why do people like the Kings of Leon?

But what I'm *really* mystified is their appeal to people who really *should* know better.

what does this mean, and is it somehow less pompous than it seems (no offense)? the chorus of the sex song is unforgivable, but these guys seem like a pretty random whipping-boy for ilx to seize upon. what is so offensive about them exactly? there's not a whole lot of specifics going on in this thread.

i prefer them to most new radio rock that i hear. there's a looseness and intimacy in the production, the singer sounds like a tired child or something, but it works in context to hold the line between between their energy and the timeless rootsy sound they cultivate, and they remind me of driving to some cabin the woods to drink a thousand rums with friends. their lyrics i don't care about.

I would also like an answer to the title question. They're absolutely *huge* in Ireland - they've sold out a few decent-sized gigs in the last year, and are back yet again to play The O2 (capacity ~13,000) at Christmas. They've made a serious dent in both singles and album charts, and if I have a guitar in my hand in some random place, someone inevitably asks me to play a Kings of Leon song. Maybe I'm just bitter because my pet favourite American bands (My Morning Jacket, Spoon, Viva Voce, and others) are complete unknowns.

Actually, that's another thing. My Morning Jacket are playing here this month, and they're supporting effin' Seasick Steve? What next? Maybe My Bloody Valentine could support Electric Six.

P.S. I am not a rockist (I think)

otm KoL is a great band.

Maybe I'm just bitter because my pet favourite American bands (My Morning Jacket, Spoon, Viva Voce, and others) are complete unknowns.

!?!?! on what planet? MMJ are playing the big day out here AND supporting Neil Young and people talk about bloody Spoon all the time.

PS Kings of Leon suck.

Fuckin Spoon, they talk about them here too. I bet you like the New Pornographers

KoL live are amazing.

MMJ are playing the big day out here AND supporting Neil Young and people talk about bloody Spoon all the time.

Sorry, was still talking about just my experience in Ireland, where they are completely unknown. I suppose I've been thinking a lot about what does and doesn't cross borders successfully lately - MGMT for example are pretty big here too - go to any random bar/club on a Fri/Sat and chances are you'll hear one MGMT song, Justice too, although I have plenty of French friends who swear you'd never hear Justice in most parts of France. I'll shut up now, I've completely drifted off the point.

I like the New Pornographers. Their set last Saturday night was excellent, even sans Neko. And their piss-take of Bryan Adams, Nickelback and Pearl Jam was fucking hilarious.

so sick of this terrible band

Sex Is On Fire is a rad single.

KoL live are amazing.

― Choose Leif, Wednesday, October 8, 2008 9:03 PM (2 months ago)

NO!. NOT TRUE.

haha don't get too worked up man that post is from a well-known sockpuppet

why do people like the Kings of Leon?

Because one of them won at Ludlow yesterday at 25/1 !!!
http://horses.sportinglife.com/Full_Results/0,12493,289432,00.html

lool

haven't heard them in a while. first thing i remember about them was a being gimmicky southern rock strokes. not that the songs were terrible. i jammed to molly chambers in college.

I quite like Sex on Fire. Catchy tune and *giggle* it has the dirty word in it. But then I realize that my inability to really distinguish between rub and grebt songs/albums/bands comes from my lack of music listening. I hae slipped into the ole abyss of nothingness: I rarely l isten to much cause, well, kids prefer you put a Pooh DVD on so it all erodes. Still, Sex on Fire is quite catchy. I loathed their first singles though. Yikes.

The singer's voice just has always clicked for me. I've heard a lot of people say the opposite.

Their lyrics are generally bone(r)-headed but besides that (and this based on the first two albums alone) I've found their songwriting to be pretty tight and effective. See: King of the Rodeo; rhythmically taut with a concise melodic structure. Spoon's country cousin (horny younger brother)?

Yeah not focusing on the lyrics helps.

Have heard this album well over twenty times in the last two months at work, and I can say with some degree of certainty that it is absolutely terrible. It just plods on and on and on and on and on...

I am not qualified to answer this question

my thoughts here:

http://blog.rhapsody.com/2008/11/the-new-january-2009-issue-of-blender-includes-among-many-other-things-a-list-of-the-top-144-songs-of-2008-as-presumably-s.html

http://www.billboard.com/news/kings-of-leon-ready-remix-album-live-dvd-1004006418.story#/news/kings-of-leon-ready-remix-album-live-dvd-1004006418.story

Even more exciting, however, is a remix album that came to life after Kings of Leon learned that other artists such as Justin Timberlake and Pharrell had started working on revisions of the band's songs. Mark Ronson, Kenna, Lykke Li and Linkin Park are also contributing remixes, according to Followill.

Worst record of 2010, I'm calling it.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/SHOWBIZ/Music/07/24/kings.of.leon.pigeons/index.html

Pooping pigeons forced the Kings of Leon to abandon their St. Louis, Missouri, concert after just three songs Friday night, the rock band's management said Saturday.

An infestation of the birds in the rafters of the Verizon Amphitheatre bombarded the musicians as soon as they took the stage, according to Andy Mendelsohn of Vector Management.

"Jared (Followill) was hit several times during the first two songs," Mendelsohn said of the band's bassist.

"It's not only disgusting -- it's a toxic health hazard. They really tried to hang in there," Mendelsohn added.

Followill, who describes himself as a "germophobe," said there was already poop on his pedal and carpet when he walked out on stage.

The aerial attack began during the opening song -- "Closer" -- when he was bombed in the face. His bass tech wiped most of it off with a sanitary wipe, he said.

Excrement struck each of his arms over the next two numbers, he said.

"I was hit by pigeons on each of the first three songs," he said. "We had 20 songs on the set list. By the end of the show, I would have been covered from head to toe."

Followill said he couldn't see the pigeons above him and he had no idea how many there were.

"The last thing I was going to do was look up ... but if that was only a couple, we must have caught them right after a big Thanksgiving dinner," he quipped.

The group was determined to play for St. Louis fans even though they had fair warning earlier about the pigeon problem.

Opening bands The Postelles and The Stills came offstage complaining of getting riddled with large amounts of excrement, their publicist said.

"The Kings of Leon decided to carry on regardless," they said in a statement released Saturday. "The band felt it would be unfair to the fans to cancel the show at that late moment."

"We couldn't believe what The Postelles and The Stills looked like after their sets," Followill said. "We didn't want to cancel the show, so we went for it. We tried to play. It was ridiculous."

Followill's mother called him when she heard from friends at the show that it had been abruptly ended.

"I was attacked, Mom, but not by humans," Followill said he told her.

Venue managers told the band's representatives earlier Friday about "a significant pigeon infestation problem with summer shows over the years, but they were doing all they could to fix it," the statement said.

"We want to apologize to our fans in St. Louis and will come back as soon as we can," Mendelsohn said.

Concertgoers were apparently spared the aerial bombardment.

"No fans got pooped on as far as we know," the band's publicist said

cosmic justice

Would they have closed with "Opener"?

"No fans got pooped on as far as we know," the band's publicist said

"The Kings of Leon decided to carry on regardless"

Second statement giving the lie to the first

I'm just surprised they have sanitary standards, considering that their music feels like a gas station bathroom.

triumph the insult comic dog to thread

cankles to thread

is it standard CNN practice to open articles with words such as 'pooping'?

STORY HIGHLIGHTS
NEW: Excrement did not hit the fans

actually, all of it:

STORY HIGHLIGHTS
NEW: Excrement did not hit the fans
The band decided to take the stage despite bombardment on openers
The show ended when excrement landed on the bassist's cheek
Kings of Leon were warned about pigeon infestation

Don't really get the Skynyrd comparisons; if you're going to compare them to southern rock bands, I'd say they're closer to early R.E.M. at times, kind of grafted onto a U2 template along with some post-punk touches (there's even a Hooky bassline on one of their songs) -- not horrible, not necessarily or particularly loveable in this incarnation. Oversize spatial melodic sound. Lead singer a dealmaker/breaker, though. I actually quite like his damaged voice, which explains why I'm far from stanning yet can't find it in me to hate.

(I now nominate myself for that "worst taste on ILM" thread, lol.)

It's not only disgusting -- it's a toxic health hazard

for a moment, wasn't sure if this quote referred to the "pooping pigeons" or the "kings of leon."

They suck, but yeah, they sound nothing at all like Skynyrd (or 38 Special, for that matter.)

Singles Jukebox, last year:

http://www.thesinglesjukebox.com/?p=1024

Bird poop story is very funny.

and in the end, the kings were felled by "pooping pigeons."

they sound nothing at all like . . . 38 Special

damn right; i have fond memories of .38 special.

This story is AMAZING.

Good story. Did lol.

I still like "King Of The Rodeo."

And "Charmer" reminds me of The Pixies.

Sorry, yes, I should have mentioned that the story contained much lolworthiness before I got all earnest there. :)

lol i heard about that show. word on the street is that apparently they were desperate to find an excuse not to play that particular show though

they should tour with hazmat suits

This is like the opposite of GG Allin and The Dillinger Escape Plan who throw their own crap AT the audience.

You know, when critical consensus eventually swings back to the Kings Of Leon -- as it will (okay, might) one day -- my post in here will be seen as courageously pioneering and prophetic... as well as endearingly otm, right?

St Louis pigeons otm

Hoping they play somewhere with a condor population soon.

Do their fans get their money back? If not, fuck this band. Also,

His bass tech wiped most of it off with a sanitary wipe = worst job in the WORLD

"It seems that the pigeons that live in the rafters of the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater aren't Kings of Leon fans."

who can blame them?

yes they got their money back. but LOL, i was listening to radio the other day and some director person came on and gave a statement re: the incident and asked 'listeners' to go to the website and tell them whether it has affected their opinion of them and their music, and also whether the station should continue playing kol's music. lmfao.

this is a Musical Event on the scale of Dylan going electric, and we forget the lessons it taught us all at our peril

The pooping pigeons criticize more music:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/jul/28/kings-leon-pigeons-review-singles

Nickelback – This Afternoon
There is no word in the world that loosens a stout pigeon's bowel faster than "Nickelback". In fact, were Chad Kroeger ever to look up from his gnarly grunt-rock work-bench he'd realise the cloud of existential angst that's been shadowing him his whole life is actually a flock of circling pigeons desperate for the glory of firing a hot, wet pellet of excremental gut-juice directly into his yowling great gob. Any noble bird who scores a direct hit on Chad is made King of the Buttock Bombers and given exclusive access to our treasured cigarette butt stash for an hour. Indeed, we have been collecting our moistest excretions in a large barrel for the day we could funnel it over the turgid, formulaic dope anthem that is This Afternoon. "Looking like another Bob Marley day …" Is it? You spliffed-up, bottle-blond, varnish-faced BASTARD!

Brad Paisley for the goddamn win

LOL

their new song sounds almost exactly like X

It's linked in another thread, but the bit from the Johnny Borrell interview deserves to be posted in full:

7. KINGS OF LEON - "SEX ON FIRE"

JB: This song is basically the apex, death and afterlife of landfill indie all in one go. And, I’m actually going to demand we listen to another song right now. Can you pull up "Dakota" by the Stereophonics? Ok. When do the main vocals come in?

29 seconds.
And how about on "Sex is on Fire"?

29 seconds.
And when does the chorus drop?

53 seconds, and, fuck, it is actually 53 seconds on the other one too.
Right? It’s in the same key, at the same tempo; it’s the same macho, bloke mumbling in the verse, and a big chorus with loads of extended vowel sounds.

That's unbelievable. Although, I guess bands nicking shit from other bands is hardly anything new.
Of course not – everything I’ve nicked, I know exactly where it’s from. It’s just with this, it’s like we’ve been on this whole journey, and suddenly we’re back in the late 1990s with the Stereophonics song-formula. And look, the Stereophonics are really good at what they do, and they’ve never claimed to be anything else. But once your formula is that…well, we’re in Stadium Landfill territory.

So, Kings of Leon are the band that tell the whole story of landfill indie then?
Maybe that’s right. Their second record, The Bucket, was so fucking good. I loved that album. It was by far the best record of whatever year it came out. So, to hear them do this was just, well… ughh.

So I guess after this everyone stopped pretending to be punk and started pretending to be folk musicians?
Yeah, I guess then the era of Mumford & Sons started or whatever.

Or, “Razorlight with Banjos”, as they were also known.
Razorlight with Banjos? Ouch.