Goodbye Movie

A Stephen Sinisi song and video

 

 

 

So Long

By: Stephen Sinisi

 

 Unfortunately, i’ve spent a lot of time worrying about wasting time.

  

 

 

  

THE KILLERS ARE NOT NIRVANA

By: Stephen Sinisi

(This one’s a year old – November 13, 2006)

 I’d like to start by saying that I’m actually a fan of The Killers.  Moreover, I think Sam’s Town is a good album.  With that said, there’s a difference between a good album and a revolutionary album.  In the November 2006 issue of Maxim Blender (and the November 2006 issue of FHM magazine), Brandon Flowers pits the band’s most recent offering up against some of the greats of the past 20 years (namely, Radiohead’s OK Computer, U2’s Achtung Baby and Nirvana’s Nevermind). 

 Aside from creating a measuring stick for the album that makes it look positively cheap by comparison, he inadvertently insults the standards that define great things as great.          

  Good is not great

Those albums mentioned in the interview are indeed great, and not without good reason.  They completely altered the musical landscapes in which they were created and changed the mainstream’s perception of popular music at the time. 

When Nevermind was released, mainstream rock acts were still running around in spandex and teased hair.  What was called “Grunge” eventually flooded the airwaves and soon, even old Travolta fans were starting to dress like lumberjacks.  When Achtung Baby was released just after Nevermind, it flew directly in the face of Grunge and offered an alternative style to a movement that was just starting to reach the height of its popularity (and quite successfully, I might add).  Before 1997’s Ok Computer, no one believed for a second that a band could manipulate melody and technological innovation in a manner as refreshing as Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon.  Radiohead proved us all wrong and most music critics were pleased to admit it. 

For better or for worse, these albums altered not only the course of music, but also the manner in which a substantial number of people thought about music as well.  They zigged when everyone else zagged.  Will Sam’s Town do the same?  I know it’s still too early to tell, but really, it isn’t.   

 

The singles released from each of those albums caused uproar within their respective musical communities.  They were each different, refreshing and innovative enough in their own ways to either shock or enlighten people.  Although I enjoy listening to “When You Were Young,” it doesn’t appear as though it’s backed by the same kind of force as an “Even Better Than The Real Thing,” a “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” or a “Paranoid Android.”  How is the album revolutionizing music at the moment? 

 Sure, it does a great job of revisiting forgotten styles and genres, but is it really flying in the face of convention in the same way the aforementioned albums did?  Is it really that much different from everything else that’s being released at the moment?  Or rather, different to an extent deserving of the sort of recognition to which Brandon believes he is entitled?  I don’t think so.           

 

Flowers for Brandon?

On a note that is somewhat related, Kurt Cobain’s death instigated a rash of suicides amongst disenfranchised youths who genuinely felt as though they had lost a leader – a voice that spoke to them as well as on behalf of them.  Although I sincerely hope that this DOES NOT happen (no, I’m not a sick bastard), if Brandon Flowers were to decide to take his life tomorrow, would his death instigate the same type of reaction?  I don’t think so. 

That sort of adulation only occurs when you write a revolutionary album.  And at the moment, The Killers have not.

 

And so

So, even though Mr. Flowers is no longer mystified by the artists he once revered as “gods,” that does not mean he walks among them.  Will his name eventually be inscribed alongside the legends?  Who knows?  But at this moment in time, Brandon, you are a guest at the Hall of Fame.  Don’t abuse your privileges.