The Killers - Imploding the Mirage (August 21, 2020) Album • Page 30

Bruce can wail about whatever he wants. I also wouldn't expect a Bruce song about getting abducted by aliens, but that would be awesome.

 

"don't want your picture on my cell phone / i want you here with me" is real as fuck y'all, idgi

also flowers is a capital-r Ridiculous lyricist, objecting to "cell phone" of all things is... ridiculous to me

 

maybe that lyric's particularly real for me bc i was really falling for someone i had dated for a few weeks back in 2012 but it just kinda fizzled out and i was all "DON'T WANT YOUR PICTURE ON MY CELL PHONE etc."

 

Also, I just love the "Instead of walking towards you, I ran away" lyric in that song. I feel like most writers would go for the big romantic gesture or happy ending there (especially someone with Flowers' bravado), but the way it turns out feels a lot more real.

 

Idk if it still needs more defending at this point but Battle Born is a very good record and the title track still gives me chills when I listen to it.

 

Conversely, I had just got out of a five-year relationship when that album came out, and that line was pretty much tailor-made for me... and I still went “nope!” Hahaha.

I get that it works for some people, and that’s totally cool. It just sounds so awkward to me, and I have tried so many times to get past it. I just can’t.

 

If BF wrote about Snapchat filters and Instagram stories then I would agree that’s too much.

But a cell phone ... ?

 

No such thing as defending it too much, it's awesome.

 

Yeah exactly.

 

“Here With Me” is another favorite from that record. I always thought that 80s ballad arrangement/production draped beneath the cell phone lyric made for an interesting dichotomy. I certainly never felt an adverse feeling towards it.

 

The cell phone line is certainly a clunker, and it was definitely something that stood out as kinda cringe-worthy on my first few dozen listens, but I never saw it as bad enough to be a deal breaker. As others have pointed out, Brandon Flowers loves to throw these kinds of lines in from time to time. It's not poetry, but who didn't have pictures of the person they had strong feelings for on their cell phone in 2012...?

Also, I still call it my cell phone sometimes but usually just "phone". I've never heard the term "smart phone" used in actual conversation before in real life.

 

I think “Here with me” is a pretty good ballad I just never got why they put it right after “The Way it Was”

 

Yeah, I thought I'd get flak for that one - my sincerest apologies. It just isn't melodically engaging to me and the pace seems a bit off. The "I'm standing here" bit is a bit of a nice pay-off, but it takes a long time to get there.

Honestly the song I'm most ambivalent about cutting out is Heart of a Girl - actually really nice, from the moment Dave's slide guitar bursts in to the gospel-y finish. You do have to make it through the "daddy, daddy, daddy" lines to get there, though...

 

What if you at least like them all to a degree? What should a Killers fan's least favourite Killers album be?

 

I just listened to Battle Born all the way through, and the only song I really don't like is the opener, Flesh and Bone. I don't really understand why, because on paper it's a fantastic Killers song, but I've never liked it and actually have grown to like it less over time. I love all of the other cheesy ballads, cell phone lines and all. Phenomenal album.

 

This is it I promise, but Battle Born to me feels like The Killers at their most Killersy, like them taking their whole schtick or sound and pushing it as far as it can possibly go, taking it to it's logical conclusion. Cheesy lyrics are a part of what they do, so they're present and accounted for here. That 10-track version floated around is honestly probably really awesome and may objectively be a better album, it's certainly more lean, but Battle Born isn't all about being lean and concise. The excess is part of the point of the whole thing, kinda like Vegas itself. It's not like it's some 20-song long monstrosity. It's a dozen tracks.

 

Need Prize Fighter in there somewhere

 

Have always felt exactly the same way

 

It's cool if you guys like BB. I just choose to side with Flowers on this one. It ain't good.

The Killers 'unhappy' about how 'aimless' they were making 'Battle Born' | NME

 

Also, From Here On Out doesn't get NEARLY enough love. Such a great song.

 

Man, I love the build on "Miss Atomic Bomb." I think it's a really well-paced song.

Not a huge fan of that one, personally.

Flowers can think what he wants. I think he's got a lot of bad opinions about his own art, and this one is not different.

 

Yea I don't really take artists opinions on their own art into much consideration.

 

to be clear, i'm not saying BB stinks because BF thinks so. I'm just saying he and I agree.

 

are you guys as passionate about the album art as you are on the songs, or can we at least agree on that part being lame as hell?

 

Like, Stickles thinks The Monitor is Titus Andronicus' 4th best album and Nate Ruess doesn't like Aim & Ignite.