The Killers

This week I would like to return to what I had been doing for the majority of the semester, and look at a particular group and give a little more of an in depth review. However, instead of simply reviewing the artist, I’d like to do something additional by using them as a metaphor for the genre of “alternative” as  a whole.

So I spent quite a bit of time this week on Spotify listening to a group that I knew I would fall in love with: The Killers. Let me just say, they did not fail to impress! I absolutely loved listening to every single track that I heard this week, even those that I knew a bit before.

The Killers, and American alternative-rock band, were formed in 2001 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Don’t hate me for the cliche, but I really have to throw this in there…) But let’s just say that for once, what happened in Vegas did not stay in Vegas. The group’s first complete album, Hot Fuss, came out in 2004, with a few now well known hits such as Mr. Brightside, Jenny Was a Friend of Mine, Somebody Told Me, and All These Things That I’ve Done. Hot Fuss was initially very successful, and has remained popular enough that three singles from this debut album still remain within the all time top 5 hits from The Killers, which is pretty impressive. Since then, The Killers have produced three other albums: Sam’s Town in 2006 (an excellent name in my opinion), Day & Age in 2008 and Battle Born in 2012.

The consistent popularity and success of The Killers can be seen in the fact that all four of their albums have at least on single that hold a permanent place in their top ten singles, and to this day many of their most popular songs are old favorites on a variety of radio stations. Their music is a lot different than most of the other artists than I’ve listened to over this semester, mostly because their music is more consistent with the genre of rock, rather than today’s alternative. However, their music is still considered to be alternative-rock, so, in essence, alternative. They don’t use a lot of fresh new sounds or funky instruments. Nothing is really distorted, and the vibe from the music isn’t the typical bubbly, electronic and unique sound that now seems to have become the definition of the genre alternative.

That’s part of the reason that I really liked The Killer’s music. It was a consistent sound that was similar to a lot of rock I’d heard in the past, but still with its own flair. The beats were upbeat without being “fluffy” or too colorful, and they stuck to their sound. While there were a variety of songs, some faster, slower, some upbeat or a bit darker, they all had a consistent thread running through them of the “rock-esque” sound. As is my style, I listened to a lot of songs and tried to place them in the soundtrack of my life. For the most part, because a lot of The Killer’s music was really passionate and heartfelt, felt like their music would fit in right as important things were occurring and culminating within my story. My favorites were Somebody Told Me, Runaways, Human, When We Were Young, Spaceman and The Way It Was. Many of these are some of their post popular songs, but hey– they’re popular for a reason, right?

I would give The Killers a sold A+. Their music was so fun to listen to, but in a classic-rock kind of way. It was a great change of pace, and I really enjoyed it. I recognized a lot of their songs from the radio or simply from previous years, and I was really struck with how much their music is a part of the modern music scene.

Which brings me to a bit of an analysis here: if The Killers were really that consistently popular, can they really be considered to be “alternative”? I mean, simply look at the word: alternative actually means different from the mainstream. Something that is alternative is not the typical, not the usual. It should not, by definition, be popular.

So can a band that’s really that popular actually be categorized within the genre “alternative”? Can alternative itself even be considered to be alternative, if it’s becoming the mainstream line of music played on most popular radio stations? Popularity and alternative music shouldn’t mix, but is seems they have. Alternative is the hipster genre of the music world: what it has become almost goes against what it stands for, too popular for it’s own good. Just some interesting thoughts to ponder… what can I say, I like feeling philosophical.

Come on, I had to.