T/S: Maroon 5 vs. The Killers

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Both rely on the art of natty little pop songs driven by sexual frustration and/or the chance at boning some supermodel at a Diddy party. Both bands have songs that are appropriate for soccer moms and dads to champion. Both frontmen are annoying. Oh it's on all right.

― Je4nn3 ƒur¥ (Je4nne Fury), Monday, 10 October 2005 14:46 (twenty years ago)

And the first shmuck peddler who quips they "don't see what these bands have in common" is cordially invited to bite my Mr. Brightside.

― Je4nn3 ƒur¥ (Je4nne Fury), Monday, 10 October 2005 14:47 (twenty years ago)

Killers

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Monday, 10 October 2005 14:51 (twenty years ago)

http://yngwie100.home.comcast.net/utf_back_photo.jpg

― , Monday, 10 October 2005 14:54 (twenty years ago)

This is tough! "Mr. Brightside" is my favorite by either, but I think Maroon 5's singles on average are superior. And those hip-hop cameos have me really excited for M5's next album.

TS: Songs About Jane vs. Gentlemen

― miccio (miccio), Monday, 10 October 2005 14:54 (twenty years ago)

*searches for cyanide*

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 10 October 2005 14:55 (twenty years ago)

Maroon 5 seem worse on paper but then very few people talk them up so perhaps the Killers are more actively annoying.

― Ronan (Ronan), Monday, 10 October 2005 14:55 (twenty years ago)

Another common link is that they made totally classic Sophie Muller videos in 2004. And I couldn't pick whether I like the videos for "Mr. Brightside" or "She Will Be Loved" more, either! At that level of mini-melodrama I'd rather bask than contrast.

― miccio (miccio), Monday, 10 October 2005 14:58 (twenty years ago)

I knew this was going to make Ned keel over. (Sorry!) I have to go with the Killers because I dig some of the remixes and because they're kinda gay and ugly. Plus, sensitive whiteboy-frat-soul makes me wanna yack.

― Je4nn3 ƒur¥ (Je4nne Fury), Monday, 10 October 2005 15:05 (twenty years ago)

Really for me its "This Love" vs. "Brightside" because I didn't really follow either group past its biggest single. The videos were both good, songs were both good...Brightside I probably liked more at first, but it has that thread where someone calls it the best song ever made or something, which is sort of obnoxious.

― deej.. (deej..), Monday, 10 October 2005 15:17 (twenty years ago)

"All The Things That I've Done" and the Jacques Lu Cont remix of "Mr Brightside" shit all over Maroon 5, although I accept Adam Levine's mopey pussyhound charisma (and dig his cameo on the Kanye album).

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Monday, 10 October 2005 15:21 (twenty years ago)

I knew this was going to make Ned keel over. (Sorry!)

They'd make a great double bill. Then all you need is some handy fumes in the air ducts of the arena they're in.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 10 October 2005 15:25 (twenty years ago)

Maroon 5, no contest. I am picking solely based on singing ability here as The Killers are nominally more "my genre" but I really, really love the way Adam Levine sings.

― The Ghost of Black Elegance (Dan Perry), Monday, 10 October 2005 15:28 (twenty years ago)

"She Will Be Loved" competes with "Since You've Been Gone" and "It's Like That" for the title of best pop vocal of 2005. Seriously.

― The Ghost of Black Elegance (Dan Perry), Monday, 10 October 2005 15:30 (twenty years ago)

I'm with Ned.

― polyphonic (polyphonic), Monday, 10 October 2005 15:31 (twenty years ago)

PS: "Somebody Told Me" is leagues better than "Mr Brightside".

― The Ghost of Black Elegance (Dan Perry), Monday, 10 October 2005 15:33 (twenty years ago)

Killers for now, but Maroon 5 has more potential. I don't see where the Killers are going to go from here.

― Rick Massimo (Rick Massimo), Monday, 10 October 2005 16:36 (twenty years ago)

Funny, I get the feeling the Brits will simply not see any connectino between these two bands. Maroon 5 in the Uk are like a modern-day Mike & The Mechanics or something, whereas The Killers are...well, they're "Shed 7 in a shiny jacket" as J0hn R0b1ns0n called them amusingly a while back, but still just about credible enough to be played down the indie disco. If a DJ played M5 at their local Brit guitar night s/he'd be hoofed out sharpish.

So, from where I'm standing, no fucking contest - The Killers have it.

― CharlieNo4 (Charlie), Monday, 10 October 2005 17:05 (twenty years ago)

The Killers are just so blatantly trying to be "New Order meets The Smiths" at times; at least Maroon 5 knows that they are in the middle-of-the-road musicwise (in fact, they revel in it).

― The Ghost of Black Elegance (Dan Perry), Monday, 10 October 2005 17:09 (twenty years ago)

They have become somewhat indistinguishable to me. I suppose the Killers have a bit more "cred" given their affinity for 80's bands, as opposed to Maroon 5's Lenny Kravitz/Stevie Wonder penchant.

Fuck'em both.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 10 October 2005 17:18 (twenty years ago)

at least Maroon 5 knows that they are in the middle-of-the-road musicwise (in fact, they revel in it).

Source, please.

― polyphonic (polyphonic), Monday, 10 October 2005 17:25 (twenty years ago)

And the first shmuck peddler who quips they "don't see what these bands have in common" is cordially invited to bite my Mr. Brightside.

I saw the video for "Mr.Brightside" again this past weekend, and didn't realize that it wasn't Maroon 5 until about halfway through.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 10 October 2005 17:26 (twenty years ago)

Source, please.

Have you heard their music?

― The Ghost of Black Elegance (Dan Perry), Monday, 10 October 2005 17:27 (twenty years ago)

I'm going with the Killers. Maroon 5 isn't as bad as I once thought, but between "Mr. Brightside" and "Smile Like You Mean It," Killers have the distinct advantage.

― jaymc (jaymc), Monday, 10 October 2005 17:30 (twenty years ago)

They are both great! Why the haterism? Both bands set out to make good pop music. Their singles are stellar.

― craptain crunch, Monday, 10 October 2005 17:44 (twenty years ago)

Wow...the first recorded disagreement between Ned and Dan! And I'm siding with Dan! Because he's right! And Ned and Alex in NYC are wrong! And Jeann3 is also kind of wrong because they're not really fratboy yak rock at all! And Rick Massimo is right about Maroon 5's potential! And this post is in honor of my favorite kind of ILM thing! Which is a Scott Seward thread title!

― The Obligatory Sourpuss (Begs2Differ), Monday, 10 October 2005 17:51 (twenty years ago)

why on earth would anyone pick "It's Like That" as the best Mariah vocal of this year? Also SWBL was decidedly last year (and awful).

Killers by far, though "This Love" was definitely a highlight of last year ("Sunday Morning" and "Harder to Breathe" were also cool-ish)

― The Good Dr. Bill (The Good Dr. Bill), Monday, 10 October 2005 17:53 (twenty years ago)

And Ned and Alex in NYC are wrong!

No, we're not.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 10 October 2005 17:54 (twenty years ago)

why on earth would anyone pick "It's Like That" as the best Mariah vocal of this year?

Because, of her three singles, it's the one that:

A) features a melodic line more complex than going "homina homina homina" across a fifth or a third in stepwise motion;
B) features Mariah phonating as opposed to rasping or squeaking;
C) is catchy.

(xpost: Yes, you are.)

― The Ghost of Black Elegance (Dan Perry), Monday, 10 October 2005 17:58 (twenty years ago)

Wow...the first recorded disagreement between Ned and Dan!

Hardly. There were the "Sk8er Boi" wars, for instance. (About ten posts total, I admit.)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 10 October 2005 18:00 (twenty years ago)

And Jeann3 is also kind of wrong because they're not really fratboy yak rock at all!

Pay attention! I said whiteboy-frat-soul. The word "rock" isn't in there at all! And I was using yack as a verb!

― Je4nn3 ƒur¥ (Je4nne Fury), Monday, 10 October 2005 18:00 (twenty years ago)

There were the "Sk8er Boi" wars

Oh God, that fucking thing.

― The Ghost of Black Elegance (Dan Perry), Monday, 10 October 2005 18:01 (twenty years ago)

Or alternately the Xtina wars and etc. So yeah, Haikunym, PAY ATTENTION. ;-)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 10 October 2005 18:02 (twenty years ago)

Did we disagree about Pink? I don't remember now.

― The Ghost of Black Elegance (Dan Perry), Monday, 10 October 2005 18:03 (twenty years ago)

How about Wa Wa Nee?

― The Ghost of Black Elegance (Dan Perry), Monday, 10 October 2005 18:04 (twenty years ago)

sorry for not obsessively stalking the Ambiguously Cure-worshipping Duo sufficiently

sorry for INTENTIONALLY mischaracterizing J34nne'5 use of yak butter

all the rest is up to you

― The Obligatory Sourpuss (Begs2Differ), Monday, 10 October 2005 18:05 (twenty years ago)

Maroon 5 = the Hall & Oates of the 00s?

They've got the hip-hop cred and writing songs about specific girls thing down, though H&O never wrote or titled a single as awful as "She Will Be Loved".

― The Good Dr. Bill (The Good Dr. Bill), Monday, 10 October 2005 18:06 (twenty years ago)

Their entire second album is about Adam's ex-girlfriend! Heh.

― The Ghost of Black Elegance (Dan Perry), Monday, 10 October 2005 18:10 (twenty years ago)

hmmm...

Maroon 5
+ Have easily the best single in "Harder To Breathe"
- Adam Levine's "though he was only five-foot-three girls could not resist his stare" act induces heebie-jeebies
- Offer musical proof, in the form of "This Love," that none of us knew how truly good we had it with Geggy Tah

The Killers
+ Have easily the best catalog
+ Are sillier and more fun
+ Inevitable future Brandon Flowers/Mike Jones collab is going to rule

― rogermexico (rogermexico), Monday, 10 October 2005 18:13 (twenty years ago)

Minuses for The Killers:

- Brandon Flowers can't sing. Not even a little bit.
- Their songs are blatant pastiches that sound like direct steals from their inspirations.
- People think they're edgy! and indie! solely because Brandon Flowers can't sing.
- "Mr. Brightside" only has one verse. Does this not annoy anyone else????

― The Ghost of Black Elegance (Dan Perry), Monday, 10 October 2005 18:17 (twenty years ago)

yeah but it's a great verse: "and I'm phoning a cab / cause my stomach feels small / there's a taste in my mouth / and it's no taste at all", etc. BRILLIANT!

― The Obligatory Sourpuss (Begs2Differ), Monday, 10 October 2005 18:19 (twenty years ago)

People think they're edgy! and indie!

As a great man once said, you CANNOT be serious. I demand names!

― rogermexico (rogermexico), Monday, 10 October 2005 18:19 (twenty years ago)

Killers by default. Maroon 5 is like a Blink-182 pop-punk band (which is what they used to be, right?) hearing Hall and Oates for the first time and saying "Holy crap, I could make a lot of money doing these kinds of songs, couldn't I?"

― Cunga (Cunga), Monday, 10 October 2005 18:21 (twenty years ago)

no, but that would have been awesome anyway (and B-182 did sort of have that revelation with their last album anyway)

― The Good Dr. Bill (The Good Dr. Bill), Monday, 10 October 2005 18:22 (twenty years ago)

scratch one of those "anyway"s.

― The Good Dr. Bill (The Good Dr. Bill), Monday, 10 October 2005 18:23 (twenty years ago)

yeah but it's a great verse

At least when The Cure does a song with one verse, they only sing it once.

As a great man once said, you CANNOT be serious. I demand names!

Look upthread at CharlieNo4's post:

Funny, I get the feeling the Brits will simply not see any connectino between these two bands. Maroon 5 in the Uk are like a modern-day Mike & The Mechanics or something, whereas The Killers are...well, they're "Shed 7 in a shiny jacket" as J0hn R0b1ns0n called them amusingly a while back, but still just about credible enough to be played down the indie disco. If a DJ played M5 at their local Brit guitar night s/he'd be hoofed out sharpish.

So, from where I'm standing, no fucking contest - The Killers have it.

-- CharlieNo4 (starsandheroe...) (webmail), October 10th, 2005. (link)

Maroon 5 is like a Blink-182 pop-punk band (which is what they used to be, right?) hearing Hall and Oates for the first time and saying "Holy crap, I could make a lot of money doing these kinds of songs, couldn't I?"

My eyes! They are rolling!

― The Ghost of Black Elegance (Dan Perry), Monday, 10 October 2005 18:23 (twenty years ago)

Look upthread at CharlieNo4's post

Well, y'know, there'll always be an England...

― rogermexico (rogermexico), Monday, 10 October 2005 18:30 (twenty years ago)

Cheers.

sorry for not obsessively stalking the Ambiguously Cure-worshipping Duo sufficiently

YES DAMN YOU WE'RE IMPORTANT. Um, maybe.

Pink I think we finally fully agreed on with "Get This Party Started." Wa Wa Nee was never adequately explored.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 10 October 2005 18:32 (twenty years ago)

Well, y'know, there'll always be an England...

-----------------------------------

They have become somewhat indistinguishable to me. I suppose the Killers have a bit more "cred" given their affinity for 80's bands, as opposed to Maroon 5's Lenny Kravitz/Stevie Wonder penchant.

Fuck'em both.

-- Alex in NYC (vassife...) (webmail), October 10th, 2005. (link)

Ned, Wa Wa Nee's album is seriously the bomb. Like, fantastically awesome.

― The Ghost of Black Elegance (Dan Perry), Monday, 10 October 2005 18:34 (twenty years ago)

hee hee - point granted

― rogermexico (rogermexico), Monday, 10 October 2005 18:41 (twenty years ago)

Skipping 45 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

I think I agree with that but I'm not really sure.

― The Good Dr. Bill (The Good Dr. Bill), Monday, 10 October 2005 20:41 (twenty years ago)

Adam Levine's tone is somewhat covered (see placement comments I made earlier) but doesn't have the blunt harshness that would bring waterfowl into the description. He's totally reedy in that bassoon/oboe way but retains enough musicality to take the edge off.

Brandon Flowers has a singing voice that sounds like a madman using chihuahuas as a pogo stick.

― The Ghost of Black Elegance (Dan Perry), Monday, 10 October 2005 20:42 (twenty years ago)

But which one would you allow to spend the night with your wife, Dan?

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Monday, 10 October 2005 20:45 (twenty years ago)

"give'em credit for courting the ridiculous" - Yes. The Killers are amusing and intentionally so!

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Monday, 10 October 2005 20:46 (twenty years ago)

Maroon Five Vs. Click Five

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Monday, 10 October 2005 20:48 (twenty years ago)

well that's obviously no fucking contest.

― The Good Dr. Bill (The Good Dr. Bill), Monday, 10 October 2005 20:51 (twenty years ago)

Really? I don't know if it's obvious to me.

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Monday, 10 October 2005 20:52 (twenty years ago)

I will very, very, very rarely use this adjective to describe music because I think it's just about the laziest dismissal of pop music possible, and I can't think of any other pop group of the last year or so that it applies to--but The Click Five just sound way, way too manufactured to me. I find it so hard to believe that they actually exist outside of their songs and videos. No personality whatsoever.

Also, "she can't keep a secret for more than an hour / she runs on 100% attitude power" WTF

― The Good Dr. Bill (The Good Dr. Bill), Monday, 10 October 2005 20:56 (twenty years ago)

"Also, "she can't keep a secret for more than an hour / she runs on 100% attitude power" WTF"

Just about describes my Ford Explorer.

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Monday, 10 October 2005 21:00 (twenty years ago)

oh, is that like one of those "Black Metallic" songs where it's actually a metaphor for the dude's car? BULLSHIT

― The Good Dr. Bill (The Good Dr. Bill), Monday, 10 October 2005 21:03 (twenty years ago)

How is it that I have no clue who Click Five are? Should this be remedied?

― joseph cotten (joseph cotten), Monday, 10 October 2005 21:22 (twenty years ago)

No.

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Monday, 10 October 2005 21:26 (twenty years ago)

Several well-scrubbed young Mormons dressed up in the regulation sharp suits/thin ties and coached in sexual ambiguity and fashionable new-wave/new-pop styles. The club-dance hoover line at the end of the chorus of Somebody Told Me gets extra points, in that watch-this-space-for-the-dance-mix sort of way. The Killers are basically a boy-band version of Interpol. Either that or the Duran Duran of the Carling New Wave; which depends on whether they're tools of some svengali or cynically savvy pop entrepreneurs in their own right. One thing that's certain is the calculated contrivedness of their entire concept and act.

― acb (acb), Monday, 10 October 2005 21:54 (twenty years ago)

Screw these bands.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Tuesday, 11 October 2005 13:04 (twenty years ago)

I believe the correct terminology is 'up their nose with a rubber hose,' in order to cement one's retro-hip credentials.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 11 October 2005 13:07 (twenty years ago)

'brightside' is horrible, why is it their big song? 'somebody told me' craps over anything by maroon phive.

― N_RQ, Tuesday, 11 October 2005 13:08 (twenty years ago)

Marron pheh!

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Tuesday, 11 October 2005 13:15 (twenty years ago)

The Killers are basically a boy-band version of Interpol.

Interpol isn't a boy band?

― deej.. (deej..), Tuesday, 11 October 2005 13:48 (twenty years ago)

Matador's most successful move!

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 11 October 2005 13:49 (twenty years ago)

"X is a boy band version of Y" = "X has more attractive/non-repulsive looking band members than Y"

― The Good Dr. Bill (The Good Dr. Bill), Tuesday, 11 October 2005 14:18 (twenty years ago)

It's even simpler than that -- boy bands wear makeup, indie bands don't.

― MindInRewind (Barry Bruner), Tuesday, 11 October 2005 14:39 (twenty years ago)

Could mean that their music is crappier, too, but in this case ... Killers >> Interpol

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Tuesday, 11 October 2005 14:40 (twenty years ago)

All by itself, the video for "All These Things That I've Done" tramples anything Maroon 5 have done or will ever do.

― MindInRewind (Barry Bruner), Tuesday, 11 October 2005 14:43 (twenty years ago)

well, the last Killers album >>>> last Interpol album, for certain.

I'm actually sort of relieved that the first Killers album was so deathly flawed, because it means they actually have some room for improvement on their next one, unlike The Strokes, Franz, etc.

― The Good Dr. Bill (The Good Dr. Bill), Tuesday, 11 October 2005 14:43 (twenty years ago)

well, the last Killers album >>>> last Interpol album, for certain.

Probably not an especially difficult feat.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Tuesday, 11 October 2005 16:15 (twenty years ago)

Could someone who likes Interpol tell me again why they like them?

― The Ghost of Black Elegance (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 11 October 2005 16:16 (twenty years ago)

they's tight.

― The Good Dr. Bill (The Good Dr. Bill), Tuesday, 11 October 2005 16:33 (twenty years ago)

Um. Could you expand on that? Because where you hear "tight" I hear "ZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz oh, is that still on?"

― The Ghost of Black Elegance (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 11 October 2005 16:36 (twenty years ago)

I dunno. They lock into good grooves on occasion ("PDA," "Say Hello to the Angels," "Slow Hand") and when they're working their mechanics I find them significantly unfuckwithable. Banks' bad poetry is really hit or miss but when it works (to the extent that it works) it fits over the rhythm pretty well. "NYC" sets a new standard for indie rock guitar swirl.

― The Good Dr. Bill (The Good Dr. Bill), Tuesday, 11 October 2005 16:43 (twenty years ago)

They are music for my diametric opposite, I guess. I can barely remember what they sound like.

― The Ghost of Black Elegance (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 11 October 2005 16:44 (twenty years ago)

Feel fortunate.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 11 October 2005 16:47 (twenty years ago)

When they're on I always imagine Fred Astaire pirouetting atop a wristwatch.

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Tuesday, 11 October 2005 16:49 (twenty years ago)

a gold-plated wristwatch.

― The Good Dr. Bill (The Good Dr. Bill), Tuesday, 11 October 2005 16:51 (twenty years ago)

I don't mind Interpol when they come on the radio. They sound pretty good and the songs are decent.

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Tuesday, 11 October 2005 17:02 (twenty years ago)

Interpol are gods among men.

― miccio (miccio), Tuesday, 11 October 2005 17:14 (twenty years ago)

Haters are just jealous that nobody likes their mediocre poetry as much as Paul's horrible stuff. Plus they piss all over your precious '80s pop-goth in the quest for pretentious poontang.

― miccio (miccio), Tuesday, 11 October 2005 17:15 (twenty years ago)

Louis XIV, on the other hand ...

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Tuesday, 11 October 2005 17:18 (twenty years ago)

Looting the 70s with a similar shamelessness. Their singer's a closet fatty too!

― miccio (miccio), Tuesday, 11 October 2005 17:19 (twenty years ago)

Dude,

Interpol >>>>> Louis XIV

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Tuesday, 11 October 2005 17:20 (twenty years ago)

Haters are just jealous that nobody likes their mediocre poetry as much as Paul's horrible stuff.

I posted some of my horrible poetry on ILE and got rave reviews, dood.

― The Ghost of Black Elegance (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 11 October 2005 17:22 (twenty years ago)

then don't hate, celebrate!

― miccio (miccio), Tuesday, 11 October 2005 17:24 (twenty years ago)

"closet fatty"

― The Good Dr. Bill (The Good Dr. Bill), Tuesday, 11 October 2005 17:24 (twenty years ago)

"corset fatty"?

― The Ghost of Black Elegance (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 11 October 2005 17:27 (twenty years ago)

boy bands wear makeup, indie bands don't.

I CALL BULLSHIT!

Also: are there two Killers albums?

― CharlieNo4 (Charlie), Tuesday, 11 October 2005 17:29 (twenty years ago)

no, just the one (unless the bonus track re-issued Hot Fuss counts)

― The Good Dr. Bill (The Good Dr. Bill), Tuesday, 11 October 2005 17:30 (twenty years ago)

Killers, as I don't think I've heard anything by Maroon 5.

― Billy Dods (Billy Dods), Tuesday, 11 October 2005 20:52 (twenty years ago)

"boy bands wear makeup, indie bands don't."

Apparently you haven't seen Brandon Flowers' charming, ludicrous attempts at bootylicious androgyny.

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Tuesday, 11 October 2005 21:01 (twenty years ago)

The Killers are about as indie as Avril Lavigne is punk. Even if they do a song called "Glamorous Tight, Angular Indie Art Rock" or something.

― acb (acb), Tuesday, 11 October 2005 22:03 (twenty years ago)

Apparently you haven't seen Brandon Flowers' charming, ludicrous attempts at bootylicious androgyny.

I have, and hence, The Killers are a boy band, as others have implied upthread.

― MindInRewind (Barry Bruner), Tuesday, 11 October 2005 22:05 (twenty years ago)

Maroon 5 are better at being a boy band at its crassest: like 98 Degrees, who couldn't hide their appetite for pussy and thus gave the game away in ways that the far superior N'Sync and Backstreet Boys couldn't.

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Tuesday, 11 October 2005 22:17 (twenty years ago)

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