the killers - are they killer?

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I find the huge praise and popularity very bemusing: I suppose "Somebody Told Me" isn't too bad (I was pleasantly surprised that it had a tune &c, after the debacle of every Libertines song I've tried to listen to) but this band are just so unremittingly mediocre and uninteresting.

― The Lex (The Lex), Tuesday, 11 January 2005 11:20 (twenty-one years ago)

I've been obsessing over "Mr Brightside". Maybe my favourite Placebo song right now (and I like Placebo plenty).

The problem with The Killers is that they take all that was annoying about Placebo and nothing that was good (ie, the first two albums).

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Tuesday, 11 January 2005 11:20 (twenty-one years ago)

The second Placebo album is the best thing they ever made, though, Dom! And I can't hear any of it in The Killers...lots and lots of Rick Witter, however. And Duran. Mmm.

― CharlieNo4 (Charlie), Tuesday, 11 January 2005 11:34 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm implying that "Placebo" and "Without You I'm Nothing" are the only two Placebo albums that don't make me want to cry with embarassment that I own them.

The Killers totally sound like early Placebo, when they were in NME rather than Kerrang.

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Tuesday, 11 January 2005 11:36 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm literally flabbergasted these guys are from vegas and want to sound like a fucking melody maker singles review page from autumn 1996.

― Miles Finch, Tuesday, 11 January 2005 11:40 (twenty-one years ago)

Yeah, but you're actually teenage, whereas Ronan is now early 20s and so kicking against it with all his might. I however am mid-20s, and thus do nothing but read comics and play video games.

Is this what I have to expect for the next seven years of my life?

― The Good Dr. Bill (The Good Dr. Bill), Tuesday, 11 January 2005 12:04 (twenty-one years ago)

no, you don't have to hate teen movies in your early twenties. i'm mid-twenties and still like 'em but never felt the need to harsh on them. however, this doesn't stop ver killers from being teh sukc, because they are repro through and through. whereas teen movies progress.

― Miles Finch, Tuesday, 11 January 2005 12:06 (twenty-one years ago)

irrelevant since I'm not british anyway.

― The Good Dr. Bill (The Good Dr. Bill), Tuesday, 11 January 2005 12:07 (twenty-one years ago)

Does anyone need The Killers now The Bravery have arrived?

― mnm, Tuesday, 11 January 2005 12:09 (twenty-one years ago)

Perhaps Dawsons Creek is a better reference point than the fairly broad "teen movies", but I said that elsewhere!

― Ronan (Ronan), Tuesday, 11 January 2005 12:41 (twenty-one years ago)

Fun as it is, I'm pretty surprised that The Killers' Hot Fuss has been nominated for a Brit Award...

― CharlieNo4 (Charlie), Tuesday, 11 January 2005 13:16 (twenty-one years ago)

Slag against the Strokes: check; first 34 posts in; 2.5 occurences total
Disparaging remark about "hipster[s]": check; first 2 posts in; 2 occurences total
Usage of the term "rubbish": astonishingly, zero

I am going to use this judging system for every single "[insert new rock band that sounds vaguely like '70s/'80s/'90s Britpop band] sucks" thread from here on in.

― What's this place, Biblevania? (natepatrin), Tuesday, 11 January 2005 18:08 (twenty-one years ago)

Mr. Brightside is totally wasted on a shitty video...

― Jimmy Mod always makes friends with women before bedding them down (ModJ), Tuesday, 11 January 2005 18:15 (twenty-one years ago)

WTF that video is one of the best of the year! Eric Roberts and the singer plays checkers over a girl in a bordello! DANCING! Lots of shameless Robert Smith-Simon Le Bon style mugging. He even knocks over a table in slo-mo a la "Hungry Like The Wolf!" AFTER Eric Roberts makes a kissy face at him!

FUCKING CLASSIC.

― miccio (miccio), Tuesday, 11 January 2005 18:19 (twenty-one years ago)

Between that and "She Will Be Loved," Sophie Muller was easily the best video director of '04. Drama!

― miccio (miccio), Tuesday, 11 January 2005 18:20 (twenty-one years ago)

I still think this album is thoroughly enjoyable.

― teeny (teeny), Tuesday, 11 January 2005 18:21 (twenty-one years ago)

My review of Hot Fuss for Stylus. Teeny OTM.

― miccio (miccio), Tuesday, 11 January 2005 18:22 (twenty-one years ago)

ironically, anthony is wrong...

― Jimmy Mod always makes friends with women before bedding them down (ModJ), Tuesday, 11 January 2005 18:23 (twenty-one years ago)

(wrt the video part)

― Jimmy Mod always makes friends with women before bedding them down (ModJ), Tuesday, 11 January 2005 18:23 (twenty-one years ago)

dude I listed nothing but factual evidence in my description. You probably think "Paranoid Android" is some heavy shit or something.

― miccio (miccio), Tuesday, 11 January 2005 18:24 (twenty-one years ago)

Nate I'm not sure if you think you're masking bullshit American "anti-British" attitudes as discussions of music or not, but if you are you really need to wake up and take a good look at yourself.

Because if anyone, who had never been outside their own country, presumably, was talking about other countries in a hugely generalised manner and throwing out bilious and random criticisms aimed at people from that country on threads where a great deal of the posters are not in fact British, well then that person would be a fucking insular prejudiced idiot at a time when those idiots are running the world.

I'm sure you're not doing this though are you

― Ronan (Ronan), Tuesday, 11 January 2005 18:24 (twenty-one years ago)

I wish the lyrics were better, but I really like this album. The hooks are huge and it's sort of relentless and fun. Apparently there's a Mylo remix of "Somebody Told Me" that just came out that's good?

― Chuckling at the Tomkat's Marquee (Ben Boyer), Tuesday, 11 January 2005 18:25 (twenty-one years ago)

Radiohead is poo.

More about the video; it's poorly spaced and under casted, badly shot esp. considering it's Moulin Rouged out; to make things worse, what's-his-name the lead singer can't even pretend to mime the words like he gives a flying fuck -- and it's one thing to be young and bored, but you're trying to sell the song...

― Jimmy Mod always makes friends with women before bedding them down (ModJ), Tuesday, 11 January 2005 18:27 (twenty-one years ago)

dude he is sooooo not pretending to be bored! he even shakes his body and flips his arms around "voila!"-style! and how can a video be under casted if its got Eric Roberts, some dancing lothario, tons of courtesans AND what appears to be a second-long shot of Scarlett Johnannsen dressed like a man!

― miccio (miccio), Tuesday, 11 January 2005 18:29 (twenty-one years ago)

what did you want, Corey Feldman dressed as a pirate too?

― miccio (miccio), Tuesday, 11 January 2005 18:30 (twenty-one years ago)

MULTIPLE SHOTS OF ERIC ROBERTS THROWING AN APPLE! YOU ARE BLIND.

― miccio (miccio), Tuesday, 11 January 2005 18:32 (twenty-one years ago)

ooh I just watched the video and it's okay on a certain level but really it should have been set in a really nasty goth club.

― teeny (teeny), Tuesday, 11 January 2005 18:55 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm sure you're not doing this though are you

Sarcasm aside, no I'm not doing that. I'm just sick of the predictable "done before and better feh poo blah" attitude that permeates Every. Single. Thread. about any nu-rock band that commits the unpardonable sin of, you know, using guitars. I'm also sick of the sweeping condemnation of said bands sucking for no discernible reason than these people care to explain other than "they exist" and "it was done better by some band nobody cares about anymore". And I'm sick of the "hipster" strawman being delivered by people more provincial and snobbish than any hipster I've ever met.

If it makes you feel better, Thin Lizzy's Live and Dangerous is my favorite late '70s rock album right now. Feel that voib, whydon't'cha.

― What's this place, Biblevania? (natepatrin), Tuesday, 11 January 2005 18:57 (twenty-one years ago)

(It also bears mentioning that my username comes from a Patton Oswalt bit about how America invades countries and ruins everything, sort of like a retarded trust fund child: "This country's nice, can we have Disneyworld?" "This is Paris-" "DISNEYWORLD!" "All right, all right, fine... please, don't blow us up." "What's this country, Biblevania?" "Israel." "I WANT A WATERSLIDE!")

― What's this place, Biblevania? (natepatrin), Tuesday, 11 January 2005 18:59 (twenty-one years ago)

So, in conclusion, I am not Bush, I did not vote for Bush, and I in no way whatsoever even remotely resemble Bush. I just find it funny that some people (British or otherwise) have this kneejerk thing: "THE NME LIKES THEM! OUT COME THE BASEBALL BATS!" (See, I used an American weapon there.)

― What's this place, Biblevania? (natepatrin), Tuesday, 11 January 2005 19:01 (twenty-one years ago)

Thank you teeny, I appreciate that.

Also, who wants to see Scarlett Johanssen dressed as a man?

― Jimmy Mod always makes friends with women before bedding them down (ModJ), Tuesday, 11 January 2005 19:17 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm not really sure it was her. She looked like she was playing Oscar Wilde.

― miccio (miccio), Tuesday, 11 January 2005 19:28 (twenty-one years ago)

"I wish the lyrics were better"

The lyrics are bizarro.

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Tuesday, 11 January 2005 19:36 (twenty-one years ago)

Anglo-yank wars aside, THEY SOUND -- SPEAKING OBJECTIVELY -- LIKE SHED SEVEN.

― Baxter, friend to bears, Wednesday, 12 January 2005 09:30 (twenty-one years ago)

The Killers next single should be "She Left Me On Friday".

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Wednesday, 12 January 2005 13:21 (twenty-one years ago)

it's actually going to be 'This Is How It Feels'

― Stevem On X (blueski), Wednesday, 12 January 2005 13:32 (twenty-one years ago)

My g/f had a somewhat Kate-esque reaction to the singer: skinny British foppish indie b0yz0rz yay. The shoe's on t'other foot now!

― Miles Finch, Wednesday, 12 January 2005 14:20 (twenty-one years ago)

I find it bewildering how the Killers' Hot Fuss can mix excitement and brilliance with dullness and naffness in equal measure - there doesn't seem to be an overall feel to the album at all which I can detect. When the initial song "Jenny Was A Friend of Mine" (which I think is the best track on the album incidentally) started I thought "Hmm, early Duran Duran copyists" coz it is startling how good a Le Bon impression Brandon Flowers does on this song! The instrumentation is cool too...there's a lot going on there, it's a good song to listen to for seeing how many layers one can detect.

But, on the other hand, we have the absolutely dreadful track "Glamorous Indie Rock and Roll"...at least it does exactly what it says on the tin - the song is every bit as dire as the title would suggest! It is songs like that where I fear for the bands' future - will they sound exactly like the Stereophonics on the second album? The likes of "Glamorous Indie Rock and Roll" make me tremble at the possibility.

― MarkH (MarkH), Saturday, 15 January 2005 15:03 (twenty-one years ago)

I just find it funny that some people (British or otherwise) have this kneejerk thing: "THE NME LIKES THEM! OUT COME THE BASEBALL BATS!" (See, I used an American weapon there.)

You should have been culturally sensitive and said "Out come the teapots, wot wot!"

― miccio (miccio), Saturday, 15 January 2005 16:07 (twenty-one years ago)

Who the FUCK are Shed 7, and why should I care?

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Saturday, 15 January 2005 17:57 (twenty-one years ago)

I will continue to defend the Killers. Saw them live, enjoyed it lots. However MarkH OTM re: "Glamourous Indie Rock n' Roll" - if their next album is a bunch of songs like that, I will be forced to smash the CD underneath my boot and place the shards of plastic in the toilet and FLUSH. What WERE they thinking? Strangely, though it looks like they left that track off the U.S. version of the album. So someone must have had a sense of quality control.

― Bimble... (Bimble...), Saturday, 15 January 2005 22:20 (twenty-one years ago)

Musical guest on Saturday Night Live tonight, by the way.

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Saturday, 15 January 2005 22:36 (twenty-one years ago)

CRAP

― LSD ARISTOCAT (ex machina), Saturday, 15 January 2005 22:38 (twenty-one years ago)

What, did you stub your toe or something?

― What's this place, Biblevania? (natepatrin), Sunday, 16 January 2005 06:04 (twenty-one years ago)

will they cover "lament" ?

― uidge mre, Sunday, 16 January 2005 06:26 (twenty-one years ago)

If you don't appreciate the Killers you have cloth in your ears. Especially if you like Moz or Smiths at all and you don't appreciate them then as far as I'm concerned you have some serious explaining to do. Seriously, Moz aside, what worries me is the idea that the corporate media machine is putting cloth in people's ears to the point that they are rendered UNABLE TO GRASP THE SIMPLE, REFRESHING DELIGHT OF THE KILLERS. What does this say about the future of music? If by some insane miracle, another John, George, Paul & Ringo appeared at our door, would we all just be too cynical, too deaf to hear it? Not that I'm trying to compare the Killers to Beatles, that's not what I'm getting at. What I am getting at is this: If a Killer falls in the woods and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound?

AND THE ANSWER IS YES IT DOES, BECAUSE THE TEENAGERS KNOW. EVEN IF YOU DON'T. AND TEENAGERS RULE THE WORLD.

― Bimble... (Bimble...), Sunday, 16 January 2005 13:19 (twenty-one years ago)

I *do* appreciate the Killers and like the album as I said before, but at the same time I am puzzled and frustrated by its inconsistency. Maybe it's one of those albums which demonstrates the importance of putting the tracksin a sensible order, which is something you only notice when ppl get it wrong, as clearly the Killers have. The most upbeat immediate tracks are all at the beginning! Couldn't they have spaced them out?!

Brandon's vox are so varied on the album - ok, so he sounds just like Le Bon on "Jenny Was a Friend of Mine", but on "Mr Brightside" he starts by sounding just like the person who sings on Underworld's "Born Slippy" only to transmogrify into Midge Ure. Which does beg the question - should we applaud him for his vocal range and ability to adopt different styles of singing, or criticize him for cynically trying to win over ppl who have fond memories of those records of the past?

― MarkH (MarkH), Sunday, 16 January 2005 13:43 (twenty-one years ago)

shed seven are the new beatles.

― Hari A$hur$t (Toaster), Sunday, 16 January 2005 13:46 (twenty-one years ago)

Incidentally, "Smile Like You Mean It" seems to be the musical equivalent of one of those used cars which get mentioned on consumer programmes sometimes which are actually bits of two cars welded together. The synth lines on it are superb and sound exciting, but the vocals on the chorus are rather tired sounding and heading distressingly in the direction of stadium rock.

― MarkH (MarkH), Sunday, 16 January 2005 13:52 (twenty-one years ago)

The lead singer has an unmistakable Ian Astbury tone to his voice (something I never noticed untilo their SNL appearance last night).

― mike a, Sunday, 16 January 2005 14:55 (twenty-one years ago)

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