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| Kings of Leon with their original 70's funk |
Over the last 10 years, music has been mediocre. In all genres, music has failed to surpassitself. But one band that really made an
impact are Kings of Leon. And that
happened before that wretched track, 'Sex on Fire'. So now as Kings of Leon are rumoured to be
breaking up, we all take a look back and rekindle that oh, so, beautiful flame,
they once had.
Album Number One.
Probably one of my favourite albums of all time. Youth and Young Manhood was, for me, the real
Kings of Leon. The album delivers
psychedelic, soul, blues, mixed together with the most genius of lyrics. Granted, those lyrics were hard to understand
through Calebs distinctive southern voice that sounded like it had been through
many cigarettes, and plenty of whisky.
But as one fan said before, “I preferred Kings of Leon when you couldn’t
understand their lyrics, when they were all like derp derp derp”. That is, the perfect definition. Their most popular hits were 'Red Morning
Light' and 'Molly’s Chambers'. Yeah, go and
listen to 'Happy Alone', and you’ll see the connection between KOL and derp derp
derp. My favourite tracks are 'Happy
Alone', 'Dusty' (the part where Caleb goes ‘where thrills are chEAAAAP and love is
divine’ makes that song so brilliant) and 'Spiral Staircase'. You can see KOL real southern-ness in these
tracks. Also, KOL did not always look so
clean cut as you can tell by the above picture.
Album Number Two. Aha
Shake Heartbreak. Another great
album. A little less derp in it, but
still great. Most popular tracks are 'The
Bucket' and 'Four Kicks'. 'The Bucket' has
practically no derp in it (yes, that is how I’m gonna describe their music,
derp) but 'Four Kicks' definitely had it. The
album had less ‘70’s rock’n’roll and more blues, which I loved. 'Milk' is their prime example, and of course, 'Day Old Blues'. Break down this album,
and it’s just another love album. But
instead of love, it’s generally about girls being whores and guys being
assholes, but they make it sound real deep.
Where am I getting love from you may ask? Here’s some lyrics;
‘Jessica’ – yeah that’s said randomly, on its own, before a
solo. Dedicated to a Jessica, maybe?
‘Taper Jean girl with a motel face’ – I don’t know whether
he means she’s a whore, or it’s another meaning for ‘bedroom eyes’, either way,
it’s about a girl.
‘She saw my comb-over, her hourglass body’ - 'Milk' is about a
girl, it’s pretty obvious, but it’s like a sad love story.
‘less you got the zipper fixed on my shoe’ – to me that
sounds like his pants around his ankles, so it could mean exactly what you're thinking. I think 'The Bucket' is about a girl but I
could be wrong.
‘I’d pop myself in your body, I’d come into your party but
I’m soft. - Ok 'Soft' is clearly about exactly what you are thinking again (hey, trying to keep things a little PG here). Self-explanatory. And he also sings ‘you let your perfect
nipples show’.
See what I mean? I
could go on, but there’s another 3 albums to do.
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| Their current look |
Album Number Three.
Because of the Times. It ain’t
bad. But it has zero derp. So this is where KOL lost their trademark.
Critics did give KOL a hard time about this one, and it was said to be their
‘mainstream’ album, and they are correct. 'On Call' was their ‘we just broke the music scene’ song. It isn’t all that bad, the bass is pretty
simple, but great, as it’s almost used as the main instrument instead of
guitar. But there is no sign of ‘hey
look, we’re stuck in a time warp and we sing blues songs’. And in the middle of making this album, they shaved the hair off, got a
new wardrobe, and Caleb quit having a few swigs of whisky before preforming
live (he did that to make his voice more rusty, or derp as we now say). So as everyone has said, this was the labels
album, not KOL’s. It isn’t a bad album
by any means, kind of mediocre. The
lyrics seem as if they went from full on weed lovers to completely clean, so
their sounding a little uninspiring.
This was the KOL on the line.
They could’ve gone back to their old ways, or keep doing what the label
told them. KOL may have only just died
recently, but for me, this was the last I heard of them.
Album Number Four.
This is where most artists/bands collapse. It’s usually after three they break up, or
just go shit. I wish KOL called it quits
after number three, it would have saved them for a reunion later on, but
unfortunately, they kept going.
Down. Spiralling down. Only By The Night. 'Sex on Fire' is the Smells Like Teen Spirit of
the ‘00’s. It is the song that got the
bands fame, but it is not what the band should be known for. Talk about the radio raping the song. Dear God I hate that song. If I had a euro for every time this was
played at a wedding. It’s just another
wedding song. It is pretty
pointless. If I listen to Red 'Morning
Light', then 'Sex on Fire', it is like listening to different bands. It really is.
Even his voice is different. In
the chorus when Caleb goes ‘and yooooooou’ its unbelievably clean. Not one crack. Its like going from vinyl to CD – it lost its
authenticity. Needless to say, I was
incredibly disappointed with this album. The only song I like on that album is 'Closer',
and that’s because I’ve a very high tolerance for stoner music. But even at that, I have played it roughly 5
times, and moved on with my life. KOL had so much potential to be one of the
biggest and best bands since Nirvana (not saying that because I’m a huge
Nirvana fan, but because they’re hasn’t been a band/artist that brought in a
different genre and became famous because of it since Nirvana). They brought in something new in the height
of pop music and the punk-rock movement.
They brought back soul and blues.
Something we haven’t heard so good since Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin
who both, had an extremely short career. And because of this album, I never gave the
next one a chance. I don’t even know the
name of album number five.
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| Celebrating mainstream success with Grammys |
I have heard one or two of the songs from album five on the
radio, and they are pretty consistent with number four. But then again, this is just generally my
opinions and my views as I’ve watched KOL grow from the very beginning in
2003. It is only now that I see a
resemblance between them and Nirvana.
Nirvana brought grunge, KOL brought back psychedelic-soul and
blues. Nirvana quit at album number
three, KOL died after number three. They
are both loved for they’re phenomenal lyrics, and became famous with the wrong
songs. Caleb and Kurt both endured bad
media, but unlike Kurt, Caleb lost his die hard fans of the derp days. For me, KOL and Arctic Monkeys are battling
for the title of The Voice of a Generation 2000-2010. AM may have changed quit a bit, they are
still clinging on, just by their fingertips.
Now the KOL are dead and buried, they may get the title from tabloids,
because tabloids go from hating people to calling them Gods gift (as seen with
Kurt Cobain, Amy Winehouse and Michael Jackson). Kings of Leon will be one of those bands that
I will keep close for the rest of my life, telling the next generation who was
the voice of mine. With all 3 albums.
Keep derp alive.
