Flowers had parted ways with his former synth pop group, Blush Response, after refusing to move to Los Angeles with the rest of his bandmates. alternative chart-topper with the single "Caution." Less than a year later, they released the pensive tonal shift, Pressure Machine.įounding foursome Brandon Flowers (vocals/keyboards), David Keuning (guitar), Mark Stoermer (bass), and Ronnie Vannucci (drums) first came together in late 2001. In 2020, their sixth album, Imploding the Mirage, garnered critical praise and scored them a U.S. After the abrupt stylistic shift on 2006 sophomore effort Sam's Town - which de-emphasized the group's new wave revivalism in favor of the heartland rock of Bruce Springsteen and Rattle and Hum-era U2 - they struck a balance between their two sides on a consistent run of Top Ten releases that peaked with 2017's chart-topping Wonderful Wonderful. Brightside" - and catapulting the group into the international spotlight. With a mix of 1980s-styled synth pop and fashionista charm, the band's multi-platinum 2004 debut, Hot Fuss, became one of the decade's biggest releases, spawning four hit singles - including their most enduring hit, "Mr. Hailed as one of the best albums they’ve ever created, Wonderful Wonderful earned the band their fifth number 1, making The Killers the first international act to chart their first five albums at number 1, and became their first album to top the US Billboard 200.As they matured from their indie dance-rock roots into torchbearers of new wave- and Americana-inspired anthems, Las Vegas rock quartet the Killers earned global success. Resembling Talking Heads and Brian Eno, the album is most musically like Day & Age but sees it hit Sam’s Town level with its conception. Rather than put on a grand show, the frontman has instead put himself vulnerably in the spotlight. It also details the intricacies of being a man in today’s world. Wonderful Wonderful is Flowers’ ode to his family, more specifically his wife who struggled with PTSD at the time. Not wanting to include any filler tracks and instead just make one whole concept album, The Killers got personal and delivered a sense of maturity that only a band that have survived a decade at the top can have.
Hot Fuss earned the band five Grammy nominations, went straight to number 1 on the UK Albums Chart and was voted the Best Debut Album of All Time in 2013 by Gigwise.įive years since their previous, the band’s fifth album took a lot of perfecting to get right. Brightside’, ‘Smile Like You Mean It’, ‘Somebody Told Me’ and ‘All These Things I’ve Done’ (all incredibly one after the other), it set the band up for an entire legacy right from the jump. Inspired by The Strokes’ 2001 album Is This It, Hot Fuss is a bustling alt-rock record that remains one of The Killers’ best. A theatrical, brilliant storyteller who was half Mormon, half a modern-day Robert Smith at the circus, it became clear that The Killers were sticking around for a while.
Not only did the group not sound like anything on the radio at the time, but frontman Flowers was a paradox of his own. Bringing an exciting burst of post-punk, new wave flair, the album introduced the world to a brand new band that weren’t afraid to take risks. Praised for essentially being one hell of a debut album, Hot Fuss well and truly put The Killers on the map.
In celebration of the drop of their latest album Pressure Machine, we journey back through the Killers’ epic catalogue. Dipping in and out of new wave rock and Bruce-Springsteen-troubadour, and clouded in the curious allure of Brandon Flowers, the band have upheld a steady rise since their official debut in 2004 and remain one of the biggest rock groups of the 21 st century. With seven studio albums and a string of classic hits, iconic rockers The Killers have been a force in the music world for over a decade.
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