Hey, welcome! Grab a drink. Feel free to take a seat. Take a look at this collegiate diploma. Play some background tunes. Let's have a good time.
STRANGELY OPTIMISTIC
These last 8 months of my life have been spent divvying out my anxieties. Whether I've been aware of that or not, that's certainly what I've learned to do.
It's like a string of songs. There's the song where the singer admits that he's scared, followed by songs revealing what specific things he's scared of. I realized that when you consider how many things frighten you, or at least occupy your conscience, you have years' worth of writing material!
I was supposed to move out of town a couple days ago, but got into some car trouble. So I spent the week looking for a car. Bought one for $1000 last night. I'll be driving it to Logan, UT on Monday.
I felt a sense of completeness last night. That's something I haven't felt in a while.
By the way, I spent, like, over 2 months unemployed. I just want you to know that while the unemployed life is not as difficult as being employed, it sucks more. I think not working for a couple weeks is kinda fun. But anything beyond that is really stupid.
I was applying for jobs and stuff. All out of town. Usually for companies where I didn't have any connections. This was not smart. This was really stupid.
Anyways, I'm moving to Logan at the beginning of next week. I don't have a job lined up or any specific plan or anything, so it's whatever. Maybe I'll start a band or get married or something. People do those things, right? I'm strangely optimistic about my future!
OBLIGATORY PARAGRAPH ABOUT MUSIC
My last 8 months have been spent mostly in my own head. You can say that's depressing, but I'm pretty darn used to that way of living by now. Give-or-take the last 26 years.
If there's any album I learned to love over recently, it's Bonnie 'Prince' Billy's I See A Darkness. I read this initial 1999 review of it saying it demands reverence, and that changes everything for me. These songs are hymns, recorded as though Will Oldham were whispering them into your ear; mostly on the topics of death and loathing. Digging into that songwriter's career has been a riveting experience, I might add. Such a unique songwriter and expressive character. He's a hero of mine by now.
Also listened to XTC's Skylarking for the first time. It still blows my mind! There are no other 80's albums to compare it to. It's like the music Paul McCartney should have been recording during that time. All Sgt Pepper/Revolver fans and studio production junkies should check it out.
I SUCK
I suck at saying goodbye.
I keep thinking of listing off specific people I need to say goodbye to, but it never goes as planned. Even when you get the chance to give someone a farewell in person, it's awkward as all get-out!
Wish I could make my rounds and give individual people cheesy speeches in their honor. But I don't think that's how it works.
I find it overwhelming how people sound smart all the time. It's as though everybody knows everything! When someone rolls their eyes and says "[This person who isn't me] thinks they know everything," to me this is code for "I think I know everything." I intend to obliterate these thoughts from my mind as long as I live.
So, yeah. Logan's gonna be cool. It's gonna be different. Can't make any promises as to if I'm going to magically turn into some optimistic hard-working person, but it will be different. Some old friends, some new friends, yada-yada. I'm gonna have fun.
That diploma, pictured above? I still don't know what the heck it means.
Everybody likes The Killers. At least to some extent. Because you can argue forever about whether they're "good" or not, but they always give you something to talk about. I applaud this.
Just as interesting is trying to classify them into a niche of music. I mean, duh, they're "alt-rock;" particularly "radio alt-rock." But all their releases are legitimately super different from each other. And look at their list of related artists on Spotify:
-The Strokes (yummy)
-The Kooks (ew)
-Franz Ferdinand (cool)
-Kaiser Chiefs ("Rubay Rubay Rubay Rubay!" no, god, make it stop)
I'm sure plenty of people reading this love all the bands listed above, and yet I can't help but think The Killers border between classic alt-rock genius and total garbage.
If it's any consolation, I don't think they're garbage. But they rarely come close to genius. In fact, I usually see them as "middle-of-the-road." But I remember when they were young.
I didn't even like them at first ("Somebody Told Me" was way too poppy for me), but eventually gave in to the full set of Hot Fuss singles and bought the album. My siblings later bought the rest of their discography. I watched them grow up fast and fade out slowly. Now they have 2 new singles that border between something kinda cool and something seriously stupid. As far as I see it, this means The Killers are back!
I am reminded of those magical moments as a teenage fan and those surprise musical moments that made me immediately slap my face. Let's look over their entire career for what its worth... The Killers' Legacy, if you will.
Hot Fuss (2004)
The first song I ever heard from here was "Somebody Told Me," an adrenaline-punched synthpop hit that was getting adult contemporary radio play next to Lifehouse and Matchbox Twenty. I hated this song. At least at age 14.
The song has aged pretty well over time. Listening to radio alt-rock these days, every hip new band would kill for a single like "Somebody Told Me." And somehow, The Killers themselves topped it. Follow-up single "Mr. Brightside" was not only a blessed hit from the alt-rock gods upon release, it has grown to be one of the most popular songs of the new Millennium. A song that can loved by fans of Yellowcard and The Smiths alike. Balancing act accomplished.
The Killers would soon ditch this balancing act entirely, but I digress. The whole first half of Hot Fuss was pretty golden. Anthemic choruses. Bold synth hooks. A sleek lead vocal that only somehwat sounded Julian Casablancas. These guys were as hot as Vegas itself. This lasted for about 5 tracks.
The second half of Hot Fuss is no disaster, but closer "Everything Will Be Alright" sucks major turds. It makes you wonder if the whole album's "nicotine/80s-synthpop/faux-post-punk" aesthetic was really worth the travel. Honestly, I think its sonic value hasn't aged well. But its songwriting is something a lot of radio alt-rock bands should attain to.
I believe everyone goes through at least one year of high school that can be soundtrack'd by Hot Fuss. Songs about Jenny, Andy, Natalie... I believe that these are real people. And their stories are real. For better or for worse, Brandon Flowers nailed the realistic immaturity of teenage emotions (ex: "JEALOUSY!"). And to top it off, they were the first I can recall who were making throwback 80s synth music. That stuff is freaking everywhere now! It's like this album became something influential by total happenstance.
A hot young band full of teenage-anthem radio staples.
I wonder how long that will last.
Sam's Town (2006)
Lots of critics say Sam's Town was the ultimate example of a sophomore slump. I am a critic.
However...however... it's not like it sucks or anything. It's a concept album about [insert whatever the hell this album is about here] that sounds insanely inspired by Bruce Springsteen, while still keeping some of the band's flashy Vegas roots. I'll never fully understand Sam's Town. But I think it's okay.
These guys are obviously not the same band they were 2 years ago. I can't necessarily say that's a bad thing. Hot young bands like The Killers are supposed to burn out quickly. But even more so than a sophomore slump, Sam's Town was a reinvention. This is just gonna be The Killers from now on. Lots of fans jumped ship from here, and yet, I had multiple friends travel all the way to Vegas just to see them perform this album live on its 10th anniversary. It's their "cult" album.
I'd say this is more well pieced together than Hot Fuss; my favorite track "Read My Mind" works as the album's centerpiece. The end doesn't suck. There are just plenty of WTF moments scattered about. The album-opening title track was a WTF moment upon first listen (it sounds like normal Killers by now). "Bones" has that weird horns section. The fact that there's an actual song titled "Bling (Confessions of a King)." The entirety of "Uncle Jonny." And, to me, the random mixbag of Springsteen phrases that is "This River Is Wild."
If any song stands as the king of Sam's Town and what it's all about, I'd pick "When You Were Young." It's got those brash post-punk guitars that held Hot Fuss together, but also has that "Born To Run" glockenspiel. It has that awkward alt-rock refrain, "He doesn't look a thing like Jesus," but it also talks about Americana songwriter stuff like the devil, mountains and hurricanes. It's cool.
Anyways, if there's any one problem I have with Sam's Town, it's that I can never tell when to take it seriously. Is this "ambitious" music? Why do the background singers sound like cavemen? When is Brandon Flowers trying to make a statement? When are these guys just joking?
Day & Age (2008)
After releasing a bunch of B-sides, karaoke covers and Christmas songs (um, yeah, more on that later), The Killers made things easier for all of us. Sam's Town left me confused as to how often I could take these guys seriously. Luckily, Day & Age cranked down that switch to 0%.
And that's a compliment.
See, Day & Age might be my favorite Killers album. It's simply these 10 fun songs that sound totally different from each other. There's 0 signs of their old pust-punk-influenced sound. There's only one Springsteen rip-off track. Brandon Flowers' persona on this album officially convinces me that he's someone I'd like to chill with; as opposed to any member of Oasis. Nah, I always feel like a cover of David Bowie's "Young Americans" is gonna pop up somwhere in the middle of this album.
And that's a compliment.
It's hard to pick a favorite track from here. The first 4 songs are solid. The 2 closing songs are some of the band's strongest. There are tiny sonic moments that kinda remind me of Bjork. And "This Is The World That We Live In"strikes me as the best song Tears For Fears never wrote!
And that's a compliment.
My least favorite track is "Neon Tiger," which Brandon Flowers has openly admitted was written for the sake of trying to sound like MGMT. Flowers doesn't smoke nearly enough marijuana to ever sound like MGMT, but I guess he gets points for trying, and the song is under 3 minutes.
But yeah, every song here is pretty stupid. I'm sure they were aware of that. "Are we human or are we dancer?" That's not a question! There's no reason to interpret these lyrics too deep; that being said for the whole album. Because nobody likes a party pooper. I don't know if Day & Age is their best, but it's their easiest to listen to.
So what album is their hardest to listen to?
Battle Born (2012)
So I was home from my mission for a couple months when "Runaways" was released. My music taste had already shifted far away from The Killers, but I wanted to try the new song anyway. I knew I wouldn't love it. But I didn't expect them to go back to the whole Springsteen thing again... and in full force.
It's sad, because "Runaways" might be the best track on the album. Every song on this album has the same predictable sound and is trying to do the same thing. All these songs could be put in any order and the album would have the same effect. It's literally a jumbled-up mess of 80s Jackson Browne covers.
I cannot tell a lie, it's not like the compositions on this album are okay. I can tell they were trying to step up some instrumental game. But it's hard to recognize. Because the worst part about this album is its production. The guitars, pianos, drums, vocals... nothing stands out. Which is kind of a shame. This album would be all the more enjoyable with a few extra days of studio mixing.
In The Killers' defense, this is their only album with poor production. Everything is good, it's okay or whatever. But Battle Born was a really bad sign. This wasn't pieced together like an actual album. The recordings sounded like demos. The songwriting was reminiscent of John Cougar Mellencamp. And coming 4 years since the band's last relevance, I always pretended like it never even happened.
The band themselves have kinda shunned this album from their history as well. But what will happen next? And what signs do we have that it's anything worth waiting for?
Sawdust + Brandon Flowers + The Whole 'Christmas' Thing
The Killers have a weird back catalog. I wouldn't say it's better or worse than their official releases, but any real fan makes their B-sides and such part of the mix. Sawdust was a B-sides album released in 2007. It includes a song featuring Lou Reed that doesn't sound at all like The Killers or Lou Reed. Has some cool Hot Fuss leftovers. Most notably (and laughably), it includes covers of Dire Straits' "Romeo and Juliet" and Kenny Rogers' "Ruby, Don't Take Your Love to Town." It's a thing. Not a big a fan of their take on old school indie rock, but ya know, we all get credit for trying.
Brandon Flowers released two solo albums: Flamingo (2010) and The Desired Effect (2015). I've finally heard both of these, and I can say neither of them suck. Okay, The Desired Effect kinda suffers from the "jumbled-up mess" woes of Battle Born, but Flamingo stands toe-to-toe with any Killers release. Flowers presents himself as a whimsical Vegas-based songwriter, and his lyrics here are better than anything he's done as The Killers' front man. The music is lighter, but that's its strength. A couple good tracks on here. Nothing painfully bad. I kinda like that Brandon Flowers is his own thing.
The Killers have, like, a million Christmas songs. I think they've been doing it annually since 2005. I've only heard a few of them. But the point is, what the heck kind of band releases a self-written Christmas single every year? Not only that, but they can super weird sometimes. "Don't Shoot Me Santa" and "Happy Birthday Guadalupe" are some of the most ridiculous Christmas songs known to man. "Joseph, Better You Than Me" and "Great Big Sled" are corny power ballads; they even got Elton John on-board, for crying out loud! It's a fun shtick. I'm glad they do this.
Wonderful Wonderful (predictions)
So I've heard 2 new singles from the upcoming Killers album Wonderful Wonderful: "The Man" and "Run For Cover." Both songs capture The Killers' best and worst qualities. I actually consider both of these songs excellently produced. They sound up-to-date, they sound huge, they sound energetic. Lyrically, both of these songs are duds. Hearing "The Man" as a lead single worried me as much as it intrigued me. Because the whole song is a big fat joke. I kinda wish it had the same magical touch as "Human" or "Mr. Brightside," but considering "Run For Cover" sounds nothing like it, I really really want to ehar this album. And I want to hear it now. I don't think it'll be great (or even good), but I wanna find out.
If there's any sign of hope, I enjoy the "Shot At The Night" single from their greatest hits comp a couple years back. Produced by M83's Anthony Gonzalez, it sounds great, and I actually prefer this track to all of M83's last album. Between this and the new singles, we can only hope the next Killers album will be some kinda well-produced mixbag. To me, I think that's all they have left.
My 10 Favorite Killers Songs
10 Believe Me Natalie 9 Joy Ride 8 Spaceman 7 This Is The World That We Live In 6 Somebody Told Me 5 Smile Like You Mean It 4 When You Were Young 3 All These Things That I've Done 2 Read My Mind 1 Mr. Brightside
