The Killers

The Killers are a rock band from Las Vegas, made up of Brandon Flowers, Dave Keuning, Mark Stoermer and Ronnie Vannucci. To date they have released four albums:

• Hot Fuss (2004)
• Sam's Town (2006)
• Sawdust (2007) (a compilation of B-sides)
• Day & Age (2008)

For an indie-rock outfit, they've been quite successful, selling 15 million albums worldwide (and with Sam's Town and Sawdust hitting UK number one).

Their sound has been (very accurately) described as "more Eighties than The Eighties." All their albums save Sam's Town have been essentially synth-driven indie-rock, with the influence of New Wave, particularly Duran Duran, painfully obvious. Sam's Town was different, but also very much Eighties, being Heartland Rock/Americana In the Style Of The Boss, with some more synth.

The band took a break after years of touring, during which time both frontman Brandon Flowers and drummer Ronnie Vannuci, unwilling to slow down, released their own solo albums entitled Flamingo and Big Talk respectively. Most of the reviews agree that Flamingo was So Okay It's Average, while Big Talk was better received.

And anyways, the band is getting back together in 2012. The new album is titled Battle Born, is expected to be released in September of 2012, and The Killers are already starting to integrate new songs into their live shows.

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Their music include examples of:

• Album Title Drop: Inverted with Day And Age. The songs were written before the album was named, and the name was chosen in part because the band realized they'd used that phrase in two songs ("The World That We Live In" and "Neon Tiger").
• Alien Abduction: "Spaceman".
  • An alternative interpretation is that it is actually talking about an attempted suicide, with the alien abduction being simply due to ambiguity on the part of the one telling the story (who is implied to be somewhat delusional).
    • One of the more widely accepted interpretations is that the whole song is about their meteoric rise to fame and the distance that puts between them and their loved ones.
    • Or about the conflict between religion and science...
• Badass Mustache: Drummer Ronnie Vannuchi usually had one of these as seen in the page picture
  • Flowers on occasions. Opinions differ on whether it makes him badass.
• Ballad of X: "The Ballad of Michael Valentine".
• Bottle Fairy: Guitarist Dave Keuning is a male example, if that popular video is anything to goes by
• Creepy Child: The children singing "kick the can, kick the can, skipping, blackjack" in "Tranquilize".
• Christmas Songs: One of the band's traditions is that, every year since 2006, they write and record a Christmas song for Product Red. This being The Killers, many of these songs are Crowning Music of Awesome.
• Crowd Song: The chorus of "All These Things That I've Done."
• Dem Bones: The music video for Bones.
• Gentle Giant: Bassist Mark Stoermer could be labeled as one.
• Heavy Meta: "Glamorous Indie Rock & Roll".
• Incompatible Orientation: The reason behind the narrator's unrequited love for the Jerk Jock in "Andy You're a Star", although an Alternate Character Interpretation is that Andy is equally in love but with High School being what it is, he's dating The Beard.
• Lyrics Video Mismatch: "All These Things That I've Done" appears to be about the band trying to run out on their girlfriends... while wearing cowboy outfits... and then the women pursue them with boomerangs. And something about a trailer park. The UK version, on the other hand, is pure Sweet Dreams Fuel.
  • It's actually about the band (in cowboy outfits) stealing a marquee sign from what appears to be a Russ Meyer-esque burlesque troupe (or something like that), only to find out that said burlesque girls can and do thoroughly kick their asses. The video is put together very out-of-order, though, and since that's not clear at first glance, you can be forgiven for having absolutely no idea what the hell is going on.
• Murder Ballad: The "murder trilogy": "Leave the Bourbon on the Shelf", "Midnight Show" and "Jenny Was a Friend of Mine" (released in the reverse order, but clearly telling the story of angry break-up, murder and being questioned by the police).
• Netorare: "Mr. Brightside."
• Recycled in Space: The band have stated that Day&Age is "like watching Sam's Town from outer space".
• Refrain From Assuming: "All These Things That I've Done" is frequently known as "I Got Soul", and has even been covered using this title.
• Sanity Slippage Song: "Losing Touch" seems to be this, although for the most part is a fairly calm song compared to other examples of the trope.
• Shout-Out: At their performance of "Human" at the EMA Awards, Brandon added in some lyrics from "Bring on the Dancing Horses" by Echo and the Bunnymen.

Bring on the new Messiah Wherever he may roam First I'm gonna make it Then I'm gonna break it Till it falls apart Hating all the faking Shaking while I'm breaking Your brittle heart

• Silent Bob: Along with Gentle Giant, Mark Stoermer is Known as one of this, the most quiet of the band, usually just speaking a few of words in their interviews
• Stalker with a Crush: "Andy, You're a Star".
• Subverted Rhyme Every Occasion: "Mr. Brightside".

Now they're going to bed And my stomach is sick And it's all in my head But she's touching his chest now

• Surreal Music Video: "Spaceman" and "Read My Mind" in particular.
• Tim Burton: Directed the Music Video of "Bones".
• What Do You Mean It Wasn't Made on Drugs?: The Music Video for "Spaceman".
• White-Haired Pretty Girl: The Love Interest in the Mr. Brightside video
• X Meets Y: Brandon Flowers described "Human" as Johnny Cash meets the Pet Shop Boys, and an interview in the UK Observer stated it was a cross between New Order and Bruce Springsteen.