Are the Killers making themselves extinct?

In one word- DEFINITELY. Now that I’ve gotten that out of my system let me explain…..

You can count me as a fan of Hot Fuss and Sam’s Town. I’ve read some not so flattering thing about Sam’s Town. In many ways I actually think it’s a better album. I think it’s a nice progression from Hot Fuss; shows some maturity without completely blowing up the nice little niche that they built which includes a current Pop/Rock feel with an 80’s Depeche Mode and Erasure flair. I actually think Brandon Flowers might be one of the better singers out there.

Ok. Fast forward to what happened after Sam’s Town. Apparently they had a bunch of material leftover. So, hey, let’s make a B-sides, leftover material album and call it, ahem …Sawdust? The name should’ve been a dead giveaway because I think the only thing sawdust is good for is making wood pellets. I wish ITunes had a money back option because I’d have a credit in my bank account.

After Sawdust they overdosed on too much Depeche Mode, Talking Heads, Bowie, etc. because, as far as I’m concerned, they lost their way. That little flair of the 80’s has now come front and center, and I’m not impressed. Their newest release, Day and Age, is just littered with this new approach and when you throw in some lounge acts tunes like ‘Joy Ride’, I again want a refund.

I saw them recently in Boston, and I can honestly say it was one of the worst shows I’ve seen in a while. Sound mixing was terrible; they were way too loud. I felt like I was watching a hack band in the old part of the Vegas Strip. The band looks like a mix of Bowie impersonators and The Gladiator extras. Well, if I’m Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix), I’m giving them the big thumbs down and feeding them to the lions!

And now I read that they’re planning a covers album? Thank god ITunes has an auto-preview feature…..

Trivia Time

According to Wikipedia, aside from Van Halen, Pearl Jam, U2, Dave Matthews Band, Staind and Metallica, what other rock band has three #1 albums in a row? STOP. ANSWER BELOW.
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Disturbed. Yep- I bet bet you got that one, right?

I must say that I am a fan and they probably should've been included in the artists you haven't heard of (or heard) but need to.... list. Well, I'm officially giving them honorable mention. Shame on me for the oversight!

The Sickness and Believe, in my humble opinion, are fantastic hard rock/metal albums. I find The Sickness to have a little more raw, metal edge to it. Believe dulls the metal blade just a hair, but still brings a ton of head banging, fist pumping anthems for my liking.

As an aside, I find absolutely humorous that we always need to find a label for bands How the heck do you give a label to Phish, for example. Sure, they play a majority of rock straight ahead rock, but they dive pretty heavily into bluegrass, border on country, and can on occasion throw in some funk. Oh, let me guess. Rock? Maybe?? Sorry. Getting back into character.

The Power Ballad

Growing up I was stuck with the paint by the numbers tunes WBLM in Portland, ME was playing. Def Leppard, Whitesnake and Ratt to name a few. Aside from the hair products and jean jacket patches, 80's bands also brought us the first over the top, cheesy power ballads.

Poison (I admit I’ve seen them 3-4 times live) could be just ripping through their set, but when Brett Michaels reached for his acoustic, the lights went down except for that lone spotlight, and he started belting out ‘Every Rose Has Its Thorn’, every Bic from Boise to Boston would light up the place. I’m actually amazed arenas weren’t burned to the ground given the level of drunkenness and combined number of brain cells at any given show. Everyone was doing it. It was like the plague, from Skid Row’s ‘I Remember You’ to Tesla’s ‘Love Song’ and the Scorpions ‘Wind of Change’. Winger’s entire existence was a power ballad!

The trend continues today with such wonderful tracks like Creed's 'With Arms Wide Open', Guns N' Roses' 'November Rain' and just about anything Staind puts out these days.

I file the power ballad under guilty pleasure. Makes you remember certain times in your life and hopefully makes you smile, but it’s something you’d never admit to. Oh crap.

Chris Brown= Marked Man?

To make matters worse for Chris Brown, apparently Rhianna's part of Jay-Z's posse and he's pissed. I don't know about you, but when I hear Jay-Z saying I'm a walking dead man, I might have trouble sleeping at night.

I don't condone that sort of behavior, but if turnabout's fair play, I wonder how Chris Brown would look with contusions to his face, a cut lip, bloody nose and bite marks on his arm and fingers? Yep, the dreaded bite marks on arm and fingers.

The Grammys- Part II

Another sign that I might need to move to another planet.....

According to LiveDaily.com: "One of the strongest performances was, however, by the unlikely pairing of Stevie Wonder on keyboards/vocoder and the Jonas Brothers for "Superstitious"."

Are you &$^%%# kidding me! The only appeal the have Jonas Brothers have is for a Marketing 101 class. Follow me here.....How do you take a no talent, moderately attractive looking band and make them famous? Attach them to Disney. Just add water. Done! 6-13 year old girls will eat this up!

Strongest performance? Wow. I just threw up in my mouth. Christina Fuoco-Karasinski must be getting kickbacks from Disney. If anything, I felt bad for Stevie.

5 artists you haven't heard of (or heard) but need to....

This is a list of some bands that are a little outside of mainstream that I feel have a lot to offer, depending on your preference. I welcome your comments.

1. My Morning Jacket- I put them first because of their live shows. It puts them over the top. If there's any doubt, check out the New Year's 2008 or 2008 Bonnaroo performances. Wow. They've definitely moved towards the front of the jam band class.

2. Gov't Mule- Guitarist Warren Haynes might be the hardest working man in music. If there's a summer festival going on, chances are he's there either solo or with his band in tow. He's playing with the Allmans at the Beacon run in NYC and he'll be on tour with the Dead this year. Sick guitarist. Keep an eye out for him and his band. You won't be disappointed.

3. The Derek Trucks Band- Derek's uncle is Butch Trucks, one of the founding members of the Allman Brothers. Nice pedigree. One of the best slide guitarists I've seen or heard. Take a large slice of the Allman Brothers, splash in some African beats, blues and gospel. Mix it up in a blender. Tasty.

4. Avenged Sevenfold- part metal, part goth, part rock. all parts good.

5. Robert Randolph and the Family Band- Take Sly and the Family Stone, give him 20 cups of coffee and stick him in front of a pedal steel guitar. Spin him up and let him go. Yeah, I'll have some of that.

Coldplay? Really??

If Coldplay wins another award tonight I swear I'm putting my size 10 1/2 through the plasma. Ok, let's not go that far, but c'mon. There's nobody else out there more deserving of a grammy?? Kid Rock?? The Foo?? The Raconteurs?? Radiohead?? Have the people that vote actually listened to any of these albums?

Kid Rock has steadily transformed himself from the dead and buried rap/rock mash-up, stone stone cold pimp of the nation, to arguably the best rock, southern rock, country, rap singers out there. I'm all in on Kid Rock. And the love goes way deeper than 'All Summer Long'. Fantastic album. Just go buy it and hopefully you'll understand it.

The Foo Fighters are one of the bands out there that I feel are probably more appreciated by those in the business. For Exibit A, see Dave Grohl's performance with Sir Paul McCartney. Their newest release shows a nice progression, and completely blows me away. Love it.

Jack White of White Stripes fame continues to assert himself as the Bob Dylan of our time with his 'side project' the Raconteurs. They show some amazing depth on their Sophomore release, Consolers of the Lonely. Another solid buy recommendation. You won't be disappointed.

I must admit I wasn't a huge fan of the new Radiohead release when I first heard it. To me they're an enigma wrapped inside a mystery or something like that. I may need to give it a re-listen after seeing them with the USC Marching Band tonight.

I guess where I separate my self from a lot of the pack out there is I don't expect Dave Grohl to be putting out Nirvana retreads at this this point. If he was he probably wouldn't be in the business. But let's not go too far, and that brings me back to Coldplay. Way too far off the plantation with their new release. I love an artist that takes a risk and steps out side of their mold, as long as it's good. This one- just not good. And I actually mostly enjoy their first three albums.

And yes, I did expect Sir Paul to jump out of his seat and slap Chris Martin out of his Sgt. Pepper ripoff suit with Heather Mills' leg. Now that's an award show!

Peace.....