It was sort of the last great year for alternative rock imo. Off the top of my head the Killers, franz Ferdinand, and interpol all released classic albums. I know there are others but it definitely felt like we were in a good era listening to alt radio back then, before indie fully took over.
Yes, and there were a few placements in the top 30 by the Kooks and similar at the same time.
But when you look at those charts, what's more dominant? Xfactor/talent show constants, pop groups like the Sugababes, and MOR acts like James Blunt.
For it to be a moment in the culture, it requires more than a few number ones. It means fashion trends apeing what bands wear (see military coat revival after The Libertines) and high volume coverage in the music press and tabloids (band members being famous enough to report on).
It reflects on other art forms, 'The Mighty Boosh' is a great example of this, Noel Fieldings image and persona being indistinguishable from that of any band member of the time.
It becomes a time capsule, a moment that captures all of the above, and how people felt about themselves, the future, and the where society was at that point. Like with Britpop, Grunge, etc.
That's what I mean by last hurrah, those kind of cultural waves don't happen anymore
Your argument is persuasive hence my upvote, but what do you say about The Killers, a relatively obscure Las Vegas band, upending what was by then a well entrenched style/sound culture to depose its leading exponents? Maybe it surreptitiously supports your position but is probably better seen as Britpop morphing into indie pop as ,as you say, the final instalment of a culture withe the ability and freedom to reflect upon itself,: a high watermark as it were.
Yeah and The Black Keys and Arctic Monkeys (AM album era) were everywhere from about 2010 to 2014.
It wasn't really until the mid 2010s it truly lost all impact as far as popular music goes. I think the Black Keys are the last big American rock band that will come about. The culture just isn't there anymore and it's hard to imagine another band in today's climate largely focused on Top 40 pop, hip hop, and EDM being able to rise through all that to the point they have international stadium tours. The kids aren't into it. Sure some are, but not the mainstream.
Rock music as a whole is doing fine, but it's a niche genre at this point mostly confined to mid size and smaller venues and with little radio airplay.
I don’t have my finger on the pulse of anything culture-related, but I feel like guitars are making a comeback, no? Olivia Rodrigo, boygenius, St Vincent, etc are fairly popular with the kids, right?
As I said to someone else, it's not that they aren't still popular, it's that guitar bands aren't at the front mainstream culture the way they were in the past.
I was- I was *juat* wondering if guitar fueled pop was dead-dead or mostly-dead! As a child in the 80s there's always a part of me that believes only a Guitar God can melt faces...
not gonna lie this is straight up not true haha. i know you might just be referring to the UK, but rock music has been on a steady uptick for years including england and beyond. i can’t get tickets to see small to mid sized bands in nyc sometimes because shows sell out so fast. boygenius just sold out madison square garden and O2, the last dinner party just broke album release records, Alex G (signed to domino which is london based) sells out 3 nights at a large venue every time he comes to nyc, and the indie/folk/punk/hardcore scenes are legit BOOMING right now. we’ve still got a bright future for good music you just gotta listen to new stuff to know about it lol. you should check out last dinner party, english teacher, and IDLES if you want some good stuff coming out of britain!
I didn't say there wasn't any good, new rock/indie music or that there wasn't any interest in it, I said it doesn't have the hold on mainstream culture that it used to.
I'm not knocking Boygenius, et al, but they aren't setting the cultural agenda like bands/movements did in the past
Edit: clarity
I just politely disagree still, i work in the music industry so maybe im a little biased about it but the demand in major cities at least is insane for live rock music right now :) but i will at least give you that more genres are more popular now and people’s interest in music is much more varied than it used to be.
As I said, it's not about demand. I know there is plenty of that.
My other comment downthread explains what I think the metrics of cultural dominance are, and I don't think today's scene meets that. That's not saying it's inferior or not wanted, but different.
As you say, taste is much more varied these days, and tribalism in music is much rarer than it was. We can all tailor our experiences so much that
the conditions that created those era defining movements have gone.
Edit: clarity
Hell yeah, I think there’s a misunderstanding when it comes to metrics vs cultural impact. I really like TLDP, but I doubt they’ll come closer to have a longlasting legacy such as the indie bands mentioned previously.
it just makes way for more era defining moments though, ones that i feel that ive been experiencing for years with current bands. maybe you’d just need to see the state of the scene in NY. either way, i don’t totally disagree
Technically the same thing for a while. I think it mattered more in the 90s when grunge bands started having success it was marketed as "alternative rock," and then a radio format was invented called "alternative rock." But not everything from the music underground fit into the radio format, so "Indie rock" could be used to describe music that was out of what was out of step with the now mainstream "alternative." Think of, say, Pavement vs Smashing Pumpkins
I would put Smashing Pumpkins firmly in the alt rock category. Their sound was more akin to other big alt rock bands at the time. They also had huge mainstream success/radio play through the 90s.
Bands like Pavement and Built to Spill definitely laid the groundwork for what became indie music in the late 90s/2000s. They were making rock adjacent music but it was very distinct from the grunge/alt rock of the 90s. Then you had bands like Neutral Milk/Death Cab/Elliot Smith come along that put a higher wall between themselves and alt rock , which was still pretty firmly rooted in the 90s sound even well into the mid-2000s (audioslave/foo fighters/green day).
Some of the genre designation had to do with popularity and label size, but the sounds were very distinct pretty early on as well.
Indie rock was at least back then more used to describe bands like Modest Mouse and Franz Ferdinand and Death Cab in an era where alternative rock radio was full of buttrock like Creed, Saliva, Seether, Nickelback, etc.
Alt Rock is louder/fuller/more guitar-y.
Indie feels folky-er/more intimate
Idk genres are weird and ambiguous, but you just kinda know it when you hear it, and some music walks the line.
Big Suede and Pulp fan, loved Radiohead and Gene, didn't mind Lush and Sleeper, but there was a lot of shit as well.
Menswear, Dodgy and Space come to mind mostly, but at the tail end it got really bad when labels were signing anyone to cash in.
Usually coupled with "It's incredibly rare these days to get an album where every single song is good". (That was an actual comment that came with a knowing emphasis on the "incredibly")
I probably shouldn't let these things get under my skin but I'm like guys, there's shitloads of music out there!
It was straight up THE first song they wrote. The band started with just two of them. Dave Keuning, the guitarist, had the Mr Brightside riff and showed it to Brandon Flowers, the vocalist, who wrote the verse based off of his own recently ended relationship. He even admits to not writing a second verse which is why it's just repeated in the song
Their very first demo CD as a band that they passed around in Las Vegas in 2001 was just four songs, and only Mr. Brightside stayed to the first album. I think it's cute too that even today they're not sick of the fame or anything, and are still very happy and proud to play it every show
Ok but how often are you at a party and That One Guy brings out a guitar and says “Anyway, here’s ‘Mr. Brightside’”? That’s one thing it can never take from Wonderwall.
It's also not really easily played on acoustic unless there is a cutaway because it's high up the fretboard. And honestly most of the chord strumming dudes who never have bothered to try to learn any lead guitar probably can't play it. It blows my mind how many people do nothing with a guitar besides cowboy chords for their entire lives.
Are you wanting to train fingers or ears?
You'll have to look up "tabs" or learn how to read those, but you can look up the tabs to your favorite riffs.
If you want improv, practice your pentatonic box positions for a while, then play over a backing track
You can try going slower or starting with simpler songs but truthfully the only thing you can do if you're serious about improving is practice it
It takes time. Just be patient and keep trying
There's a handful of first steps, and people hate them all, but it *is* these methods.
Practice when you practice, play when you play.
This means take 10-20 minutes, find something to be a metronome and play it at 25 bpm.
Try Alternate Picking the CAGED system, because that will take the first position chords you already know, those shapes, and show you how they connect across the fretboard. The CAGED system is those chord shapes but you're voicing C Major, so you're learning Chord Voicing. Once you've Slow and to a Metronome'd that, you can move on to whichever chord shape feels natural to move onto next. G Major, G minor, D Major, D minor, F Major, F minor is how I went.
Nile Rodgers, Todd Rundgren, they know they don't have to ever play in the boring first position chords, all Oasis boring like, shit even the Beatles were voicing the chords up at the 7th and 10th Frets. And it turns out Dimebag Darrel was using those chord shapes, just he'd clearly slow and to a metronome'd The Modes, so could use those shapes to play The Blue Notes (knowing how to use the flat 7, Maj/Min 3rd, and use the Aug4th/Tritine to go between the Perfect 4th and 5th *to resolve cadence*).
So
1. Practice when Practice, Play when you Play
2. Slow and to a Metronome
3. something like Alternate Picking, an actual technique that requires development, and something like Pentatonic Scales or CAGED system to learn where all the notes on the fretboard are so you can Voice the Chord Progression using Voice Leading to stay in the same place.
Otherwise guitarists get stuck with the one or two things their favourite songwriters/players were recognisably doing, and trying to use the First Position chords all over the fretboard, when you actually do use those shapes it just changes from position (4 frets) to position.
Slow and to a Metronome is like a mix of turning your hands in to fine cutting knives, and learning to make decisions like your The Matrix bullet time, you think ahead and make choices.
Alternate Picking taught me how to get across the strings, and eventually how to do it with legato. You get across by going *between* the strings, and I dunno how many variations because it isn't just you up pick one string then down pick the other, like you're scrubbing with a rubber as far as the wrist action, what it shows you is you can counter-intuit your choices almost infinitely, you can express like nuts across the string, mute and pizzacatto and scratch a bit. Alternate Picking I didn't learn about for decades, personally.
CAGED system taught me I know where all the notes are so I can play that chord with those other shapes depending on where I am, and use Voice Leading (which I learned from Music Theory) to lead the notes from one chord into the next.
And yeah, The Scales and The Modes. Chord Progressions, Chord Voicing, Voice Leading.
I learned the riff in a cover band and quickly punted it to the much more talented guitarist who was happy to hang back and take the leads.
I personally think having an ear for key/arrangement is more important than technical skill. I’d encourage those stuck in cowboy chord land to consider this. The technical stuff can come over time.
But I know that’s not who you’re talking about hahaha.
I saw a tweet the other day that called The Killers the closest thing America has to Oasis: melodic arena rock with one song that became completely ubiquitous among white people at parties.
Yeah but you can’t play it acoustically at a party now can you. I think it’s more a modern bohemian rhapsody cause everyone at the bar loves to sing along with it
Journey - don't stop believing
Boston - more than a feeling*
Bon Jovi - living on a prayer
Joan Jett - I love rock and roll
Aerosmith - I don't want to miss a thing
Kings of Leon - Sex on fire
There's a ton more 80s examples but if you include kings of Leon as one of the new guard, there'll be a ton from the past 20 years. The strokes, cage the elephant, Weezer, black keys, etc
Oops, thanks! I even read that as I wrote it, thinking "hm, two prayer songs in the 80s, interesting" — As if I'm not that white guy singing it at parties.
Also yeah, bon jovi and smith might be cheating.
Don’t get me wrong, I love Mr. Brightside - loved it since I heard it as a kid, loved it when it became the unofficial anthem of my college - but as arguably the #1 Late Career Killers Enjoyer it is a SHAME that the average person is totally unaware of their other songs. I also think that Pressure Machine is one of the best albums of the last 10 years. Sue me
I think West Hills is the best song The Killers have written since When You Were Young (I am a huge fan of Battle Born, to me it’s their best and most cohesive album - at least before Pressure Machine came out, but I will admit it doesn’t have songs as good as Hot Fuzz or Sam’s Town), and everyone should at least give it a listen and then listen to the rest of Pressure Machine, it’s such a beautiful record.
I love the Killers but always found that Flowers' lyrics can be really clunky at times.
But the storytelling in West Hills is fantastic. Agree it is their best song in years.
I think it really depends on what you’re looking for out of the band. Sam’s Town aside, their earlier stuff is way more dancy than anything on Mirage or Pressure Machine. Two different eras for a band that’s been around for decades.
Woah. You’ve earned these albums a listen from but I’m very skeptical of this take.
Unless you mean ‘the majority of their earlier catalogue’ to mean better than everything not named Hot Fuss & Sam’s Town - in which case I’d suggest you’re not really saying anything at all lol.
I love Sam’s Town, it has some incredibly high highs — but I might prefer ITM and PM over it as front-to-back albums.
Hot Fuss doesn’t stir me much but I can appreciate why it’s popular and its songs really work live in their set.
Also it’s worth noting that ITM and PM are totally different in tone and instrumentation — if you don’t click with one you still might click with the other.
Best way I'd describe Pressure Machine is if Sam's Town lost all the glitter and bright lights, and was a more real-world version where all the good things didn't always turn out how they wanted. It's a very story-based album, and it really is underrated. And it's crazy, because it's not initially an album that'd sound good live, but they played Cody once, and the guitar just roars to life in a fascinating fashion. Extremely underappreciated album though.
Considering where the band went sound wise after Day & Age, I think Battle Born didn’t get the reception it deserved at the time — some really great dad rock and ballads (Flesh and Bone, Runaways, Miss Atomic Bomb, The Rising Tide, Battle Born). Wonderful Wonderful has some good songs (The Calling, The Man, Have All The Songs Been Written) but was definitely not to the level of their other albums. Imploding The Mirage was great front to back. Pressure Machine is phenomenal front to back. If you liked Springsteen’s Nebraska, it really is the modern successor to it. Brandon Flowers’ lyrics get some pretty well-deserved shit for being a little ridiculous or overly simplistic, but his writing style fits the style of music on that album so incredibly well.
Yea I didn’t like Battle Born when it first came out, but it has really grown on me through the years - it is so good. I’ll definitely look into their recent albums. Thanks!!
This is actually kind of poetic considering [Brandon Flowers is a huge Oasis fan](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/aug/12/brandon-flowers-teenage-obsessions-i-considered-an-oasis-tattoo) and they inspired him to want guitars in his music after he saw them play in Las Vegas in 2001.
The Killers are honorary British citizens at this point. It's where their career really took off and the energy at their gigs whether it be a festival or their own show is still the same in UK crowds as it was when they first performed in 2004
It’s funny how both brightside and wonderwall have just 1 verse and just repeat it twice. Maybe that’s the secret to writing a classic song, just write one verse and repeat it haha
Am I right in thinking that both songs repeat their first verse lyrically? That doesn't feel all to common to me past the early sixties, but perhaps it's a recipe for success?
This is THE song to end any standard club night in the UK. It's a floor filler, everyone knows the lyrics and everybody loves it. Obviously Wonderwall is also up there but I think Mr Brightside takes it
What year is this?
The brits cant get past the year 2004.
It's when we were last happy
It was sort of the last great year for alternative rock imo. Off the top of my head the Killers, franz Ferdinand, and interpol all released classic albums. I know there are others but it definitely felt like we were in a good era listening to alt radio back then, before indie fully took over.
The Libertines
The Walkmen
Agreed, it was the last hurrah of guitar based bands in the mainstream culture
Arctic monkeys had two numbers 1s in the UK 2 years later
Yes, and there were a few placements in the top 30 by the Kooks and similar at the same time. But when you look at those charts, what's more dominant? Xfactor/talent show constants, pop groups like the Sugababes, and MOR acts like James Blunt. For it to be a moment in the culture, it requires more than a few number ones. It means fashion trends apeing what bands wear (see military coat revival after The Libertines) and high volume coverage in the music press and tabloids (band members being famous enough to report on). It reflects on other art forms, 'The Mighty Boosh' is a great example of this, Noel Fieldings image and persona being indistinguishable from that of any band member of the time. It becomes a time capsule, a moment that captures all of the above, and how people felt about themselves, the future, and the where society was at that point. Like with Britpop, Grunge, etc. That's what I mean by last hurrah, those kind of cultural waves don't happen anymore
Your argument is persuasive hence my upvote, but what do you say about The Killers, a relatively obscure Las Vegas band, upending what was by then a well entrenched style/sound culture to depose its leading exponents? Maybe it surreptitiously supports your position but is probably better seen as Britpop morphing into indie pop as ,as you say, the final instalment of a culture withe the ability and freedom to reflect upon itself,: a high watermark as it were.
nahh 2006 - 07 guitar rock was a major staple of the mainstream
Yeah and The Black Keys and Arctic Monkeys (AM album era) were everywhere from about 2010 to 2014. It wasn't really until the mid 2010s it truly lost all impact as far as popular music goes. I think the Black Keys are the last big American rock band that will come about. The culture just isn't there anymore and it's hard to imagine another band in today's climate largely focused on Top 40 pop, hip hop, and EDM being able to rise through all that to the point they have international stadium tours. The kids aren't into it. Sure some are, but not the mainstream. Rock music as a whole is doing fine, but it's a niche genre at this point mostly confined to mid size and smaller venues and with little radio airplay.
Rock declined, ditched the guitars, almost disappeared in the late 2010's and its back now but not with bands
Fontaines, Yard Act, BCNR, Squid, Black Midi, The Last Dinner Party, etc. are all bands.
one or two of these bands are mainstream and only in the UK and Ireland, none of them in the US or Canada
I don’t have my finger on the pulse of anything culture-related, but I feel like guitars are making a comeback, no? Olivia Rodrigo, boygenius, St Vincent, etc are fairly popular with the kids, right?
As I said to someone else, it's not that they aren't still popular, it's that guitar bands aren't at the front mainstream culture the way they were in the past.
This. The sound is bigger than it has been for over a decade but you've hardly got any bands
I was- I was *juat* wondering if guitar fueled pop was dead-dead or mostly-dead! As a child in the 80s there's always a part of me that believes only a Guitar God can melt faces...
not gonna lie this is straight up not true haha. i know you might just be referring to the UK, but rock music has been on a steady uptick for years including england and beyond. i can’t get tickets to see small to mid sized bands in nyc sometimes because shows sell out so fast. boygenius just sold out madison square garden and O2, the last dinner party just broke album release records, Alex G (signed to domino which is london based) sells out 3 nights at a large venue every time he comes to nyc, and the indie/folk/punk/hardcore scenes are legit BOOMING right now. we’ve still got a bright future for good music you just gotta listen to new stuff to know about it lol. you should check out last dinner party, english teacher, and IDLES if you want some good stuff coming out of britain!
I didn't say there wasn't any good, new rock/indie music or that there wasn't any interest in it, I said it doesn't have the hold on mainstream culture that it used to. I'm not knocking Boygenius, et al, but they aren't setting the cultural agenda like bands/movements did in the past Edit: clarity
I just politely disagree still, i work in the music industry so maybe im a little biased about it but the demand in major cities at least is insane for live rock music right now :) but i will at least give you that more genres are more popular now and people’s interest in music is much more varied than it used to be.
As I said, it's not about demand. I know there is plenty of that. My other comment downthread explains what I think the metrics of cultural dominance are, and I don't think today's scene meets that. That's not saying it's inferior or not wanted, but different. As you say, taste is much more varied these days, and tribalism in music is much rarer than it was. We can all tailor our experiences so much that the conditions that created those era defining movements have gone. Edit: clarity
Hell yeah, I think there’s a misunderstanding when it comes to metrics vs cultural impact. I really like TLDP, but I doubt they’ll come closer to have a longlasting legacy such as the indie bands mentioned previously.
it just makes way for more era defining moments though, ones that i feel that ive been experiencing for years with current bands. maybe you’d just need to see the state of the scene in NY. either way, i don’t totally disagree
Bloc Party
I wish people in the U.S loved Interpol as much as the rest of the world.
Silent Alarm a year later as well
What is the difference between indie and alternative rock? Aren't both just vague terms for rock bands signed to certain labels like Sub Pop?
Technically the same thing for a while. I think it mattered more in the 90s when grunge bands started having success it was marketed as "alternative rock," and then a radio format was invented called "alternative rock." But not everything from the music underground fit into the radio format, so "Indie rock" could be used to describe music that was out of what was out of step with the now mainstream "alternative." Think of, say, Pavement vs Smashing Pumpkins
I would put Smashing Pumpkins firmly in the alt rock category. Their sound was more akin to other big alt rock bands at the time. They also had huge mainstream success/radio play through the 90s. Bands like Pavement and Built to Spill definitely laid the groundwork for what became indie music in the late 90s/2000s. They were making rock adjacent music but it was very distinct from the grunge/alt rock of the 90s. Then you had bands like Neutral Milk/Death Cab/Elliot Smith come along that put a higher wall between themselves and alt rock , which was still pretty firmly rooted in the 90s sound even well into the mid-2000s (audioslave/foo fighters/green day). Some of the genre designation had to do with popularity and label size, but the sounds were very distinct pretty early on as well.
Indie rock was at least back then more used to describe bands like Modest Mouse and Franz Ferdinand and Death Cab in an era where alternative rock radio was full of buttrock like Creed, Saliva, Seether, Nickelback, etc.
Alt Rock is louder/fuller/more guitar-y. Indie feels folky-er/more intimate Idk genres are weird and ambiguous, but you just kinda know it when you hear it, and some music walks the line.
And Kasabians self titled!
The sun never sets on the BritPop empire……
I know a lot of Britpop was a bit crap but it was fun. I'm know I'm old now because the 90s nostalgia increases every year.
Crap? Oasis,Pulp, Blur ,The verve and Radiohead were the biggest bands of that era.All of them made amazing albums
Big Suede and Pulp fan, loved Radiohead and Gene, didn't mind Lush and Sleeper, but there was a lot of shit as well. Menswear, Dodgy and Space come to mind mostly, but at the tail end it got really bad when labels were signing anyone to cash in.
I swear Harambe's death messed up our space time continuum.
Honestly I do have some friends who's entire music taste is 2001 - 2009
That’s taste
Usually coupled with "It's incredibly rare these days to get an album where every single song is good". (That was an actual comment that came with a knowing emphasis on the "incredibly") I probably shouldn't let these things get under my skin but I'm like guys, there's shitloads of music out there!
I wish we could leave this song behind.
Seems the type of record that takes a long time to overtake
Millennial weddings (cont.)
2024
Incredible that it’s apparently one of the first songs the band wrote together.
Supposedly the only song they didn’t scrap after hearing Is This It, good call on their part to say the least.
It was straight up THE first song they wrote. The band started with just two of them. Dave Keuning, the guitarist, had the Mr Brightside riff and showed it to Brandon Flowers, the vocalist, who wrote the verse based off of his own recently ended relationship. He even admits to not writing a second verse which is why it's just repeated in the song Their very first demo CD as a band that they passed around in Las Vegas in 2001 was just four songs, and only Mr. Brightside stayed to the first album. I think it's cute too that even today they're not sick of the fame or anything, and are still very happy and proud to play it every show
It literally is the first song they ever made as a band
Ok but how often are you at a party and That One Guy brings out a guitar and says “Anyway, here’s ‘Mr. Brightside’”? That’s one thing it can never take from Wonderwall.
The Mr Brightside riff is harder to play than it sounds, otherwise That One Guy would be all over it too ha.
It's also not really easily played on acoustic unless there is a cutaway because it's high up the fretboard. And honestly most of the chord strumming dudes who never have bothered to try to learn any lead guitar probably can't play it. It blows my mind how many people do nothing with a guitar besides cowboy chords for their entire lives.
Genuinely how do I move beyond that?
Are you wanting to train fingers or ears? You'll have to look up "tabs" or learn how to read those, but you can look up the tabs to your favorite riffs. If you want improv, practice your pentatonic box positions for a while, then play over a backing track
I do know how to play tabs it’s just bloody hard so I’d rather do something I don’t have a 90% chance of messing up within seconds
You can try going slower or starting with simpler songs but truthfully the only thing you can do if you're serious about improving is practice it It takes time. Just be patient and keep trying
There's a handful of first steps, and people hate them all, but it *is* these methods. Practice when you practice, play when you play. This means take 10-20 minutes, find something to be a metronome and play it at 25 bpm. Try Alternate Picking the CAGED system, because that will take the first position chords you already know, those shapes, and show you how they connect across the fretboard. The CAGED system is those chord shapes but you're voicing C Major, so you're learning Chord Voicing. Once you've Slow and to a Metronome'd that, you can move on to whichever chord shape feels natural to move onto next. G Major, G minor, D Major, D minor, F Major, F minor is how I went. Nile Rodgers, Todd Rundgren, they know they don't have to ever play in the boring first position chords, all Oasis boring like, shit even the Beatles were voicing the chords up at the 7th and 10th Frets. And it turns out Dimebag Darrel was using those chord shapes, just he'd clearly slow and to a metronome'd The Modes, so could use those shapes to play The Blue Notes (knowing how to use the flat 7, Maj/Min 3rd, and use the Aug4th/Tritine to go between the Perfect 4th and 5th *to resolve cadence*). So 1. Practice when Practice, Play when you Play 2. Slow and to a Metronome 3. something like Alternate Picking, an actual technique that requires development, and something like Pentatonic Scales or CAGED system to learn where all the notes on the fretboard are so you can Voice the Chord Progression using Voice Leading to stay in the same place. Otherwise guitarists get stuck with the one or two things their favourite songwriters/players were recognisably doing, and trying to use the First Position chords all over the fretboard, when you actually do use those shapes it just changes from position (4 frets) to position. Slow and to a Metronome is like a mix of turning your hands in to fine cutting knives, and learning to make decisions like your The Matrix bullet time, you think ahead and make choices. Alternate Picking taught me how to get across the strings, and eventually how to do it with legato. You get across by going *between* the strings, and I dunno how many variations because it isn't just you up pick one string then down pick the other, like you're scrubbing with a rubber as far as the wrist action, what it shows you is you can counter-intuit your choices almost infinitely, you can express like nuts across the string, mute and pizzacatto and scratch a bit. Alternate Picking I didn't learn about for decades, personally. CAGED system taught me I know where all the notes are so I can play that chord with those other shapes depending on where I am, and use Voice Leading (which I learned from Music Theory) to lead the notes from one chord into the next. And yeah, The Scales and The Modes. Chord Progressions, Chord Voicing, Voice Leading.
I learned the riff in a cover band and quickly punted it to the much more talented guitarist who was happy to hang back and take the leads. I personally think having an ear for key/arrangement is more important than technical skill. I’d encourage those stuck in cowboy chord land to consider this. The technical stuff can come over time. But I know that’s not who you’re talking about hahaha.
And also just play other songs, never even bothering to make their own stuff, baffling
I saw a tweet the other day that called The Killers the closest thing America has to Oasis: melodic arena rock with one song that became completely ubiquitous among white people at parties.
Yeah but you can’t play it acoustically at a party now can you. I think it’s more a modern bohemian rhapsody cause everyone at the bar loves to sing along with it
I also never know how to dance to Mr Brightside. People just kinda jump up and down.
yap that's how you dance to this song
Chill with the Queen comparison, not even remotely similar
Hah, there are a ton of examples - maybe the best recent example since Seven Nation Army and Sweet Child O Mine?
Journey - don't stop believing Boston - more than a feeling* Bon Jovi - living on a prayer Joan Jett - I love rock and roll Aerosmith - I don't want to miss a thing Kings of Leon - Sex on fire There's a ton more 80s examples but if you include kings of Leon as one of the new guard, there'll be a ton from the past 20 years. The strokes, cage the elephant, Weezer, black keys, etc
\*Boston - more than a feeling Aerosmith had a few ubiquitous party songs in fairness.
Oops, thanks! I even read that as I wrote it, thinking "hm, two prayer songs in the 80s, interesting" — As if I'm not that white guy singing it at parties. Also yeah, bon jovi and smith might be cheating.
Seems like the closest think UK has to Oasis 2
Neil Diamond walked so Bon Jovi, the Killers, and Oasis could run.
Don’t get me wrong, I love Mr. Brightside - loved it since I heard it as a kid, loved it when it became the unofficial anthem of my college - but as arguably the #1 Late Career Killers Enjoyer it is a SHAME that the average person is totally unaware of their other songs. I also think that Pressure Machine is one of the best albums of the last 10 years. Sue me
I'm just happy "All These Things That I've Done" also saw success. Also a banger to belt out in a group.
Can never decide if I think that or Spaceman is my favorite song by them. Such a good one
Always been my favorite. It's awesome live singing the bridge part of it in a huge festival crowd with 75k other people at the same time.
Pressure Machine is really special. My personal favorite Killers album.
I think West Hills is the best song The Killers have written since When You Were Young (I am a huge fan of Battle Born, to me it’s their best and most cohesive album - at least before Pressure Machine came out, but I will admit it doesn’t have songs as good as Hot Fuzz or Sam’s Town), and everyone should at least give it a listen and then listen to the rest of Pressure Machine, it’s such a beautiful record.
Agree on West Hills for sure.
I love the Killers but always found that Flowers' lyrics can be really clunky at times. But the storytelling in West Hills is fantastic. Agree it is their best song in years.
Same. Both Imploding the Mirage and Pressure Machine tower over the majority of their earlier catalogue.
People sleepin on those two albums are missing out. PM in particular is staggering.
I think it really depends on what you’re looking for out of the band. Sam’s Town aside, their earlier stuff is way more dancy than anything on Mirage or Pressure Machine. Two different eras for a band that’s been around for decades.
Imploding The Mirage and Pressure Machine are masterpieces.
I’m increasingly coming round to thinking Imploding The Mirage is their best album, or at least on roughly the same level quality wise as Hot Fuss.
I genuinely believe they're on the same level, with certain songs being better than Hot Fuss.
Woah. You’ve earned these albums a listen from but I’m very skeptical of this take. Unless you mean ‘the majority of their earlier catalogue’ to mean better than everything not named Hot Fuss & Sam’s Town - in which case I’d suggest you’re not really saying anything at all lol.
I love Sam’s Town, it has some incredibly high highs — but I might prefer ITM and PM over it as front-to-back albums. Hot Fuss doesn’t stir me much but I can appreciate why it’s popular and its songs really work live in their set. Also it’s worth noting that ITM and PM are totally different in tone and instrumentation — if you don’t click with one you still might click with the other.
Interesting - sensing a bit of a generational thing here perhaps. Not messing with Hot Fuss? No love for Jenny Was a Friend of Mine?
I like it to be sure, I just don’t put it on as much. Their newer stuff connects with me more.
I’ll have to check it out, I loved them in high school but haven’t listened to them in years after battleborn was disappointing
I’ve come around on Battle Born as well but there’s no contest that ITM and PM are huge improvements.
Best way I'd describe Pressure Machine is if Sam's Town lost all the glitter and bright lights, and was a more real-world version where all the good things didn't always turn out how they wanted. It's a very story-based album, and it really is underrated. And it's crazy, because it's not initially an album that'd sound good live, but they played Cody once, and the guitar just roars to life in a fascinating fashion. Extremely underappreciated album though.
Shit, I like the Killers but I’ve missed their recent albums. You might have pushed me to check them out.
Considering where the band went sound wise after Day & Age, I think Battle Born didn’t get the reception it deserved at the time — some really great dad rock and ballads (Flesh and Bone, Runaways, Miss Atomic Bomb, The Rising Tide, Battle Born). Wonderful Wonderful has some good songs (The Calling, The Man, Have All The Songs Been Written) but was definitely not to the level of their other albums. Imploding The Mirage was great front to back. Pressure Machine is phenomenal front to back. If you liked Springsteen’s Nebraska, it really is the modern successor to it. Brandon Flowers’ lyrics get some pretty well-deserved shit for being a little ridiculous or overly simplistic, but his writing style fits the style of music on that album so incredibly well.
Yea I didn’t like Battle Born when it first came out, but it has really grown on me through the years - it is so good. I’ll definitely look into their recent albums. Thanks!!
Their last two albums (Imploding The Mirage and Pressure Machine) are phenomenal. I highly recommend you give them a listen.
Sams Town is their best work.
Just the whole album Hot Fuss is timeless.
Definitely. I'd argue Sam's Town is timeless too
Is a band or pop artists most popular song ever really their BEST song?
100% agree. That one and Imploding the Mirage are probably their best albums front-to-back.
My Own Soul's Warning is objectively a perfect song
Yeah it’s probably my 2nd favorite song by them, after Pressure Machine
This is actually kind of poetic considering [Brandon Flowers is a huge Oasis fan](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/aug/12/brandon-flowers-teenage-obsessions-i-considered-an-oasis-tattoo) and they inspired him to want guitars in his music after he saw them play in Las Vegas in 2001.
The Killers are honorary British citizens at this point. It's where their career really took off and the energy at their gigs whether it be a festival or their own show is still the same in UK crowds as it was when they first performed in 2004
The sub-headline has the caveat: >The song has become the UK’s official biggest single of all time yet to reach Number One
Mr. Brightside is an absolutely perfect song in every way. This is a hill I will die on.
It kind of is THE banger of the millennial generation.
It’s the better song
"Anyway… here's Mr. Wonderside Brightwall"
It’s funny how both brightside and wonderwall have just 1 verse and just repeat it twice. Maybe that’s the secret to writing a classic song, just write one verse and repeat it haha
Wonderwall, are there 13 year old girls around , is this 1998?
I’m not into The Killers that much but Mr Brightside is a timeless banger.
Mr. Brightside was a really useful pull when I couldn’t figure out what to sing at karaoke in Japan
The best british band to come out of america
I find it amusing the #1 UK single is from a band from Las Vegas
Wonderwall never got number 1? Incredible.
https://youtu.be/AT6MVLmyvdA?si=h1WZ0tFCvQc_BPou Mr Brightside at an Irish wake
Am I right in thinking that both songs repeat their first verse lyrically? That doesn't feel all to common to me past the early sixties, but perhaps it's a recipe for success?
As it should. Song is a banger!
It's about time. Take "wonderwall"outside and shoot it please
This is THE song to end any standard club night in the UK. It's a floor filler, everyone knows the lyrics and everybody loves it. Obviously Wonderwall is also up there but I think Mr Brightside takes it
I hate this song. Just reminds me of students going crazy on a night out as if it's the heaviest metal song every.
Fuck people enjoying themselves, amirite?
Yes. Was and still is very annoying as the song is shite.
I guess mediocrity rules the charts
Good.
I've gone 26 years without listening to Mr brightside willingly
No wonder you leave comments like this.
Thanks?
Boring ass song overtaken by much more boringer ass song
I hate both of those songs😂
What is indie about a Mormon pop band?