The Killers - Imploding the Mirage (August 21, 2020) Album • Page 13

I think it's also impossible to gauge based on old metrics who's the next tier Kings of Leon and The Black Keys lol

I think a lot how they're the only band I can say for sure will be a classic band like U2 or Bon Jovi

 

seriously the chorus to Human is a literal fucking meme lol

 

man what

 

I think that most people my age (late 20s) could name like at least 8 Killers songs.

 

In terms of popularity i can't think of any other modern band bigger than the Killers not skill

 

Part of the reason they’re such a good festival headliner is that they have so many songs the crowd knows

 

but but but that one guy tweeted they only have maybe 3 songs people know!

 

I’d say they haven’t had any big “hits” since Day and Age but they’ve still stayed relevant on alt radio and the hits that they had on those first few albums were massive. Even with Sawdust, I remember always hearing their Joy Division cover on the radio constantly. Their fan base is also pretty die-hard and world wide.

 

Yeah, I’m not going to argue that they’ve had any big hits since Day & Age, but saying they only have three songs everyone knows is inaccurate. The fact that no one seems to be sure which song Evan is talking about in that second bullet point is kind of the flaw in his point. (I mean, it’s probably “When You Were Young,” right?)

6-8 songs just about everyone knows seems like it’s probably pretty average for a big band? At least one that hasn’t even been around for 20 years yet. How many Coldplay songs does everyone know?

 

there are actual metrics that you can gauge this stuff off of, though. coldplay is certainly bigger - they play bigger shows, they do have more songs through their career that are hits. facebook fucking sucks but it is kind of an accurate barometer for this kind of thing. the killers have ~500k likes. coldplay has ~35 million lol. they also have more than double the monthly spotify listeners.

there are some legacy acts that are pretty clearly bigger but that doesn’t seem like the argument here. are foo fighters too old? they’re certainly bigger. same goes for pearl jam and radiohead.

the biggest recent bands, who are even newer than the killers, in terms of an apex of both skill and widespread popularity, are arctic monkeys and tame impala. it’s helped by them having pretty diverse fanbases and being embraced by people traditionally outside of the rock band crowds.

 

Yeah, I'm definitely not saying they're bigger than Coldplay. Coldplay are a stadium act. But Coldplay's list of songs that just about everyone knows ("Yellow," "Clocks," "The Scientist," "In My Place," "Fix You," "Speed of Sound," "Viva La Vida," "Teardrop," maybe "Paradise" or "Sky Full of Stars"?) isn't that much longer than The Killers ("Brightside," "Smile Like You Mean It," "Somebody Told Me," "All These Things," "When You Were Young," "Read My Mind," "Human").

 

I wish they had a different variant than black for the vinyl lol

 

I think you’re underrating how many Coldplay songs everyone knows, but yeah that tweet was stupid. Very excited to hear the rest of this album and hopefully see them perform it in tour.

 

Yeah, maybe. Which other ones do you think belong on that list? It definitely felt like there should be more songs on there from Viva, considering the fact that it was the global bestselling album from 2008, but I really only remember the title track being huge.

 

I feel like the only Killers songs I still continue to hear on the radio or in public are Mr Brightside, Somebody Told Me, and When You Were Young. Whereas with a band like Coldplay there's like a dozen songs practically ingrained into the public consciousness at this point.

However, Mr. Brightside has done a TON of heavy lifting over the last decade-and-a-half, maybe even more than any Coldplay song. That staying power of that song is absolutely insane.

 

People freak the fuck out for that song. Weddings, house parties, karaoke. Lightning in a bottle.

 

Those first two albums were so ingrained in public consciousness and used for different soundtracks that I think you could comfortably throw songs like “Green Eyes”, “Sparks”, and “Trouble” in even if they weren’t world conquering singles.

From Viva, the highest charting non title track song was “Violet Hill” but I actually think “Strawberry Swing” is the better known song. I’d say “Lost” would go off in a crowd of strangers too. It’s hard because we don’t have numbers to support it, but if we’re going by crowd response for songs like “All These Things I’ve Done” or “Read My Mind” (which didn’t really chart in my memory) than you’ve got to extend that same courtesy to Coldplay.

You’ve also (unfortunately) got to include that “Something Just Like This” song with Chainsmokers, which they play live now and is literally their biggest song of the last decade.

 

My pal asked his gf out at TITP 10 years and it will be their wedding song this/next year which will break me.

 

I completely forgot about that Chainsmokers song. Wow.

If you’re including some of those, though, I think you at least throw “Jenny,” “Bones, and “Spaceman” onto the Killers list. I think all of those are pretty well known from some mix of TV shows, movie trailers, and alternative radio.

Did “Strawberry Swing” get a boost from Frank Ocean?

 

I think they’re the Journey of our generation, not Bon Jovi (that’s harsh). A big band that maybe has less huge songs than you think (for being the biggest rock band), but still has some chunes.

idk. It’s hard because they got big when rock/alt was still a big presence on radio (I think? Gah idk) But now the metrics for what constitutes a big rock band have changed, but they are still a “singles” band imo so maybe they dictate those rules a little themselves.

 

My wife is a very casual top 40 music fan, I use her as a gauge. She would probably only recognize “Mr. Brightside”, “When You Were Young”, and “Somebody Told Me”.....and maybe “Human”.

 

This thread has very much opened my eyes to the fact that people know Coldplay songs.

 

It comes off snarky to me, but I get what he's saying. Establishing yourself with "Mr. Brightside", "Somebody Told Me" and "When You Were Young" is going to give your career legs.

 

I'll give you "Jenny" but I don't agree with those other two.

Yeah, I think the Frank feature gave it some extra shine.

Also, I just checked Spotify and "Hymn for the Weekend" + "Adventure of a Lifetime" both have 600M streams each, which means we have to include those. The Killers' biggest song of the last 5 years is "The Man", with 100M+ streams (!) -- if that's a metric for recent music being even decently known, Coldplay's got another half dozen songs from the last 5 years that belong in the conversation. "Magic" for sure.

 

the notable thing with coldplay too is their soundtrack reach for both tv and movies in a way that the killers never really had, especially for songs like green eyes or god put a smile on your face that are a bit more “deep cuts” but recognizable in the popular consciousness