Come Anticipate The Killers' "Sam's Town"

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Is there any anticipation? "When We Were Young" has the usual problems (it goes from verse to chorus with a speed which underscores its skimpy melodic development) but it sounded rather fab performed at the VMA's.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Tuesday, 5 September 2006 13:38 (nineteen years ago)

Didnt the lead singer say this will be the best album ever in the world ever?

― Rowlando for the kidz (Sam Rowlands), Tuesday, 5 September 2006 13:43 (nineteen years ago)

Is there any anticipation?

There is acknowledgement.

Didnt the lead singer say this will be the best album ever in the world ever?

He and the Angels and Airwaves doofus should do a cover of "Ebony and Ivory."

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 5 September 2006 13:44 (nineteen years ago)

I swear I read somewhere he is convinced it's the best work he's ever done and that in 500 years people will be singing the Killers songs in church. Something like that.

― Rowlando for the kidz (Sam Rowlands), Tuesday, 5 September 2006 13:45 (nineteen years ago)

Didnt the lead singer say this will be the best album ever in the world ever?

I thought Carl Barat said this about his own project.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Tuesday, 5 September 2006 13:49 (nineteen years ago)

I think rock bands have to talk like this to get a promotional budget now.

― Zwan (miccio), Tuesday, 5 September 2006 13:58 (nineteen years ago)

[dry heaves]

― blackmail (blackmail.is.my.life), Tuesday, 5 September 2006 14:33 (nineteen years ago)

x-post I think he stated world domination was his goal with this album, sort of like Coldplay did with their last album. Which is annoying to hear, yeah, but no one makes music *not* to be heard, right?

― Josh in Chicago (Josh in Chicago), Tuesday, 5 September 2006 15:37 (nineteen years ago)

The *Springsteen-esque* quality of the single is a bit of a goofus move. It's OK.

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Tuesday, 5 September 2006 15:43 (nineteen years ago)

all i can hope to anticipate is that these dudes'll continue to be as fun to really hate as they've been so far.

― in praise of wakka-wakka (teenagequiet), Tuesday, 5 September 2006 15:45 (nineteen years ago)

My first thought was, "The kids don't want Springsteen, man, they want the New Wave!" But given the success of that little Panic! at the Disco operetta, maybe they're on to something.

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Tuesday, 5 September 2006 15:54 (nineteen years ago)

So the Killers vs. the Hold Steady FITE! is what you're saying.

(Secret origin of it all -- Frankie Goes to Hollywood's cover of "Born to Run")

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 5 September 2006 16:25 (nineteen years ago)

Secret origin of it all: Bobby Darin's "Mack the Knife" crossed with Ethel Merman's disco hit.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Tuesday, 5 September 2006 16:28 (nineteen years ago)

New Chemical Romance single is also big and bombastic, more Queen I guess. Maybe the kids do want Springsteen, or even Meatloaf.

― Mark (MarkR), Tuesday, 5 September 2006 16:30 (nineteen years ago)

Honest to god I hope it's Meatloaf.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 5 September 2006 16:40 (nineteen years ago)

The new Andrew WK's got Meatloaf covered though.

― Eric Harvey (eric marathonpacks), Wednesday, 6 September 2006 09:58 (nineteen years ago)

So, these aren't "songs left over from the first album" then?

(you sure?)

― mark grout (mark grout), Wednesday, 6 September 2006 10:10 (nineteen years ago)

I certainly hope they aren't fucking leftovers, considering how horribly the second half of the debut sagged.

― jonviachicago (jonviachicago), Wednesday, 6 September 2006 12:06 (nineteen years ago)

A friend of mine recommended The Killers' first album to me, saying it sounded a lot like the Afghan Whigs.
Dude must be deaf.

― Brooker Buckingham (Brooker B), Wednesday, 6 September 2006 15:50 (nineteen years ago)

does Ultragrrrrrrrrrrrl know about this yet?!!
somebody, quick! inform that talent slueth!

note- yes, SLUETH! not what i WOULD call her...

― edde (edde), Wednesday, 6 September 2006 15:53 (nineteen years ago)

three weeks pass...

The album sounds like the Alarm.

― Josh in Chicago (Josh in Chicago), Wednesday, 27 September 2006 14:44 (nineteen years ago)

Did it wake you up before you went went?

~~Hey! Let's start a "singles set in the past" thread!~~

― mark grout (mark grout), Wednesday, 27 September 2006 14:58 (nineteen years ago)

who's heard this thing all the way through yet anyone?

― pisces (piscesx), Wednesday, 27 September 2006 15:37 (nineteen years ago)

It's available to download havent listened to it yet though. Someone post initial impressions.

― Rowlando for the kidz (Sam Rowlands), Wednesday, 27 September 2006 16:09 (nineteen years ago)

Difficult second album.

― Matt Sephton (emsef), Wednesday, 27 September 2006 21:25 (nineteen years ago)

I'm less than impressed by it. It's a big mess.

― a. begrand (a begrand), Wednesday, 27 September 2006 21:34 (nineteen years ago)

Got it queued up as we speak.

Not because I like The Killers, but because I am determined to hear albums that are described by the band as "The Best Album in 20 Years" so that I know how full of shit/themselves they truly are.

I'll let you know how it is. Better still, it's the japanese version, so I'll get to hear 2 bonus (potentially) crap tracks.

New Beck is decent though, only 3 duds

― Erock Lazron (Erock Zombie), Wednesday, 27 September 2006 22:17 (nineteen years ago)

Beck put out a three-song album?

Godspeed, you Beck emperor...

― bernard snow (sixteen sergeants), Wednesday, 27 September 2006 22:28 (nineteen years ago)

Classic Zinger

― Erock Lazron (Erock Zombie), Thursday, 28 September 2006 03:18 (nineteen years ago)

Wait wait it really is coming out soon isn't it? Like Oct. 3rd? I remembered the date but found this out a month ago and proceeded to forget how close we are to that date, now.

Trying...to...resist...sophomore album prejudices. Trying...not to get excited...

― Dare Of The Hog (Bimble...), Thursday, 28 September 2006 03:27 (nineteen years ago)

Like I said, it really sounds like the Alarm, but with nothing as good as "The Stand."

The Stand.

― Josh in Chicago (Josh in Chicago), Thursday, 28 September 2006 03:47 (nineteen years ago)

Zane Lowe has been playing tracks off this during the week, it seems to be getting a big push. Lowe, as per usual, is ridiculously overpraising it, he does that to everything he plays.

The tracks I've heard are terrible, really, really bad in that way that makes you wonder who could possibly actually like this? I was trying to find a comparison, kind of springsteen-ish, u2-ish, Josh has nailed it. It sounds like the alarm.

― Pashmina (Pashmina), Thursday, 28 September 2006 08:30 (nineteen years ago)

I actually like the single, despite its preposterous lyrics about riding on the back of a hurricane or whatever, but the remixes are really great (this time, I prefer to the Lindberg one to the Jacques Lu Cont one).

― Tiki Theater Xymposium (Bent Over at the Arclight), Thursday, 28 September 2006 09:22 (nineteen years ago)

it's way more meat loaf than springsteen to me. every time i listen to it, my mind conjures up the image of a huge, steaming plate of spaghetti.

― maura (maura), Thursday, 28 September 2006 10:51 (nineteen years ago)

I haven't heard it, but if 'When Were Young' is the catchiest, best song on the album, it MUST be shit then. Though 'Hot Fuss' was mediocre at best, so I don't wait anything from 'Sam's Town'.
Even Kasabian are better than the Killers, which pretty tells everything about them.

― zeus (zeus), Thursday, 28 September 2006 11:12 (nineteen years ago)

so, i was reading rob sheffield's review of it

http://www.rollingstone.com/reviews/album/11738772/review/11755516/sams_town?source=album_reviews_rssfeed

and it made me wonder if they were joking? or being "ironic" or something? is this possible? they did seem like a pretty clever band.

― scott seward (scott seward), Thursday, 28 September 2006 11:38 (nineteen years ago)

They were clever enough to know how important image was to the success of their first album, and, now quite flush, have made a stab at earnest arena rock that's only ironic in so far as how unsuccessful it is. To be honest, I'm more disappointed in the usually redoubtable team of Flood and Alan Moulder than the Killers, because I at least expect better from them.

― Josh in Chicago (Josh in Chicago), Thursday, 28 September 2006 12:31 (nineteen years ago)

Oh man, is "Uncle Johnny" a scream or what?

Flowers writes songs that he is incapable of singing.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Thursday, 28 September 2006 12:39 (nineteen years ago)

I keep thinking the album is called "Sam's Club."

― Josh in Chicago (Josh in Chicago), Thursday, 28 September 2006 17:02 (nineteen years ago)

I happen to like this goddamn album. I am a sucker for this band. And I don't give a damn how unhip that makes me. That enterlude/exitlude alone shows they weren't kidding. Fuck yooz.

― Bimble the Thimble (Bimble...), Saturday, 7 October 2006 13:42 (nineteen years ago)

Album saved by the opening synth riff.

― Esteban Buttez's Dead (EstieButtez1), Saturday, 7 October 2006 13:46 (nineteen years ago)

I haven't heard this album, but it's probably not as awful as everyone's making it seem. Just mediocre.

― Stephen Bush (Stephen B.), Saturday, 7 October 2006 14:44 (nineteen years ago)

a stab at earnest arena rock that's only ironic in so far as how unsuccessful it is

But Scott is asking, I think, if it is intentionally empty/absurd.

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Saturday, 7 October 2006 15:47 (nineteen years ago)

How is an album "intentionally" empty?

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Saturday, 7 October 2006 18:14 (nineteen years ago)

Intentionally empty-headed, instead:

But nothing has been harped on quite as much as a couple of quotes from Flowers. Chief among them is the aforementioned "20 years" line, which he says has been misinterpreted. Flowers also expresses frustration over people's expectations: He says the Killers aimed for the stars with Sam's Town — and there's nothing wrong with that.

"The sky used to be the limit, and it's not anymore. It's about 200 feet, and beyond that people think you're being comical," he said. "People ask me if we were trying to be funny with this record because it's big and exciting and confident. And my answer is, 'I don't think Beethoven was trying to be funny.' We're taking it seriously — we can laugh at ourselves, of course — but rock and roll used to be about not having limits, not having your box, and that's disappeared somewhere along the way. We're trying to bring it back."

There's also the matter of Bruce Springsteen, who, according to Flowers, was a big influence on his songwriting. The only problem is that many critics have noted that perhaps that influence spilled over into outright aping of the Boss, particularly on Sam's first single, "When You Were Young."

"[The Springsteen comparisons] are getting old and annoying," Keuning said. "It's amazing what one comment can do, like how it can take a life of its own. There's a lot of influences on the band outside of Bruce Springsteen."

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 7 October 2006 18:22 (nineteen years ago)

How is an album "intentionally" empty?

Postmodernism. More interest in stylistically evocative signifiers than in meaningful content.

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Saturday, 7 October 2006 18:31 (nineteen years ago)

I knew you would say that, but it still makes no sense. Lots of artists intentionally strive to strip all affect from their music; lots of artists don't shoot for Something Meaningful; but I don't see how either of these is synonymous with intentional emptiness.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Saturday, 7 October 2006 18:51 (nineteen years ago)

I don't understand how striving for zero affect and a lack of meaning could be interpreted as anything other than intentional emptiness.

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Saturday, 7 October 2006 18:54 (nineteen years ago)

"[The Springsteen comparisons] are getting old and annoying," Keuning said. "It's amazing what one comment can do, like how it can take a life of its own.
Especially when it's featured heavily in pre-release promo material and repeated in every damn interview.

Which said, I still don't hear the Springsteen in "When You Were Young." Not like I do in, say, "The Boys Are Back In Town."

― hearditonthexico (rogermexico), Saturday, 7 October 2006 19:11 (nineteen years ago)

ok i suppose you're using the word "affect" negatively there - something artificial or pretended? but you asked the question "how is an album 'intentionally' empty?" and i think i gave you an answer that is possibly significant w/r/t the killers, and is certainly significant to lots of current postmodern rock (i.e., the lyrics to "house of jealous lovers" are intentionally empty/void/vacant).

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Saturday, 7 October 2006 21:13 (nineteen years ago)

But why would anyone be bothered to do an album and make it "intentionally empty" and go to all of the trouble of touring it, speaking about it in interviews, all for the sake of being "intentionally empty"? Call The Killers empty, perhaps, but as far as being intentionally so, that's asking for the absurd.

― Bassment Jacks (Bimble...), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 05:25 (nineteen years ago)

If I were to guess, I would imagine (given their interviews) that they feel that there is some heft and content to what they are doing. But that doesn't mean that there are no elements of empty postmodern signification still going on. Read the lyrics to "Believe Me, Natalie" from Hot Fuss to see how absurd they can be.

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Wednesday, 11 October 2006 05:35 (nineteen years ago)

two weeks pass...

haha, I don't mind the single for some reason! I can certainly understand the appeal of this over most of the other dry, tuneless, boringly sincere & achingly small sounding guitar/indie acts about.

― fandango (fandango), Monday, 30 October 2006 17:52 (eighteen years ago)

"When You Were Young" is one of the year's best singles.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Monday, 30 October 2006 18:35 (eighteen years ago)

The year hasn't been THAT shitty.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 30 October 2006 18:36 (eighteen years ago)

You'd love it if BIlly Corgan had written it.

― fandango (fandango), Monday, 30 October 2006 18:38 (eighteen years ago)

My Chemical Toilet too...

― ennui (fandango), Monday, 30 October 2006 18:39 (eighteen years ago)

Why would I want knockoffs of real bluster and bombast? (The exception that tests the rule: Frankie Goes to Hollywood's far superior remake of "Born to Run.")

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 30 October 2006 18:41 (eighteen years ago)

"real bluster" :-D

― When j000000000oooooOOOOOOOO)))oooo w3re yu-ung (fandango), Monday, 30 October 2006 18:43 (eighteen years ago)

But "When You Were Young" IS real bluster and bombast -- of the wan kind (see the Pet Shop Boys thread)

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Monday, 30 October 2006 18:45 (eighteen years ago)

Yes, dude is really feelin' it about the girl whose guy doesn't look a thing like Jesus but talks like a gentleman.

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Monday, 30 October 2006 18:47 (eighteen years ago)

real bluster = Arcade Fire?

― When j000000000oooooOOOOOOOO)))oooo w3re yu-ung (fandango), Monday, 30 October 2006 18:47 (eighteen years ago)

real bluster = Arcade Fire?

Real suxor.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Monday, 30 October 2006 18:48 (eighteen years ago)

"Yes, dude is really feelin' it about the girl whose guy doesn't look a thing like Jesus but talks like a gentleman."

This is precisely why the song is good!

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Monday, 30 October 2006 21:20 (eighteen years ago)

You mean because it's silly? I would agree.

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Monday, 30 October 2006 21:49 (eighteen years ago)

I think people think he's being comical because he has the ambition of Shaquille O'Neal combined with a game more reminiscent of Les Jepsen or Alaa Abdelnaby.

― Carlos Keith (Buck_Wilde), Tuesday, 31 October 2006 01:33 (eighteen years ago)

two months pass...

Anyone heard the Pet Shop Boys' remix of "Read My Mind"?

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Saturday, 20 January 2007 15:14 (eighteen years ago)

No, but maybe I should.

― White Dopes on Punk (Bimble...), Sunday, 21 January 2007 00:19 (eighteen years ago)

If they got rid of everything about the song and replaced it with their own stuff, then I am sure it's perfect.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Sunday, 21 January 2007 05:32 (eighteen years ago)

Ned, I think we need to see about sending you to the Killers appreciation boot camp.

― White Dopes on Punk (Bimble...), Sunday, 21 January 2007 06:05 (eighteen years ago)

i got a buddy who calls sandwiches "Sam's Town"
what a guy.

― be home by 11 (orion), Sunday, 21 January 2007 06:09 (eighteen years ago)

HAHAHAHAHAH

― White Dopes on Punk (Bimble...), Sunday, 21 January 2007 08:49 (eighteen years ago)

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