It started out with a kiss
October 2, 2023 8:03 AM Subscribe
Happy 20th anniversary to the unofficial British National Anthem (now over 380 weeks on the charts!)
How The Killers made Mr Brightside, one of the most enduring rock songs of all time - The Independent (more links below the cut)
12tone breaks down "Mr. Brightside", looking into its craft and why it's managed to rise up above most of its peers as a timeless classic
Mr Brightside: The hit that just won't die
Select performances: Glastonbury 2004, Royal Albert Hall 2009, Glastonbury 2019,
County Kerry Bar Sings ''Mr. Brightside" to Remember Lost Friend Ger Foley
Previously on Metafilter: How and Why Has "Mr Brightside" Never Left the UK Charts? (A mere 166 weeks in 2017! How quaint!), The enduring appeal of Mr. Brightside, me and my friends dancing to "mr. brightside" (new not-deleted[-yet] tumblr link)
12tone breaks down "Mr. Brightside", looking into its craft and why it's managed to rise up above most of its peers as a timeless classic
Mr Brightside: The hit that just won't die
Select performances: Glastonbury 2004, Royal Albert Hall 2009, Glastonbury 2019,
County Kerry Bar Sings ''Mr. Brightside" to Remember Lost Friend Ger Foley
Previously on Metafilter: How and Why Has "Mr Brightside" Never Left the UK Charts? (A mere 166 weeks in 2017! How quaint!), The enduring appeal of Mr. Brightside, me and my friends dancing to "mr. brightside" (new not-deleted[-yet] tumblr link)
It'll always be weird to me that Mr. Brightside is way more popular than Somebody Told Me. The latter for me has a better melody (more than one note!) and a much stronger hook.
posted by skullhead at 8:49 AM on October 2, 2023 [14 favorites]
posted by skullhead at 8:49 AM on October 2, 2023 [14 favorites]
true story. First time I heard Mr. Brightside I was in a shoe store. Nothing profound about it except I remember that average shoe store, that average day, just browsing the shelves. Not many songs that have stuck with me in such a way.
I did already know of the Killers because a few months previous I'd been at a party where a sorta garage band did a ramshackle yet effective cover of All These Things That I Have Done, which again, made an impression. I actually went to the trouble of talking to the band afterwords, complimented them on their song. They laughed, corrected me.
Hadn't I heard of The Killers?
posted by philip-random at 9:00 AM on October 2, 2023 [5 favorites]
I did already know of the Killers because a few months previous I'd been at a party where a sorta garage band did a ramshackle yet effective cover of All These Things That I Have Done, which again, made an impression. I actually went to the trouble of talking to the band afterwords, complimented them on their song. They laughed, corrected me.
Hadn't I heard of The Killers?
posted by philip-random at 9:00 AM on October 2, 2023 [5 favorites]
Also recently came across this amazing anecdote on Reddit:
My favorite memory of this song is a wedding in New York for my cousin. He and his wife live and had the wedding in the city but they (and the respective families attending) are both the most midwestern suburban people ever. The DJ was playing some pretty standard dancing and wedding hits and the mood was…okay.posted by Pachylad at 9:03 AM on October 2, 2023 [28 favorites]
My brother in law decides to go up on the bride and groom behalf with a request list. First up? Mr. Goddamn Brightside.
I’ll never forget the black lady DJ, the most New Yorker of New Yorker. And she gazed upon a mass of Millenial suburban 30-something’s losing their goddamn mind and drunk singing along with this this song. A mix of confusion, “wow okay didn’t know that would click” and “this is the whitest shit I have ever seen.”
Mr. Brightside is anthemic in a way that Somebody Told Me isn't. Anthemic in a way that very few songs are. It's dead simple, an all-time banger. I'm a sucker for absolute caveman hooks and Mr. Brightside gives me frisson just thinking about the rise into the end of the chorus.
For my money, the Killers were the best of the "The" bands of the early 2000s, by a mile. Describing them as "an arena version of the Strokes" is both wholly accurate and underplays how much more fun they were than the other post-punk coke acts of the time. (Admittedly, this is probably colored by my loathing for the fucking Strokes.)
posted by uncleozzy at 9:06 AM on October 2, 2023 [14 favorites]
For my money, the Killers were the best of the "The" bands of the early 2000s, by a mile. Describing them as "an arena version of the Strokes" is both wholly accurate and underplays how much more fun they were than the other post-punk coke acts of the time. (Admittedly, this is probably colored by my loathing for the fucking Strokes.)
posted by uncleozzy at 9:06 AM on October 2, 2023 [14 favorites]
I saw them in Las Vegas a week ago at Life Is Beautiful.
There was a malfunction in the synth they use so about half of Mr Brightside was acapella - which given it's the most popular Karoke song ever felt strangely appropriate!
Also didn't realize Brandon Flowers is Mormon but when you see him perform and talk about his music it's somewhat obvious.
They were incredible live and worth making an effort to see. My favorite song was actually their cover of U2's Running to Stand Still.
posted by carlodio at 9:13 AM on October 2, 2023 [3 favorites]
There was a malfunction in the synth they use so about half of Mr Brightside was acapella - which given it's the most popular Karoke song ever felt strangely appropriate!
Also didn't realize Brandon Flowers is Mormon but when you see him perform and talk about his music it's somewhat obvious.
They were incredible live and worth making an effort to see. My favorite song was actually their cover of U2's Running to Stand Still.
posted by carlodio at 9:13 AM on October 2, 2023 [3 favorites]
From the 12tone video: "I've always said you could tell a lot about someone by how impressed they expect you to be that they noticed the rhyme scheme implies she's actually touching a very different body part."
....didn't have to come after me that hard
Very coincidentally, Mr. Brightside has literally just come up on whatever playlist I'm listening to. So I can report, live from the scene, that I no longer feel a smug satisfaction when he sings "chest" :(
posted by Baethan at 9:30 AM on October 2, 2023 [7 favorites]
....didn't have to come after me that hard
Very coincidentally, Mr. Brightside has literally just come up on whatever playlist I'm listening to. So I can report, live from the scene, that I no longer feel a smug satisfaction when he sings "chest" :(
posted by Baethan at 9:30 AM on October 2, 2023 [7 favorites]
I'd probably listened to this song a hundred times, loudly, screaming along in the car levels of loudly, in blissful ignorance before I read about the rhyme thing. And then you can't not hear it. So I make a point of NEVER mentioning it to anyone. But seeing as it's already been dropped in here, I can share my thoughts. :)
posted by martin q blank at 9:43 AM on October 2, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by martin q blank at 9:43 AM on October 2, 2023 [3 favorites]
In 2004 some friends and I bought tickets to Coachella mainly for the Pixies reunion. To get the most out of it I started listening to other bands in the line up. One of them, stellastarr, was playing a local show (Middle East Downstairs) so we checked it out. They were pretty good, but the opening band, who you can guess, was exceptional.
posted by justkevin at 9:44 AM on October 2, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by justkevin at 9:44 AM on October 2, 2023 [2 favorites]
My theory, as set out previously, is that the rhyme thing is the entire reason this song is so popular in the UK. Its' the 'Charlie Had a Pigeon' hypothesis.
posted by biffa at 9:45 AM on October 2, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by biffa at 9:45 AM on October 2, 2023 [2 favorites]
I thought this was the British National Anthem. The classics never die.
posted by TedW at 9:47 AM on October 2, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by TedW at 9:47 AM on October 2, 2023 [3 favorites]
I didn't know this song was so big, I mean I know who The Killers are but is this just an over the pond or generational thing?I would still have been out in bars and clubs in 2003 but this song has never stood out or resonated with me in Canada, or seemed to get the exposure that say an Oasis song might have received. It definitely sounds like a better song to shut a bar down to than that Semisonic tune. TIL
posted by furtive at 9:48 AM on October 2, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by furtive at 9:48 AM on October 2, 2023 [2 favorites]
This song is a big deal? Ok.
I mean, they're no Toad the Wet Sprocket.
posted by evilDoug at 10:04 AM on October 2, 2023 [7 favorites]
I mean, they're no Toad the Wet Sprocket.
posted by evilDoug at 10:04 AM on October 2, 2023 [7 favorites]
I was today years old when I first heard this song. I live in the UK. Nothing special about that, I really am just that out of touch.
Anyway, I liked it.
posted by kyrademon at 10:23 AM on October 2, 2023 [4 favorites]
Anyway, I liked it.
posted by kyrademon at 10:23 AM on October 2, 2023 [4 favorites]
I googled and this Rick Beato gentleman tells you why he thinks it's special.
posted by pracowity at 10:32 AM on October 2, 2023 [7 favorites]
posted by pracowity at 10:32 AM on October 2, 2023 [7 favorites]
Look, I've spent my life studying classical music so I can definitively state that this is the real national anthem
posted by Pallas Athena at 10:39 AM on October 2, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by Pallas Athena at 10:39 AM on October 2, 2023 [1 favorite]
How would the drummer from Megadeth play along with The Killers? Let's find out!
July 2023: Dirk Verbeuren Hears "Mr. Brightside" For The First Time
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 10:41 AM on October 2, 2023 [10 favorites]
July 2023: Dirk Verbeuren Hears "Mr. Brightside" For The First Time
posted by The Pluto Gangsta at 10:41 AM on October 2, 2023 [10 favorites]
I always thought the British national anthem was the Vengaboys' Boom Boom Boom Boom, as evinced here.
posted by splitpeasoup at 10:43 AM on October 2, 2023 [7 favorites]
posted by splitpeasoup at 10:43 AM on October 2, 2023 [7 favorites]
Lots of British singers sound American when they sing. The Killers are the rare American band that sounds British when they sing.
posted by Hatashran at 10:45 AM on October 2, 2023 [8 favorites]
posted by Hatashran at 10:45 AM on October 2, 2023 [8 favorites]
I have, until this year of Our Lord 2023, always confused Mr. Brightside with Mr. Blue Sky. I don't think I've ever been able to recognize a Killers song, and I can only guess it's because had just moved to Canada when Mr. Brightside started getting popular, then moved to Japan, then back to Canada at a point when my musical taste had settled outside of genres where I was likely to hear it.Either way, I've lately been really surprised to find out that a song I've apparently been mistaking for a 1970s Electric Light Orchestra song for nearly two decades is such an iconic hit.
posted by wakannai at 10:54 AM on October 2, 2023 [4 favorites]
posted by wakannai at 10:54 AM on October 2, 2023 [4 favorites]
I was listening to some alt-rock station on FM in the car the other day and the DJ rattled off a faux-naturalistic ramble about how, sorry fans, The Killers wouldn't be putting out a new album as soon as expected because they'd decided mid-production to change direction, but they DO have a new single out in the mean time, so now here's Mr. Brightside instead. Just an amazing sort of "what was this music gossip segment for?" vibe and reiteration of how inescapable this Picture of Dorian Gray of a song is. Which, it's a banger and it's anthemic and I sing along every time, but every once in a while I really have to contend with the fact that I've been hearing this song for twenty years now somehow.
posted by cortex at 11:23 AM on October 2, 2023 [4 favorites]
posted by cortex at 11:23 AM on October 2, 2023 [4 favorites]
I didn't know this song was so big, I mean I know who The Killers are but is this just an over the pond or generational thing?
Not just a British thing - I can't speak to Canada but maybe 5 or 6 years ago I was at a show in Los Angeles for another band, Walk the Moon I think, and they had Mr. Brightside in the pre-show playlist before they came onstage. I thought to myself "oh yeah this song, still great," and then was mildly shocked to see the whole crowd turn it into a sing-along. It wasn't necessarily surprising to me that the song was a hit with the crowd given our demographics and the music genre being pretty similar to what we were there to see, but I was surprised at that particular song getting so much love vs the many other songs like it in that pre-show playlist.
posted by sigmagalator at 11:23 AM on October 2, 2023 [2 favorites]
Not just a British thing - I can't speak to Canada but maybe 5 or 6 years ago I was at a show in Los Angeles for another band, Walk the Moon I think, and they had Mr. Brightside in the pre-show playlist before they came onstage. I thought to myself "oh yeah this song, still great," and then was mildly shocked to see the whole crowd turn it into a sing-along. It wasn't necessarily surprising to me that the song was a hit with the crowd given our demographics and the music genre being pretty similar to what we were there to see, but I was surprised at that particular song getting so much love vs the many other songs like it in that pre-show playlist.
posted by sigmagalator at 11:23 AM on October 2, 2023 [2 favorites]
This song was relatively big in Canada when it was newish, but I think "Somebody Told Me" was the bigger hit and "Mr. Brightside" only surpassed it after the fact.
Although, my perception may be coloured by spending a few years regularly attending "Mod Club" night at a local bar -- which was only very tenuously related to the actual mod scene, focusing instead on mostly whatever sub-genre of rock bands like Bloc Party, the Strokes and the Killers fall into. Basically, the Killers and other bands that were around with a similar sound at that time were the soundtrack to my mid-20s clubbing days. To complicate matters, I mostly didn't listen to them outside of the club? I owned many of the albums, but they somehow lacked energy when I wasn't dancing in the club (especially the Strokes, whose "I'm so fucking bored right now" affectation god old pretty quickly).
posted by asnider at 11:42 AM on October 2, 2023 [1 favorite]
Although, my perception may be coloured by spending a few years regularly attending "Mod Club" night at a local bar -- which was only very tenuously related to the actual mod scene, focusing instead on mostly whatever sub-genre of rock bands like Bloc Party, the Strokes and the Killers fall into. Basically, the Killers and other bands that were around with a similar sound at that time were the soundtrack to my mid-20s clubbing days. To complicate matters, I mostly didn't listen to them outside of the club? I owned many of the albums, but they somehow lacked energy when I wasn't dancing in the club (especially the Strokes, whose "I'm so fucking bored right now" affectation god old pretty quickly).
posted by asnider at 11:42 AM on October 2, 2023 [1 favorite]
I've never once chosen to listen to this song, yet I've heard it thousands of times. And never much cared for it, honestly. So I'm in the "What's the big deal?" crowd, I guess. But, hey, if people love it, that's great!
posted by Dr. Wu at 12:53 PM on October 2, 2023
posted by Dr. Wu at 12:53 PM on October 2, 2023
It also inspired one of the more...inspired NYT science article titles in a long time.
posted by gottabefunky at 1:31 PM on October 2, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by gottabefunky at 1:31 PM on October 2, 2023 [2 favorites]
A big part of what gives the song it propulsiveness is those high hat hits, which, ask any drummer, are absolute murder to play.
posted by gottabefunky at 1:34 PM on October 2, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by gottabefunky at 1:34 PM on October 2, 2023 [2 favorites]
My association with this song is always gonna be this MTV/Lineage 2 music video, which happened in the extremely brief window in which I was the L2 community manager for North America. It was in no way my marketing win - I have no idea how it happened, actually - but we considered it a huge marketing win.
It, uh, hasn't aged well. Good lord.
posted by restless_nomad at 1:48 PM on October 2, 2023 [1 favorite]
It, uh, hasn't aged well. Good lord.
posted by restless_nomad at 1:48 PM on October 2, 2023 [1 favorite]
I’M SORRY MR BRIGHTSIDE JUST CAME ON AND I CRANKED THE VOLUME! WHAT’S THAT…..YEAH IT’S AN ABSOLUTE BANGER, MATE……
posted by inflatablekiwi at 2:02 PM on October 2, 2023 [4 favorites]
posted by inflatablekiwi at 2:02 PM on October 2, 2023 [4 favorites]
From the Independent article in the post:
posted by Rustic Etruscan at 3:11 PM on October 2, 2023 [3 favorites]
Once a streaming hit starts snowballing, it often becomes a self-fulfilling phenomenon. More playlist places equal more streams equal more playlist places equal more exposure, party plays, viral videos and memes. And so on until a song is embedded into the source code of modern music consumption. “The internet has decimated mediocrity,” Gilbert argues, “and it has made brilliance even bigger than it could possibly imagine being.”Someone who can say "The Internet has decimated mediocrity" and "It has made brilliance even bigger than it could possibly imagine being," with a straight face, can have never actually used the Internet.
posted by Rustic Etruscan at 3:11 PM on October 2, 2023 [3 favorites]
It's weird to me to refer to something as "one of the most enduring rock songs of all time" given that rock has existed as a genre for less than a human lifespan. I suppose one could argue about when it began, but still - it's like talking about "the most popular drive-through restaurant in human history" or something. Possibly technically true but perhaps not really the right frame of reference?
I'm personally pretty indifferent to the song itself - I know it, but wouldn't have recognized it by the title and couldn't have told you who sang it. And calling it "enduring" actually made it harder for me figure out what song we were talking about, because if asked I probably would have guessed it came out in like 2017 or something.
posted by nickmark at 3:51 PM on October 2, 2023
I'm personally pretty indifferent to the song itself - I know it, but wouldn't have recognized it by the title and couldn't have told you who sang it. And calling it "enduring" actually made it harder for me figure out what song we were talking about, because if asked I probably would have guessed it came out in like 2017 or something.
posted by nickmark at 3:51 PM on October 2, 2023
As someone who did a lot of karaoke in the days before the pandemic... yeah, this song is an absolute fucking banger and I can't believe it's already 20 years old and I'm apparently a decrepit goblin.
Though for my money I would always do "When You Were Young" at Karaoke, and maybe this one a little later on once everyone was good and drunk and loose and the whole room would go nuts singing along with it. "When You Were Young" doesn't have that effect - it's just damn fun to sing if you know it and it's in your range.
posted by Navelgazer at 4:27 PM on October 2, 2023 [4 favorites]
Though for my money I would always do "When You Were Young" at Karaoke, and maybe this one a little later on once everyone was good and drunk and loose and the whole room would go nuts singing along with it. "When You Were Young" doesn't have that effect - it's just damn fun to sing if you know it and it's in your range.
posted by Navelgazer at 4:27 PM on October 2, 2023 [4 favorites]
Am I the only one who gets violently ill every time I hear this song?
posted by mmb5 at 4:28 PM on October 2, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by mmb5 at 4:28 PM on October 2, 2023 [3 favorites]
Maybe you get seasick at the "swimming through sick lullabies, choking on your alibis" part?
posted by kirkaracha at 4:49 PM on October 2, 2023 [4 favorites]
posted by kirkaracha at 4:49 PM on October 2, 2023 [4 favorites]
TIL The Killers are American and they're named after the fake band in New Order's video for "Crystal."
posted by kirkaracha at 4:52 PM on October 2, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by kirkaracha at 4:52 PM on October 2, 2023 [1 favorite]
Just recently went to the 20th anniversary tour for Give Up (Postal Service) and Transatlanticism (Death Cab for Cutie). A college friend bought the tickets, and I had my doubts that a show playing straight through those particular albums would be a fun time, but damn if it wasn't an excellent show. (I was really hoping for Hey Ya! or Crazy in Love as an encore, thinking they'd stick to the 2003 theme, but can't be mad about Depeche Mode instead.)
Hot Fuss feels like a great choice for a similar tour, although Brandon Flowers doesn't have another band/album to pair with it that I'm aware of. Lots of choices for good 2004 albums to pair up with though. Maybe Franz Ferdinand is interested?
posted by the primroses were over at 4:57 PM on October 2, 2023
Hot Fuss feels like a great choice for a similar tour, although Brandon Flowers doesn't have another band/album to pair with it that I'm aware of. Lots of choices for good 2004 albums to pair up with though. Maybe Franz Ferdinand is interested?
posted by the primroses were over at 4:57 PM on October 2, 2023
TIL The Killers are American and they're named after the fake band in New Order's video for "Crystal."
Fun fact: The other top contenders after weeks of debate were "Satan's Fingers" and "The Hospital Bombers".
posted by Superilla at 5:07 PM on October 2, 2023 [5 favorites]
Fun fact: The other top contenders after weeks of debate were "Satan's Fingers" and "The Hospital Bombers".
posted by Superilla at 5:07 PM on October 2, 2023 [5 favorites]
To me this just sounds like a very pale shadow of Dreaming is Free by Blondie. Now THAT'S a banger I might consider ending a party with.
posted by serena15221 at 5:22 PM on October 2, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by serena15221 at 5:22 PM on October 2, 2023 [3 favorites]
TBH I'm mainly just stunned that a hugely successful song has been a huge success for twenty years and I had no fucking idea -- jesus christ I'm out of touch, I need to go, like, listen to Lawrence Welk or something. God.
posted by aramaic at 6:15 PM on October 2, 2023 [4 favorites]
posted by aramaic at 6:15 PM on October 2, 2023 [4 favorites]
I didn't realize this was a karaoke staple until recently, sharing virus particles and regretful performances with strangers in close quarters. Am I so out of touch? No, it's the children who are wrong.
I haven't much updated my repertoire since Gnarls Barkley, so maybe that's on me.
posted by credulous at 6:21 PM on October 2, 2023 [1 favorite]
I haven't much updated my repertoire since Gnarls Barkley, so maybe that's on me.
posted by credulous at 6:21 PM on October 2, 2023 [1 favorite]
They're named after the fake band in New Order's video for "Crystal."
For which Brandon Flowers returned the favor.
posted by 3.2.3 at 7:51 PM on October 2, 2023
For which Brandon Flowers returned the favor.
posted by 3.2.3 at 7:51 PM on October 2, 2023
I thought Common People was the unofficial anthem?
posted by St. Peepsburg at 8:04 PM on October 2, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by St. Peepsburg at 8:04 PM on October 2, 2023 [3 favorites]
They have about 4 or 5, realistically - Hey Jude, Wonderwall, Common People, and Merry Xmas Everybody by Slade
posted by Jon Mitchell at 8:40 PM on October 2, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by Jon Mitchell at 8:40 PM on October 2, 2023 [2 favorites]
I don't like this song, but 12tone's breakdown convinced me it's a good song. Carry on, kids.
posted by straight at 10:30 PM on October 2, 2023
posted by straight at 10:30 PM on October 2, 2023
1, Miss Atomic Bomb
2, Shot at the Night
3, Mr Brightside, which is more popular than Told me because nobody knows how to sing rumaroo correctly.
4, the single five word line ' are we human or dancer?'
posted by Jacen at 1:10 AM on October 3, 2023 [1 favorite]
2, Shot at the Night
3, Mr Brightside, which is more popular than Told me because nobody knows how to sing rumaroo correctly.
4, the single five word line ' are we human or dancer?'
posted by Jacen at 1:10 AM on October 3, 2023 [1 favorite]
*crawls out from under adjacent rock, salutes kyrademon*
"Kids these days, huh?"
Umm, I guess technically, kids 20 years ago that have created lasting culture.
"Yeah, them too, huh?"
posted by Meatbomb at 1:23 AM on October 3, 2023 [1 favorite]
"Kids these days, huh?"
Umm, I guess technically, kids 20 years ago that have created lasting culture.
"Yeah, them too, huh?"
posted by Meatbomb at 1:23 AM on October 3, 2023 [1 favorite]
I had never paid attention to this song until I suddenly found myself, a few weeks ago, in a band that was covering it. "Oh, the crowd will go WILD!" say the other band members. "Really? OK, if you say so..." I think. I mean, it wasn't completely unfamiliar when we played through it, but I hadn't given it a second thought before.
I had a good chuckle at the rhyme thing when I sat down and listened to it.
To tell you the truth, I still can't manage to care about this guy's relationship or his jealousy or any of that. Blah, blah, blah. But the crowd did go wild!
posted by inexorably_forward at 3:21 AM on October 3, 2023
I had a good chuckle at the rhyme thing when I sat down and listened to it.
To tell you the truth, I still can't manage to care about this guy's relationship or his jealousy or any of that. Blah, blah, blah. But the crowd did go wild!
posted by inexorably_forward at 3:21 AM on October 3, 2023
I want to teach The Sun Also Rises again just to pair it with this, the ultimate Jake Barnes anthem.
posted by mmmbacon at 6:50 AM on October 3, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by mmmbacon at 6:50 AM on October 3, 2023 [1 favorite]
I was 18 when I first heard this song, and I remember it being a hit among my high school classmates.
I just turned 35 last month.
posted by pandanpanda at 9:30 AM on October 3, 2023 [1 favorite]
I just turned 35 last month.
posted by pandanpanda at 9:30 AM on October 3, 2023 [1 favorite]
1, Miss Atomic Bomb
2, Shot at the Night
3, Mr Brightside, which is more popular than Told me because nobody knows how to sing rumaroo correctly.
4, the single five word line ' are we human or dancer?'
From the first time I heard "Are We Human Or Are We Dancer?" my only thought was "Huh, so Brandon Flowers discovered ecstasy, huh?" That remains the case whenever I hear that song now (though admittedly that's a lot rarer than it was 12 or so years ago.)
posted by Navelgazer at 10:03 AM on October 3, 2023
2, Shot at the Night
3, Mr Brightside, which is more popular than Told me because nobody knows how to sing rumaroo correctly.
4, the single five word line ' are we human or dancer?'
From the first time I heard "Are We Human Or Are We Dancer?" my only thought was "Huh, so Brandon Flowers discovered ecstasy, huh?" That remains the case whenever I hear that song now (though admittedly that's a lot rarer than it was 12 or so years ago.)
posted by Navelgazer at 10:03 AM on October 3, 2023
From the first time I heard "Are We Human Or Are We Dancer?"
I always thought Mr Brightside was ok, "All These Things I've Done" was good, and then heard Are We Human or are we Dancer and I downgraded everything before thinking they were just straight up bad, and "When We Were Young" didn't really change my opinion and I figured they were done for me. But then Read My Mind came out, and I had to re-evaluate again: they are pretty good.
posted by The_Vegetables at 12:41 PM on October 3, 2023 [1 favorite]
I always thought Mr Brightside was ok, "All These Things I've Done" was good, and then heard Are We Human or are we Dancer and I downgraded everything before thinking they were just straight up bad, and "When We Were Young" didn't really change my opinion and I figured they were done for me. But then Read My Mind came out, and I had to re-evaluate again: they are pretty good.
posted by The_Vegetables at 12:41 PM on October 3, 2023 [1 favorite]
the first time I heard "Are We Human Or Are We Dancer?"
I think this sweetly odd moment with Nardwuar the Human Serviette may have been my intro to Human, so I'm not going to say anything bad about it.
By the way that line "Are We Human Or Are We Dancer?" is apparently a reference to Hunter S. Thompson
... who stated that America was "raising a generation of dancers, afraid to take one step out of line".[16][17
posted by philip-random at 2:57 PM on October 3, 2023 [2 favorites]
I think this sweetly odd moment with Nardwuar the Human Serviette may have been my intro to Human, so I'm not going to say anything bad about it.
By the way that line "Are We Human Or Are We Dancer?" is apparently a reference to Hunter S. Thompson
... who stated that America was "raising a generation of dancers, afraid to take one step out of line".[16][17
posted by philip-random at 2:57 PM on October 3, 2023 [2 favorites]
1. Read My Mind
2. Mr. Brightside
3. Smile Like You Mean It
4. Spaceman
5. Human
6. When You Were Young
7. All These Things That I Have Done
8. Miss Atomic Bomb
9. Somebody Told Me
10. Bones
posted by edithkeeler at 3:09 AM on October 4, 2023
2. Mr. Brightside
3. Smile Like You Mean It
4. Spaceman
5. Human
6. When You Were Young
7. All These Things That I Have Done
8. Miss Atomic Bomb
9. Somebody Told Me
10. Bones
posted by edithkeeler at 3:09 AM on October 4, 2023
I googled and this Rick Beato gentleman tells you why he thinks it's special.
I love Rick Beato's song analysis - but I do get frustrated that he ignores lyrics. Understanding Mr. Brightside (Why won't it die?) by 12 tone does a better overall job I think - for a first song, in particular - it packs in an amazing number of harmonic, rhythmic, lyrical and production tricks into 3 and a half minutes.
As noted above, it does sound British. 12 tone notes a call out to Anarchy in the UK on the drums and I would add Queen's Jealousy
posted by rongorongo at 10:49 PM on October 5, 2023
I love Rick Beato's song analysis - but I do get frustrated that he ignores lyrics. Understanding Mr. Brightside (Why won't it die?) by 12 tone does a better overall job I think - for a first song, in particular - it packs in an amazing number of harmonic, rhythmic, lyrical and production tricks into 3 and a half minutes.
As noted above, it does sound British. 12 tone notes a call out to Anarchy in the UK on the drums and I would add Queen's Jealousy
posted by rongorongo at 10:49 PM on October 5, 2023
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