The criticism of Sam's Town has centered around its obviousness - a mediocre rip-off rather than the homage to Born to Run it wants to be. The video for first single "When We Were Young" didn't help matters much, a melodramatic tragedy full of barstools, dusty hillsides and fallen women. Suddenly The Killers first album, Hot Fuss, looked just as false, a costume of new wave rather than synthy sincerity. All that dramatic posing in the "Mr. Brightside" video wasn't masking a broken heart, it was simply posing.
It's always been tough to judge where Brandon Flowers is coming from as a writer. The cringeworthy "Somebody Told Me" was certainly tongue-in-cheek, but then again where can we find good Killer's lyrics? Isn't the band's entire enterprise tongue-in-cheek? The "For Reasons Unknown" video certainly seems to suggest as much. Poking fun at the "Americana" image they apparently don't fit, as well as their lack of subtlety (sitting in open chairs right as he says "there was an open chair") and even Flowers' recently cited resemblance to Kernel Sanders - The Killers manage a mildly entertaining ride (which happens to sum up their existence as a musical act thus far). Is it fair to expect anything more?
Yes, especially when after writing one of the best pop songs of the decade you proclaim - with a straight face - your next album to be the best in 20 years. Ouch.
![[search archives]](http://www.google.com/custom?domains=obtusity.blogspot.com&q=archives&sitesearch=obtusity.blogspot.com&sa=Search&client=pub-0935254757130455&forid=1&ie=ISO-8859-1&oe=ISO-8859-1&cof=GALT%3A%23008000%3BGL%3A1%3BDIV%3A%23336699%3BVLC%3A663399%3BAH%3Acenter%3BBGC%3AFFFFFF%3BLBGC%3A336699%3BALC%3A0000FF%3BLC%3A0000FF%3BT%3A000000%3BGFNT%3A0000FF%3BGIMP%3A0000FF%3BLH%3A50%3BLW%3A252%3BL%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fimg301.imageshack.us%2Fimg301%2F4703%2Fbackground5copypo6.jpg%3BS%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.obtusity.com%3BFORID%3A1&hl=en){kind=link}
4 comments:
to my suprise, you said how the killers are being jugded for their 'copycatty-ness', well i ask you this:dont you think that youself are the one to be judged since the fact that im making the comment. i hope you know wahat it feels like to be corrected for what you do.
The Killers are amazing. Sam's town is amazing, not close to mediocre, and hardly a rip off of anything. The band pretty much poured their hearts into Hot Fuss, and then again into Sam's Town. You can't just say they are posing, when they have one of the most unique sounds in the music world, and many people say they are bringing back real rock and roll. As for the Reason's Unknown Video, I think they meant it to be not so subtle. It's just another way to make it look strange which seems to be the intention for this.
I don't really have any comments on what you said, but it's Colonel, not Kernel. It's a kernel of corn. He's a colonel in the army.
ah that's an embarrassing mistake, thanks for pointing that out.
Post a Comment