It seems like just yesterday that Kings Of Leon released their fourth and most commercially successful album, Only By The Night. It was actually two years ago. Yet, the overwhelmingly positive public reaction to the album led to copious amounts of airplay. Eventually, there was an inevitable backlash to the new-found popularity of the four Followill’s from Tennessee. Their change in sound from the inaudible Southern Rock of their first two albums, Youth and Young Manhood and Aha Shake Heartbreak, to the alternative arena Rock of the third and forth albums, caused the hardcore fans who followed the band from the start to shun them in response to their commercial breakthrough.
Kneejerk reaction? Well, yes. However, as is often the case, fans will hold on to any band that hasn’t been drowned in Radio play for dear life. Kings Of Leon’s earlier material was incredible, songs such as ‘Molly Chambers’, ‘Charmer’ and ‘Four Kicks’ had a raw energy that defied belief.
Even though they showed the direction they were heading in on the third LP, Because Of The Times, with more radio-friendly songs like ‘Fans’, they retained the unmistakable edge that defined them as a band.
Yet, the moment ‘Sex On Fire’ became a Radio hit, with its big sing-a-long chorus and catchy riff; Kings Of Leon were branded as sell-outs. The fact that ‘Sex On Fire’ is probably the weakest KOL song, yet the one that enabled their major commercial break, left the original fans seething. Only By The Night was a good album, songs such as ‘Closer’, ‘Crawl’ and ‘Manhattan’, wouldn’t of been out of place on previous albums. However, in comparison with the first two albums, the rest of the album is very middle of the road, stadium Rock. Sort of like U2, if Bono started singing like a pissed up drunk. You can’t blame Celeb et al for wanting to sell-out stadiums and headline the biggest festivals. Yet, it seems an injustice that their worst album propelled them into the limelight, when it should have been the brilliant Aha Shake Heartbreak.
So, what about the new song ‘Radioactive’, the first song from their forthcoming album Come Around Sundown? It is a good song – especially the awesome riff. It is certainly more reminiscent of the older material. In fact, the boys have been messing about with ‘Radioactive’ since the period between Aha Shake and Because of The Times, and so the older sound makes sense. However, the reason the song hasn’t seen the light of day until now is due to problems matching the ‘spiritual’ chorus with the verses. The song also has a very strange structure; the chorus seems to take up most of the song, and I can’t quite work out whether it all works or not.
The video and lyrics make it very clear that the song is about them going back to their roots, especially the influence of their preacher father. The way this manifests itself in the song, though, is completely detrimental to KOL’s hopes of dismissing the naysayers. As the song reaches the finale Caleb is joined by a choir to sing the chorus. A Choir!! This coupled with a distinctly average video compared to the simplistic, but clever videos from the first two albums, really damages what could have been a great KOL song. Hopefully the rest of the new album will recapture the unpredictable, raw energy that encapsulated everything that made Kings Of Leon great in the first place.
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