The Papas – Creeque Alley
Ron Gallo – Really Nice Guys
They Might Be Giants – The Mesopotamians
Radiohead – Anyone Can Play Guitar
The Monkees – (Theme From) The Monkees