One of rock music’s most underrated bands played Jimmy Kimmel Live! last night, and they’re still cooler than a fridge after 40-plus years

Corey Glover of Living Colour performing onstage in 2025

(Image credit: Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

Late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel is currently hosting a week of programmes from Brooklyn, so he brought in one of New York’s most badass alt-metal bands for a special performance.

On Thursday (October 2), Living Colour appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! to play their 1988 single Cult Of Personality. The track, from the four-piece’s debut album Vivid, remains their most successful, having reached number 13 in the Billboard Hot 100 as well as number three in New Zealand shortly after its release.

Since it first came out, Cult Of Personality’s popularity has endured thanks to a number of multimedia appearances. It was included in the 2007 videogame Guitar Hero III: Legends Of Rock and has long been the entrance music of WWE pro-wrestler CM Punk. Living Colour have played Cult Of Personality twice on WWE programming: first at Wrestlemania 29 in 2013, then again at Wrestlemania 41 earlier this year.

Even though Living Colour haven’t had a song reach the US charts since 1989’s Open Letter (To A Landlord), the band have had a lasting impact on the alt-metal and funk metal genres. Rage Against The Machine guitarist Tom Morello told Line Of Best Fit in 2021 that Living Colour “paved the way” for his band and took away the “stigma” attached to Black people playing heavy metal.

“They came along right before Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden and Jane's Addiction changed the ethos of rock and roll,” Morello added. “I believe Living Colour deserves to be in that number because they changed the face of rock and roll.”

Living Colour are currently working on a new studio album, their first since 2017’s Shade. Drummer Will Calhoun told Music City San Francisco in July that the band hope to have their next release finished by “by the end of the fall”. They have only one live date left on their 2025 slate, scheduled to take place at The Barceló in Riviera Maya, Mexico, on November 7.

Living Colour – Cult of Personality - YouTube

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Louder’s resident Gojira obsessive was still at uni when he joined the team in 2017. Since then, Matt’s become a regular in Metal Hammer and Prog, at his happiest when interviewing the most forward-thinking artists heavy music can muster. He’s got bylines in The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Independent, NME and many others, too. When he’s not writing, you’ll probably find him skydiving, scuba diving or coasteering.

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