How did the Kings of Leon end up at the top of the charts?
So Kings of Leon are still at the top of the album charts. Because of the Times has survived for a second week, soundly beating off Bright Eyes and, er, Cascada.
Why? No, really. Why? The Kings of Leon were decent sport around the time of the their debut, Youth and Young Manhood. Adding Southern boogie to the Strokes' short, sharp swagger, they were blood relatives to boot. They looked like they had all been dragged through a stylist's bed backwards. Soon, they all had been. Like the Strokes and the Killers, the Kings made a big splash in the UK's small pond. Their native US didn't get the Tennessean sin-whelps at all.
Then the Kings of Leon decided they wanted to be a real, proper band. No! Why? The Kings were perfect like they were: dumb, rumpled, ephemeral, ersatz. Aha Shake Heartbreak, their second album, was a record ashamed of its progenitors' rude pop brio. It wanted to impress with its musicality, its artfulness as well as its sexual prowess. It succeeded only in being dull.
In the run-up to Because the Times, Kings of Leon toured with Dylan and U2. Inevitably, they caught a bad case of the stadiums. Most of the songs on Because Of The Times chime and echo portentously. Caleb Followill's vocals are now ridiculously anguished, as though wearing girls' jeans for so long had a ripple effect on his larynx. They want to matter so badly, you want to look away.
But they seem to have convinced people - lots of them - that they are more than just Hanson with a hormone hangover. They've won Noel Gallagher over - he came to one of their London shows recently. Dylan allegedly likes them. America has started warming up, now that they have paid their dues.
Because the Times isn't entirely without merit. The seven-minute opener, Knocked Up, provides a rare instance of Kings of Leon's ambitions and their abilities lining up. But for all its hard-sought atmospheres, it sorely lacks any genuine mystery. For all its soulfulness, it is terribly low in soul. Yes, it's a little challenging in parts. Gold plectrums all round!
My resistance to this album probably has something to do with the fact that I don't really care how repentant these sons and nephews of a preacherman are for doing all those drugs and stylists. They had fun. So? When bands start to be infuenced by U2, my ears glaze over.
But why are the Kings still top of the albums chart? Maybe the Followills are just cuter than their fellow American Bright Eyes, who has made a far superior coming-of-age record, out last week. Maybe people like repentance on toast. I'm going to go and see them on Wednesday, to try and get to the bottom of this conundrum. In the interim, can anyone tell me what exactly it is I am missing out on?
