HOW LONG TIL MY SOUL GETS IT RIGHT?

It wasn't til tonight that I felt ready to touch on the new Killers. In one ear, I had Sarah shouting its innumerable praises. In the other I had another friend banging on about how Day & Age is the steamingest pile of shizz he'd ever heard. I wasn't sure. In fact my auto-response became "it's a weird record, eh" every time someone asked my opinion. I definitely didn't hate it - even on first listen. But I definitely didn't love it. Now having had the chance to listen in headphones, alone with my own thoughts - I'm still torn, but definitely leaning towards the latter. As in, I still fuckin love the Killers.

And then I caught their most recent SNL appearance (yes, the other night, I was out of town when it originally aired). Their rendition of "Human" was flawed for sure. I don't mind that song on record now. I laughed along with the rest of you when it first started playing on radio, but in the context of the record, it works.

Anyway, despite the flaws, watching them still made me smile. Brandon Flowers is exactly where he wants to be. The Bowie comparisons, the flashy costumes, the rapt audiences - he's been cultivating this since he left the womb. You can mock him all you want for his obnoxious soundbites, even more obnoxious lyrics and somewhat robotic nature - but the fact remains, he's an artist with a billion ideas in his head at all times, and when translated to record and performance they may get muddled, but at the end of the day - we're all talking about his band. Which is ultimately all an artist looking at posterity can hope for. The last thing an artist would ever want to be is boring, and among all the things you can call the Killers - boring isn't one of them. Reinvention is the key to longevity in this age of micro-attention spans. So kudos to the Killers for keeping things interesting.

Just as an aside, but a relevant one - I was watching VH1 Classic last night (duh) and lucked on the metal mania video block (again, duh) and got to revisit the awesome B. Jovi of the '80s. Specifically - "Bad Medicine." Watching JBJ and co begged the question - while everyone was busy accusing the Killers of trying to rip off Springsteen on the last album, did it ever occur to anyone that a different prodigal son of Dirty Jerz might be the better comparison? (Could acid-wash hair metal be the Killers next move?) And I mean, sorry, but am I the only one who can imagine Dave getting his guitar tricked out a la Richie S:



All these things that I've... strummed?

**UPDATE: Thanks to Peter Gaston for sending me the following:
BRANDON FLOWERS: STYLE ICON OR JUST INSANE?

Amen.