Back in '03 or '04 the only tunes you would have heard me playing: Kings of Leon. Off a recommendation from my Father while at a record store in Charleston, South Carolina I picked up
Youth and Young, Manhood. That was my jam for a while, especially once I found it on my favorite video game
FIFA 2004. I followed this by buying Aha Shake Heartbreak, which I didn't like compared to it's predecessor. Then I was hard pressed to find a song on 2007's
Because of The Times, a fact that I couldn't fathom because of how much I liked their first album.
Then, sitting in my dorm room in 2008 streaming
Only By The Night on Ruckus [R.I.P] and became devastated to hear the bands new direction. Their mainstream sound that is now geared towards arenas is quite different from their Southern Rock roots. It may be a case of a band wanting to spread their wings and detach from their parents or they enrolled in musical economics. Whatever the case may be, their new stuff are produced at a darker and less catchy sound than their early carefree rocking out that blossomed in an untrained voice and bedroom chord flows.
When Kings of Leon put out their first album they were a bunch of goobers, now I'd say they resemble a typical emo band. The picture at the top looks like a group of Budweiser Heavy drinking, foam in 'stache, bell bottom wearing group straight out of Woodstock. The picture below looks like a group of pretty-boy, sminoff-drinking potheads that just finished a set at the Vans Warped tour.
It really is a shame to see a great band slowly sucked down the mainstream drain. They are working on an album now and going on tour.
The Black Keys, The BLACK KEYS will be opening for them on a string of shows this summer. This is a shame considering the the caliber of music the Keys produce isn't worthy of comparison to that of today's Kings and would still trump their earlier stuff easily.
It's hard to begin liking a band for a sound they thrived then still like them after they have changed things up. Kings of Leon should have changed their name after their first album to Kings of Crap to help distinguish the two completely different sounds.
If there is a good analogy it would go a little like this: The Kings of Leon were the strong little caterpillar that never overate his food and stayed true to his tree. Once it time time for Kings of Leon to cocoon his little body and waited his due time, he was corrupted by outside influences [smog, a tape recording of David Bowie's soothing, motivational cassettes, destiny....] and blossomed into A King of Crap; an unattractive, bothersome Moth that serves no purpose. The caterpillar could have blossomed into a beautiful butterfly but this was not the case.
