Kool Thing

All four members wrote it, and it was produced by Nick Sansano and Ron Saint Germain and recorded in March and April 1990 at Sorcerer Sound and Greene Street. It was inspired by Gordon's interview with LL Cool J for Spin. His name is never used, but the lyrics refer to his I Can't Live Without My Radio and Walking with a Panther. Songfacts relates that Gordon was struck by his saying he liked Bon Jovi and polled punk fans outside CBGB about his records.

Chuck D speaks on the track because Public Enemy was recording in the same small studio. Moore told City Limits that Gordon asked him to come in and he elaborated on it a bit. It went to US promo in June 1990 and to Europe in September, with That's All I Know (Right Now) and Dirty Boots on the B-sides. It reached number 7 on the US Alternative chart, 81 in the UK and 24 in Ireland.

Tamra Davis directed the video, released on 4 June 1990, as the band's first on a major label. It was styled after LL Cool J's Going Back to Cali, and Geffen vetoed Gordon's plan for a beret and an Uzi. The song appears in Guitar Hero III, Gilmore Girls and Mr. Robot, and Placebo's Brian Molko has said it was the first Sonic Youth song he heard.

Live

The band played it on Hangin' with MTV in New York on 29 July 1992. Setlist.fm has 352 setlists with the song.