On the North Carolina-based band Wednesday’s excellent 2025 album Bleeds, one of the highlights was a song called “Townies.” Based in frontperson and songwriter Karly Hartzman’s vivid lyricism, it cast a stilted but darkly sympathetic look into the assholes of our past. (You’ll likely hear it live if you’re in Nashville for the band’s Nov. 2 stop on the Rolling Stone Rock Tour.)
“You were 16 and bored and drunk, and they’re just townies,” Hartzman sings. She wasn’t talking about the band called Townies — yes, there is one — but the Boston-based trio paid attention anyway. On Aug. 12 (a Wednesday, no less), they released a song called “Wednesday,” something they’ve been teasing on social media since last year and finally made good on. Just so we’re clear: the band Wednesday released a song called “Townies,” so the band Townies released a song called “Wednesday.” On a Wednesday.
Townies’ “Wednesday” doesn’t sound like Wednesday, or “Townies,” but it is fun to confuse your brain with this kind of specific musical palindrome. Response songs have long been a tradition in almost every genre (Lynyrd Skynyrd famously wrote “Sweet Home Alabama” in retort to Neil Young, who eventually even covered the song), and it’s a veritable staple in country music. This particularly bizarre corner of the practice (a band titling a song after another band who have a song with their name) actually has precedent, though. Over the years, artists from punk to hip-hop have contributed tracks to the canon. We compiled some of the best — and one we’d love to see someday.
Rise Against, “Architects” / Architects, “Rise Against”
On their sixth studio album, Endgame, the Illinois hardcore band Rise Against opened with a furious anthem called “Architects,” a song about taking charge of your life when apathy seems to abound (making things even more complicated, fan lore claims it’s a response to the Against Me! song “I Was a Teenage Anarchist”). So on the deluxe edition of their 2012 LP Daybreaker, British metalcore band Architects responded with “Rise Against,” which contains a few melodic nods to the band that inspired it. While on tour together, Rise Against and Architects even swapped members while playing each other’s namesake songs.
Lana Del Rey, “Paris, Texas” / Paris, Texas, “Lana Del Rey”
Lana Del Rey wrote the gorgeous piano ballad “Paris, Texas” for 2023’s Did You Know There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd after being inspired by a track from the artist Brian Fennell, who performs under the name SYML. “To have the vessel for that be my melody, my piano, was a very surreal, magical moment,” Fennell told Rolling Stone. Apparently, the L.A.-based hip-hop duo Paris Texas, were then moved by the (familiar) title. They put out their own track, the experimental rock-rap fusion of “Lana Del Rey.” The slower, recorded version is good, but it’s even better looser and live.
Tom Waits, “Fall of Troy” / Fall of Troy, “Tom Waits”
It makes sense that the Washington-based hardcore band Fall of Troy’s song “Tom Waits” was featured on an album called Doppelganger — though the similarities to the legendary songwriter don’t go much further than the name. While Tom Waits’ “Fall of Troy” is a solemn piano tale about children involved in gun violence, Fall of Troy’s “Tom Waits” is a screamo class war (OK, maybe there’s more in common than we thought..). For what it’s worth, Fall of Troy also have a song called “McCauley McCulkin” on the same album, but it’s unclear if they’re referring to the Home Alone actor…or if Culkin has ever written a song called “Fall of Troy.”
Aesop Rock, “Rogue Wave” / Rogue Wave, “Aesop Rock”
When rapper Aesop Rock released the song “Rogue Wave” in 2020, the lo-fi rock band from California Rogue Wave was amused — and got to work. They released “Aesop Rock” a few months later, and it’s mired in Covid-era imagery (“the black death fogs”) with a Feist-y guitar riff. Rogue Wave used the fun for good though, directing fans to support the charity Tipping Point, which at the time was focusing their efforts on bringing pandemic supplies to vulnerable communities.
August Burns Red, “Mariana’s Trench” / Marianas Trench, “August Burns Red”
Can’t say that the metal band August Burns Red and Canadian pop-rock band Mariana’s Trench have too much in common, except each having a song bearing the other’s name. August Burns Red’s “Mariana’s Trench” came first in 2009, from their album Constellations. Somehow word of that track made it to the band Marianas Trench in 2015, when they recorded the 45-second instrumental for their album Astoria that is definitely the most bizarre contribution to the category.
The Cure, “Boys Don’t Cry” / Boys Don’t Cry, “The Cure”
The British new wave band actually didn’t name itself in tribute to the classic Cure song. But that didn’t stop them from leaning into it once in a while — especially on the song “The Cure” off their second album, Who the Am Dam Do You Think We Am? Mostly instrumental, it scratched the itch — but without the album on streaming services, we’ll never be able to enjoy it in its full majesty. So twist our arms: we’ll listen to The Cure instead (the band, not the song).
We can dream, right? Tim McGraw releases a song called “Taylor Swift” in response to Swift’s “Tim McGraw”
Swift did just celebrate the 20-year anniversary of her debut single. And you’d kill it, Tim.
