Bloodless Coup

Most Disappointing Band of the Summer

To me that pretty much sums up The Killers. This is a band that I should like. Their love for the sounds of the 1980’s pervades practically every bar of their music. They clearly seek to align themselves with the sensibilities of Duran Duran or the Cure and some of the edgier bands from early in the Reagan decade. At the same time, they also seem to be working hard to be Interpol. Now all of those are good things and worthwhile aspirations, or at the least they offer tantalizing prospects for fun. The problem is that they are so … well, so Las Vegas. They want to be fun (even dark fun), and they copy well-known steps that have accomplished that in the past, but imitation rarely succeeds on its own. Drawing on the classics of yesterday and today doesn’t make up for a lack of originality and verve. I quite like “Somebody Told Me”, it’s very danceable and it’s great drive-faster music. But it’s disappointing nonetheless. While good, there are obvious spots when you think “that’s it? why didn’t they add X or Z here? or maybe Y?”. While good, it could have been improved. In the hands of Damon Albarn (ok, yeah he jumps to mind because of the lyrics, but still) or (of course) Franz Ferdinand, you could have had some faster, edgier, less expected entertainment, and a more satisfying song. I sort of hate to knock a band for not being better than ok, but given the number of great bands out there that are going unrecognized, it’s sort of sad the amount of money that gets spent on hyping the so-so bands. Posted by armand at September 11, 2004 04:51 PM | TrackBack | Posted to Music