Last month, Austin unleashed an impressive stream of vehement vitriol against The Killers, here and also here. It included a number of Exhibits, and if you haven’t read it yet, I would encourage you to take a look. I may disagree with him, but his comments are entertaining enough to merit your time.
That said, I remain an unabashed and unashamed fan of The Killers, and their latest release (Day & Age) has only strengthened my love. It’s chock full of anthemic pop, it makes me want to dance and sing way higher than I ought to in public, and its lyrics are forgettable without being reprehensible. What more should we be asking from rock music?
The truth is, I stopped looking for depth in rock music a long time ago. Some bands have clever turns of phrase, some have pretty melodies, and some even have both. But if I want to be challenged intellectually, or if I want to meditate on something, why would I turn to Radiohead, or U2, or The Killers, or Death Cab for Cutie, or The Decemberists? The lyrical substance simply isn’t there.
And perhaps that’s why I like The Killers. They’re no more potent than any other piece of pop culture I encounter, and they’re so obviously nonsensical that I don’t have to cut through the PR spin that Bono and others desperately throw into their music. I happen to think that The Killers are fun to listen to. They’ve got the pop hooks, they’ve got decent production, and they’re good at making me forget how cold it is outside.
Rock’n'roll is entertainment. Forget what Paste Magazine tries to tell you. Sure, music and movies and books can say something worth saying, and if they’re any good, they’ll have more depth than entertainment. But at heart, it’s really about whether or not you enjoy it. If you don’t, fine: that’s your privilege. Nobody said you had to enjoy everything.
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.
“It’s taken from a quote by [author Hunter S.] Thompson. … ‘We’re raising a generation of dancers,’ and I took it and ran. I guess it bothers people that it’s not grammatically correct, but I think I’m allowed to do whatever I want,” he laughed. ” ‘Denser’? I hadn’t heard that one. I don’t like ‘denser.’”
Since the new Killers track Frank posted has already been pulled from YouTube by the PTB, I thought I’d post a few new tracks here, with quick reviews:
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1. The Alicia Keys and Jack White – Another Way to Die James Bond theme song. This just rocks. I was sad when Amy Winehouse backed out of the Quantum of Solace theme, but this is a great collaboration. Note: it just fades out suddenly at the end. But it rocks, so I had to post it anyway.
2. The Killers – Human Laura and I listened to this song together, and we both thought the line “Are we human, or are we dancer?” was hilarious. This song sounds like it was written to be background music for a love scene in Gossip Girl. You heard it here first. My deep hatred for The Killers continues unabated.
3. Mariah Carey – Lovin’ U Long Time (Remix) I had to throw this one in here. What a remix!
4. Britney Spears – Womanizer Not sure what I think of this track. Opening singles traditionally aren’t my favorite songs – consider “I’m a Slave 4 U”. For pop icons like Britney they’re supposed to be a big statement or reinvention. I have to listen to it a couple dozen times before I make a final judgement. Danja, Bloodshy and Avant, Keri Hilson, and most importantly Guy Sigsworth and Max Martin (!) are returning to collaborate on her new album Circus.
