nfotxn | Another Cover Band Who Write Their Own Songs -The Killers

I have to admit I really liked the single "Somebody Told Me". It adhears to all the conventions of modern dance rock that Straight Boys Who Don't Dance have liberated themselves enough to make. Judging by the rest of the record the person who made that song great is probably not in the band.

So the rest of the record is weak. Minus the the feigned synthesizer and barely-audible-as-not-to-be-too-queer vocoder ("Smile Like You Mean It") we're left with a real shell of a band. And I mean weak. How powerlessly must you emote to rip off the dis-interested, love lorne and gothy sounds of the 1980s? That's a really hard style to feign.

This is my biggest beef with guitar pop music these days. Everyone is borrowing style not for musical interest but for marketability. Add a Juno 106 or Mini Moog to your band because you like to play it. Not because people "like totally think synthesizers are cheesey and cool these days". Fans who will stick with your band are more intuitive than that. It's something I learned in music is that when you're not making that 700% effort people can tell. It's written on your face and present on your record.

Add to that trite lyrics that allude to teen sex and smoking that will surely legitimize the lifestyles of the young and indulged who spend the big bucks: their parents money.

I suspect the Killers are just another band here to take your money and run. Keep them at your record shop next to Jet or The Stills under Pre-Packed Retro Thrills of the Early 00s. Please don't give them your money.