“The VMAs were so…so vanilla. So safe, so predictable, no edge. Apart from Madonna, Mary J. Blige and myself, I cannot think of another female performer who had her mic switched on. That is very disappointing to me…”
“I’d much rather just wash my hands of the whole nonsense, actually. These people aren’t artists, they’re just performers-fake and superficial, like the entire event. I’m very disappointed with MTV…”
When this list popped up in a Google search, I was immediately intrigued because I knew that there was a very strong chance that this list would be a walking, talking, breathing stereotype. After all, what is a “gay” album? I mean, is MHW a gay blog or a gay site? We’re not, even though (as I find myself repeating with alarming frequency of late) I and three other members of this staff are out gay men. But the four of us (who can reveal themselves if they choose to) certainly don’t have the same musical tastes, and just because you happen to like making out with people of the same sex, it doesn’t mean that you’re predisposed to like or dislike certain types of music. My former co-worker Evan is a metalhead. There are gay punk-rockers. Hell, I like everything from Kanye West to The Shins. So I could write a long, political essay on how minority groups will never get anywhere unless we stop buying into tired stereotypes, and then I realized something…
I’ll admit, I didn’t jump onto the Kings of Leon train until last year. Promotional copies of “Youth & Young Manhood” and “Aha Shake Heartbreak” landed on my desk and were played once and then filed away. Articles screaming their praises in the rock press were glanced at, thumbed through and discarded.
Then I happened to hear “Because of the Times” as I was shopping in a record store. Holy shit, did that album sound good. It wasn’t jammy, noodly swamp-rock, but these dudes had a little bit of a kick to them. If you have a really good sound system, listen to a song like “On Call” and have your mind blown. The groove alone will get ya even without vocals, and once I obtained a copy of the entire album, I was officially a member of the KOL fan club.
“Sex on Fire” is the first single from their upcoming fourth album, “Only by the Night” and damn it, does this song smoke. The video’s appreciably weird as well, and the Followill guys (three brothers and a a cousin, for those who are uninitiated) are continuing their metamorphosis from greasy, long-haired bearded dudes to guys who have every right to be singing a song entitled “Sex on Fire” (actually, I’m waiting for diehard fans to start grumbling about how they sold out by cutting their hair). Their legion of fans has grown with each album, now’s the time to make sure Kings of Leon get their propers as one of the best young American bands out right now.
