But Seriously…

Yeah, yeah, I know. There’s a massive pileup behind the Kings of Leon bandwagon where people are launching themselves off with no regard for their safety. I don’t care. I’m getting off. Hopefully one of the early jumpers will break my fall and then suggest another band that we can absolutely destroy together.

I loved this band. Their first three albums were the gritty, raw southern rock that we hadn’t seen done right in quite a while. It was the rare kind of music that actually makes you feel cooler for listening to it. You could put on a pair of headphones and be transported to a back booth wrapped in old, cracked, red leather in a bar on the Sunset Strip. It was whiskey sipping music in a wine cooler world.

A lot of people make the case that this was the problem. The void of good rock music is the number one reason K.O.L. apologists point to when they try to defend the band now. Since there is a lack of good rock music, any good rock music will be overexposed, and ultimately, overrated. Kings of Leon signed on with The Killers label and set their sights on the big time.

I’ll say this for them. There is nothing wrong with selling out. Let’s say this blog takes off and companies start offering me money to place ads on this site. What am I gonna say? No? Fuck you? Absolutely not. For the right price I’ll even let them tattoo their logo somewhere conspicuous. But when K.O.L. did take the mainstream by storm they turned around and griped that their new fans weren’t exactly to their liking and were only brought on board by poppy hits like “Sex on Fire” and “Use Somebody.”

Be careful what you wish for, I guess. Sure it’s a shame that your new fan base, which you sought out by the way, doesn’t get you. I was at your show in Mansfield in the summer, where I saw you playing your far superior older songs to an ambivalent crowd. I could actually see the disappointment in lead singer Nathan Followill’s face as he sang songs that nobody knew. And then they held off on playing their biggest hits from their new album until the very end to make sure the bandwagon fans didn’t leave early. You can decry your new fan base all you want but it weakens your position when you shamelessly play to them.

Why does any of this affect the way I feel about their music and the band? Maybe it shouldn’t. But music, and rock music especially, is so much about attitude that it hurts a band when they lose their edge. Rock began as a form of rebellion and when a rock band turns into a marketing machine, it hurts the entire product. People are turned off when a band becomes a brand.

Music, and rock music especially, is so much about image. But when that image starts to seem complex and cultivated, as opposed to organic and easy, then the band loses credibility. And Kings of Leon needs to recover theirs.