Exhibit A: Artifice. This is the main argument against the Killers, and I may need your help fleshing it out.
It may seem like I have no problem with artifice. I certainly have a higher-than-normal tolerance for theantinomian, the transgressive, and even the nihilistic in popular music. We may also talk about the futility of the pursuit of “authenticity” in rock music, and how refreshing it is that the Killers are not concerned at all with that chase. But the old pursuit of “authenticity” is the secret hypocrisy that makes rock tolerable. It isn’t really completely antinomian, nihilistic or transgressive. It’s secretly embodied, concerned, sensitive.
The Killers are obsessed with a new type of authenticity, a consistent application of the essentials of pop. This is what makes them so successful, but also so detestable. They’re really slick and really gross at the same time (use Google image search to see what I mean). They are entirely nihilistic, they completely separate lyrics and reality, they are ultimately transgressive. This may be consistent, but like most consistency it scares the heck out of me.
I may seem fickle, but Frank can actually attest to my constancy in this regard… I was just telling him yesterday how much I disliked Britney’s song “Blur” off her new album. Lyrics: Who are you? What’d we do last night? / Can’t remember what I did last night / Maybe I shouldn’t have given in but I just couldn’t fight / Hope I didn’t, but I think I might’ve / Everything, everything is still a blur.
Pop music has rebellion at the core, but sneaking out of the house and dancing into the night is a far cry away from drunken blackouts, agonizing over whether to sleep with your ex-girlfriend’s current lover, or obsessively stalking your ex-girlfriend and murdering her. I like noir, I like existentialism, I dislike nihilism.