Not even the Killers, the champions of retro /p>
ew wave, think that synth ock is music to be taken seriously, and Lord knows that this Vegas quartet wants to be taken seriously -- it's a byproduct of being taken far too seriously in the first place, a phenomenon that happened to the Killers after their not-bad-at-all 2004 debut album, Hot Fuss, was dubbed as the beginning of the next big thing by legions of critics and bloggers, all searching for something to talk about in the aftermath of the White Stripes and the Strokes. The general gist of the statement was generally true, at least to the extent that they were a prominent part of the next wave, the wave where /p>
ew wave revivalism truly caught hold. They were lighter than Interpol and far gaudier, plus they were fronted by a guy called Brandon Flowers, a name so ridiculous he had to be born with it (which he was). And although it was hailed to the heavens on various areas of the Net, Hot Fuss became a hit the old-fashioned way: listeners gravitated toward it, drawn in by "Mr. Brightside" and sticking around for the rest. Soon, they made the cover of everything from Spin to Q, earning accolades from ock stars and seeing their songs covered on Rock Star, too. Heady times, especially for a group with only one album to its name, and any band that receives so much attention is bound to be thought of as important, since there has to be a greater reason for all that exposure than because Flowers is pretty, right? One of the chief proponents of the belief that the Killers are important is the band itself, which has succumbed to that dreaded temptation for any promising band on its sophomore album: they've gone and grown beards. Naturally, this means they're serious adults now, so patterning themselves after Duran Duran will no longer do. No, they make serious music now, and who else makes serious music? Why, U2, of course, and Bruce Springsteen, whose presence looms large over the Killers' second album, Sam's Town.
The ghosts of Bono and the Boss are everywhere on this album. They're there in the artful, grainy Anton Corbijn photographs on the sleeve, and they're there in the myth-making of the song titles themselves -- and in case you didn't get it, Flowers made sure nobody missed the point prior to the release of Sam's Town, hammering home that he's just discovered the glories of Springsteen every time he crossed paths with the press. Flowers' puppy love for Bruce fuels Sam's Town, as he extravagantly, endlessly, and blatantly apes the Springsteen of the '70s, mimicking the ragged convoluted poet of the street who mythologized mundane middle-class life, turning it into opera. The Killers sure try their hardest to do that here, marrying it to U2's own operatic take on America, inadvertently picking up on how the Dublin quartet never sounded more European than when they were trying to tell one and all how much they loved America. That covers the basic thematic outlook of the record, but there's another key piece of the puzzle of Sam's Town: it's named after a casino in the Killers' home town of Las Vegas, and it's not one of the gleeful, gaudy corporate monstrosities glutting the Strip, but rather one located miles away in whatever passes for regular, everyday Vegas -- in other words, it's the city that lies beneath the sparkling façade, the real city. Of course, there's no real city in Vegas -- it's all surface, it's a place that thinks that a miniature Eiffel Tower and a fake CBGB's are every bit as good as being there -- and that's the case with the Killers too: when it comes down to it, there's no "there" there -- it's all a grand act. Every time they try to dig deeper on Sam's Town -- when they bookend the album with "enterlude" and "exitlude," when Flowers mixes his young-hearts-on-the-run metaphors, when they graft Queen choirs and Bowie baritones onto bridges of songs -- they just prove how monumentally silly and shallow they are. Which isn't necessarily the same thing as bad, however. True, this album has little of the pop hooks of "Mr. Brightside," but in its own misguided way, it's utterly unique. Yes, it's cobbled together from elements shamelessly stolen from Springsteen, U2, Echo & the Bunnymen, Bowie, Queen, Duran Duran, and New Order, but nobody on earth would have thought of throwing these heroes of 1985 together, because they would have instinctively known that it wouldn't work. But not the Killers! They didn't let anything stop their monumental misconception; they were able to indulge to their hearts' content -- even hiring U2/Depeche Mode producers Alan Moulder and Flood to help construct their monstrosity, which gives their half-baked ideas a grandeur to which they aspire but don't deserve. But even if the music doesn't really work, it's hard not to listen to it in slack-jawed wonderment, since there's never been a record quite like it -- it's nothing but wrong-headed dreams, it's all pomp but no glamour, it's clichés sung as if they were myths. Every time it tries to get real, it only winds up sounding fake, which means it's the quintessential Vegas ock album from the quintessential Vegas ock band.
Ejem… contrariamente a lo que probablemente os imagináis, a mí el Sam’s Town sí me gusta… o bueno, al menos los cuatro singles (“When You Were Young”, “Bones”, “Read My Mind” y “For Reasons Unknown”). Sinceramente, no recuerdo cuándo fue la última vez que dejé aparcados todos mis principios – prejuicios y me he dejado llevar por un disco simplemente por lo mucho que m
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Just thought I'd share this with you from a Killers gig I went to last year (2006) in the UK. It was a fantastic gig in quite a small venue, before they later did their arena tour of the UK in 2007.
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I do not enjoy The Killer's as a general rule of thumb. I'm not entirely sure what it is about them that doesn't resonate with me but, I recently heard their "new (?)" single "Read My Mind" and pretty much fell in love with it.If I could sum up the pull of my heart in the past couple of months, I think the following lyrics apply: "I never really gave up on / Breaking out of this two-star town ...
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Ok, just testin'....I give The Killers first spot because I'm listenin' to the telly "radio" and it's beautiful rhythm and voice and puts me in a dreamy place.
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I just saw, for the first time, The Killers' new video for "Read My Mind". I love it.it's just so...happy! and adorable! and funny! basically it reminds me of The Good Times when Brandon Flowers was really funny all of the time and his personality was so endearing that you just wanted to listen to him talk forever. half of the reason I was turned off of the band was because he had all of a...
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Here is the link to The Killers new video for "Can You Read My Mind?" http://www.mtv.com/overdrive/?vid=132282Below is a picture of me and my green phallic friend taken last year. The other picture is of the green blob in The Killers video. Coincidence? I think not.
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Like may other pop-minded indies, I was really looking forward to the Killers sophomore album. I managed to see them at the Virgin Fest in Baltimore, MD about a month before the album release. Based on "Sam's Town," "Read My Mind," etc. I thought we were going to have another great album... some synth, greatly improved stage performances, etc.And then... the monstrosity that is Sam's Town --...
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I listened to all of Sam's Town when it first came out and thought the CD was utter shit. I deleted it off my iPod and cursed The Killers.Looks like the curse is on me. While being stuck at home last week with the cold from hell, I did 2 things - sleep and watch TV. I made the mistake of watching VH1/MTV/MTV2 and actually watching the video for "Bones." It's a damn catchy song. In fact, I ...
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Brandon, I know your eyeliner is running, your heart is breaking and your beautiful dreams of becoming the next David Bowie are shattering. But yes you are second best, there is no more Hot Fuss, no more 40 year old women singing along to Mr. Brightside in their oversized Expeditions. You now officially suck, and no longer to just the intelligent people but to all of those who are even mentall...
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My digital music collection on MOG says that I'm a fan of Desmond Dekker, Pal Joey, Garth Brooks and Stevie Salas. None of which I've heard of, apart from Garth Brooks of course.Anyway, recently I've been listening a little bit to the new album by The Killers, Sam's Town. They are popular and thus underrated by other musicians I think. Of course they're no Frank Black or David Bowie, but an art...
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If Pee-Wee Herman and Tom Jones mated, the offspring would be Brandon Flowers. His quirky and passionate performance last Wednesday night at the Theatre at Madison Square Garden was electrifying and magnetic-I just couldn't keep my eyes off of this scrawny guy in his crazy string tie and cheesy mustache. The sound was spot-on and the entire crowd was on their feet from the first note. Over...
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Ok, remember back a long time ago when I got pissed about everyone making a big deal about Brandon Flowers relating himself to Bruce Springsteen. Well, it seems that first of all, that never happened. However, upon listening to "This River Is Wild", I started to understand where the Springsteen influence manifested itself.Lyrically, this song is very like Bruce back in the 70's - lots of allite...
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The Killers - When You Were Young Acoustic VersionBest Best Best acoustic version I've personally heard from them ! Amazing ! enjoy !
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I have to admit I never really appreciated When You Were Young till midnight last night at work. It was a song I needed to hear after the end of a long day. It actually made me smile. I enjoy this version now. After their new single, Human, The Killers are finally starting to grow on me.
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In my pre-MOG days, if I wanted to find new music, I'd check out allmusic.com. I still refer to it often, as most of its reviews are spot-on. This review, for the Killers' new album (maybe you've heard of it), just slays me, though. "Read for yourself.":http://allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:hb6ftr2ukl6x~T1Now, you'd think, after that kind of slagging, they'd rate it poorly, but no, as you...
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Well one of the few perks of living this time zone is that I get a few hours head start on new albums:)Sam's Town sounds to me like exactly what you'd you expect from The Killers, it bursts into life with the energetic title track, and from then on seems to constantly soar and swoop in the most epic of fashions. Almost every track on here could come from "Stadium Rock 101", with rousing guitars...
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Just started listening to the new Killers album, although I downloaded it at six thirty this morning. Better late than never, I say. Really hope it doesn't suck. Excitement.
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I just saw, for the first time, The Killers' new video for "Read My Mind". I love it.it's just so...happy! and adorable! and funny! basically it reminds me of The Good Times when Brandon Flowers was really funny all of the time and his personality was so endearing that you just wanted to listen to him talk forever. half of the reason I was turned off of the band was because he had all of a...
More >
Ok, remember back a long time ago when I got pissed about everyone making a big deal about Brandon Flowers relating himself to Bruce Springsteen. Well, it seems that first of all, that never happened. However, upon listening to "This River Is Wild", I started to understand where the Springsteen influence manifested itself.Lyrically, this song is very like Bruce back in the 70's - lots of allite...
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..actually, all except for Anna bot. (damn those cyborgs)Soo..i checked my profile today and my age was auto-updated to 20 (cool, right -.-). I'M NOT 20 YET!! Still 4 days have to pass 'till that happens. The number '1' in front of my 2digit age is what i want. It could be 10 or 19. But 20?! Godver.
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I like music videos, it adds more depth to songs and can be somewhat easier to relate to.This video is particularly good, even if Brandon Flowers pisses me the fuck off (what a pretentious little bastard, someone needs to pop him in the eye.) (lessthanthree)
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Ok, here's the first CD. Called "Pre".When You Were Young - The KillersSexyBack - Justin Timberlake Pump Up The Volume - M/A/R/R/SChampagne For My Real Friends, Real Pain For My Sham Friends - Fall Out BoyMonkey Wrench - Foo Fighters Eaten By The Monster Of Love - Sparks -Feel Good Inc. - Gorillaz-Name Of The Game - The Crystal Method Party Hard - Andrew W. K. Alex Chilton - The ReplacementsMe ...
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I read on MTV News that The Killers' next music video will be directed by Tim Burton. This video, for their new single 'Bones', will be Burton's first music video. Check out the link to the article here. http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1540275/20060906/killers_the.jhtml?headlines=trueP.S.: How do you add YouTube videos? Thanks. =)
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Would people friggin' stop with the goddam Springsteen shit on the new album? Sure, Flowers started it, but I'll be god-damned if I can fuckin' hear *any* goddam Springsteen. Springsteen never sang (yelled?) in that high of a register. Springsteen never dressed up like a Mexican Rivers Cuomo and played on SNL. Springsteen never had a fuzzy keyboard in all of his songs.I love the single. I'll pr...
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At long last we come to the conclusion of the set The Killers played in 2007 at the Glastonbury Festival. If you're looking to read/download day by day you can check out each individual post at these links. part 01 , part 02 , part 03 , part 04 . If you'd rather view them all on one easy to read page, which makes way more sense to me, just click here . This concludes the set. Enjoy the mus...
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If Pee-Wee Herman and Tom Jones mated, the offspring would be Brandon Flowers. His quirky and passionate performance last Wednesday night at the Theatre at Madison Square Garden was electrifying and magnetic-I just couldn't keep my eyes off of this scrawny guy in his crazy string tie and cheesy mustache. The sound was spot-on and the entire crowd was on their feet from the first note. Over...
More >
Here is the link to The Killers new video for "Can You Read My Mind?" http://www.mtv.com/overdrive/?vid=132282Below is a picture of me and my green phallic friend taken last year. The other picture is of the green blob in The Killers video. Coincidence? I think not.
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| Title | Lyrics | Buy |
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| 1 Sam's Town |
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| 2 Enterlude |
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| 3 When You Were Young |
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| 4 Bling (Confession of a King) |
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| 5 For Reasons Unknown |
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| 6 Read My Mind |
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| 7 Uncle Jonny |
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| 8 Bones |
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| 9 My List |
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| 10 This River Is Wild |
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| 11 Why Do I Keep Counting? |
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| 12 Exitlude |
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Click to purchase…
© 2006-2009 Mog Inc. All Rights Reserved
 "Sam's Town")
