Let me quantify this before I start.  I don’t dislike The Killers or their music.  I don’t really see how anyone can, after all it is neither challenging nor offensive.  Catchy, well written pop songs, great hooks, sing-along hands-aloft choruses.  What is their to dislike?  Not much at all.  Pleasing to the ear and don’t they all look good too.

What I don’t get about The Killers is the esteem in which they are held by the British music buying public.  Two Brit Awards, 4 NME Awards for best international group (no Grammys yet incidentally, curiously their native Americans seem oblivious to whatever it is that captivates the British public).  Oh and don’t forget they have headlined just about every major festival in the last two years…

All this from a band who churn out catchy, inoffensive pop songs.  Is this really what should be considered the highlight of the British festival calendar?  Add to that that their best work is on their first album Hot Fuss (released 6 years ago) and you have to wonder why there is still so much fuss over this band or why they still enjoy such an incongruous level of popularity.

But let’s reddress the balance.  ‘All these things that I have done’… is a great song, as is ‘Mr Brightside’ and they have plenty of other good ones; they ain’t bad but they just ain’t that good.  But when I watch footage of crowds going crazy to other songs like ‘When you were young’ I just think ‘am I missing something here?’.  I don’t think the current music scene is that unhealthy that good bands should be undeservedly catapulted into greatness.

The Killers are a good band with some good songs but take few chances with their music and they ain’t doing anything that special that I can see.  So why they are thought of as one of the greatest bands in the world and received 4 awards for best international group from us Brits is beyond me.

In the country of the bland the not-so-high-rollers from Vegas are kings.

Posted In I Just Don't Get, Jan 09 2010. Words - Mark