Mumford & Sons — "Little Lion Man"
The song that made banjos cool again: Mumford & Sons kicked down the door for the entire early-2010s folk boom with a kick-drum-and-banjo confessional featuring one memorable expletive planted right in the chorus hook.
Released August 11, 2009, as the lead single from Mumford & Sons' debut album Sigh No More, 'Little Lion Man' was the London folk-rock quartet's introduction to the world, produced by Markus Dravs. The track opens on kick-drum-and-banjo — sparse, urgent, almost hostile — and the hook goes straight to that one word the radio edit would trim out (cutting the song from 4:06 down to 3:30; half the fun was never knowing which version you'd hear). Marcus Mumford called it 'a very personal story' about a situation in his life he 'wasn't very happy with or proud of.' The song had no wink, no softness, just confession and anger in equal measure.
The chart run was swift and strong: number 24 in the UK, number 45 on the US Hot 100, but number one on US Alternative airplay and number three in Australia — where it topped Triple J's Hottest 100 of 2009, a crowning that meant everything in Australian youth culture. The real breakthrough came at the 53rd Grammy Awards in 2011, where 'Little Lion Man' earned a nomination for Best Rock Song. The band performed that night alongside Bob Dylan — a moment that introduced them to a far bigger American audience. The certifications piled up: four times platinum in the UK and Australia, two times platinum in the US and Canada.
What 'Little Lion Man' did was crack the door open for an entire wave. Suddenly, in 2010 and beyond, every indie band wanted a banjo and a waistcoat; every festival lineup had a stomp-and-holler folk act. The early-2010s folk boom — the sound of a thousand coffee shops and dorm rooms — began the moment this song hit. Released technically in 2009, its real peak ran through 2010 and 2011, which places it right at the seam where the 2000s hand off to whatever comes next.
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