How is Kings of Leon up for a Grammy?

thunderDAN

I know Grammys are a joke- but how in the hell is Only By The Night up for a Grammy? Am I missing something with this album? Don't get me wrong, I love Kings of Leon, and wish them nothing but the best- but this album was terrible. It sounded like a band that strayed from their sound and it sounds extremely involved and inflated. I could see them being given an award for any of their previous 3 albums, but why this one? I guess it pisses me off because I wished this album would flop so they would go back to their own sound and not this U2esque arena rock crap they made in 08

Someone explain what I'm missing

DewieCox

It doesn't really sound THAT much different from the last one, except the choruses actually fit with the verses. The songs aren't nearly as repetitive lyrically, and they don't rely on 2 bits of music to make an entire song. Are people listening to the same albums as me? OBtN and BotT are pretty darn similar, if you ask me. Sure, OBtN has a few songs that are blatant chart chasers, but A)they are still great tunes and it has a few of the very coolest KOL songs.

Lotta KOL "fans" seem to have ditched them since they are lookin for a little mainstream success, imo.

It's obvious OBtN is better, and they deserve a Grammy nod. It was one of the best albums of 2008.

PJGARDEN

Everytime a band like KOL becomes more mainstream, you have a backlash from fans saying their albums suck now and they have changed for money or fame or whatever reason. I think that' s why there is all the sudden so much hate around here and on other boards for KOL. To me their music has come a long way since the first couple of albums and I think they are a better band now. IMO, Only by the Night is much better than the other albums its up against and I think its great they were nominated. No, it wasn't the best album of the year but I don't see MGMT, Nick Cave Gutter Twins etc... being nominated so for me it was nice to see them in the mix.

kenny olav

I never got into Kings of Leon, but really, the Grammys don't mean shit.

soulsinging

thunderDAN wrote:

I know Grammys are a joke- but how in the hell is Only By The Night up for a Grammy? Am I missing something with this album? Don't get me wrong, I love Kings of Leon, and wish them nothing but the best- but this album was terrible. It sounded like a band that strayed from their sound and it sounds extremely involved and inflated. I could see them being given an award for any of their previous 3 albums, but why this one? I guess it pisses me off because I wished this album would flop so they would go back to their own sound and not this U2esque arena rock crap they made in 08

Someone explain what I'm missing

Yes, you're missing something... taste

I love their new sound, way better than their mediocre first album. It's very groovy and soulful. They've only gotten better with age.

thunderDAN

PJGARDEN wrote:

Everytime a band like KOL becomes more mainstream, you have a backlash from fans saying their albums suck now and they have changed for money or fame or whatever reason. I think that' s why there is all the sudden so much hate around here and on other boards for KOL. To me their music has come a long way since the first couple of albums and I think they are a better band now. IMO, Only by the Night is much better than the other albums its up against and I think its great they were nominated. No, it wasn't the best album of the year but I don't see MGMT, Nick Cave Gutter Twins etc... being nominated so for me it was nice to see them in the mix.

Here is the thing though- this isn't about me hating the album because of them going mainstream. I hated it the second I listened to it the day it came out- that that wouldn't give them enough time to break out like they did. I liked Crawl and Manhattan when I heard it over the summer at the PJ shows- but the album versions are far more bland than the songs I thought I loved over the summer. The album has about 3 chart chasers, 2 decent songs and a bunch of filler. I mean can anyone tell me that '17' or 'I Want You' are good songs? '17' is the worst song to every be created by them.

PJGARDEN

thunderDAN wrote:

PJGARDEN wrote:

Everytime a band like KOL becomes more mainstream, you have a backlash from fans saying their albums suck now and they have changed for money or fame or whatever reason. I think that' s why there is all the sudden so much hate around here and on other boards for KOL. To me their music has come a long way since the first couple of albums and I think they are a better band now. IMO, Only by the Night is much better than the other albums its up against and I think its great they were nominated. No, it wasn't the best album of the year but I don't see MGMT, Nick Cave Gutter Twins etc... being nominated so for me it was nice to see them in the mix.

Here is the thing though- this isn't about me hating the album because of them going mainstream. I hated it the second I listened to it the day it came out- that that wouldn't give them enough time to break out like they did. I liked Crawl and Manhattan when I heard it over the summer at the PJ shows- but the album versions are far more bland than the songs I thought I loved over the summer. The album has about 3 chart chasers, 2 decent songs and a bunch of filler. I mean can anyone tell me that '17' or 'I Want You' are good songs? '17' is the worst song to every be created by them.

Yeah sorry. I really didn't mean that comment about hating them b/c they have gone mainstream to be aimed at you. It just seems to be the general feel I have gotten lately. I actually agree with you 100% about the fillers. KOL seem to write songs and not albums. I think Cold Dessert, Closer, Crawl a couple of other are amazing and they are a great live band but all their albums have had fillers. That being said, I still think they are a better band than they were a few years ago. Grammy worthy, probably not but can you really tell me that the other bands that were nominated deserved it any more than they did?

Gardenparty

Only by the night is probably my least favorite KoL album but I have to admit I haven't given it much time. Plenty of good songs on it and I'm sure it will eventually hit me

Also, Kid Rock is up for the same award so.....

ZosoCat

I would go the other way and say the grammy's mean nothing... Being nominated with the foo fighters, U2,, beyonce etc. doesn't mean anything. I thought them not being nominated for their first 3 albums was a good thing but I really dislike their new album. I see it as the opposite approach to what Pearl Jam, Silverchair and a host of other bands who didn't like the fame. They may as well be Coldplay in 2008 same type of band now. It's sad because I thought their ideals were the same as MMJ or Wilco but we were sadly mistaken. I want bands who are famous because they write good songs but keep their integrity intact. With their sharper cleaner image they have alienated some of their fans in a negative fashion. The new KOL fans are 15 girls who think Caleb is hot. I don't want that. Hopefully they change back to their credible ways next album/tour.

Yellow Ledbelly

Having been a fan of KoL since they released Youth and Young Manhood, which I still believe is their best by far, I must admit that I was turned off when they started dressing like pretty boys. I've never let that hinder my appreciation of their music, but, to me, changing their image like that was an indication that there #1 objective was to get played on the radio and appeal to the teeny-bopper crowd. I'm not one to begrudge any artist for wanting to be as big as they can possibly be, not at all, but it bothers me when I believe a band like KoL lets that desire determine where they go musically instead of following their natural instincts....listen to Manhood and then listen to OBtN and tell me you would have ever expected both of those albums to have come from the same band. Bands evolve of course, but they have sorta devolved in my opinion, but I actually do like a lot of OBtN and will continue to buy their albums.

It also troubles me to see such a great band being turned into a flavor of the month type of band. I mean, when the new album was about to come or just as it came out they were in Rolling Stone talking about how they haven't had the same success in the US as they had had in Europe and then they were on SNL.....it seems like they -- whether through crafty marketing or whatever -- suddenly were a great band and the critics were championing their rise to superstardom. Well, when an absolutely unbelieveable album like Manhood gets zero press or praise in the US and then a very mediocre album like OBtN is treated as one of the biggest things since sliced bread it fuckin bothers me....they should have been huge five years ago is what I am saying. I do believe they have sacrificed some of their musical integrity (and definitely their image integrity) for the sake of selling albums. I never say any band has "sold out" because I think that is an absolutely stupid thing to say, but I do wish they had remained more true to the initial path they appeared to be on.

Yellow Ledbelly

[quote="soulsinging"

Yes, you're missing something... taste

I love their new sound, way better than their mediocre first album. It's very groovy and soulful. They've only gotten better with age.[/quote]
See, I am the opposite....to me they started out a rock n roll band and now they are leaning in the direction of a poppy hardly rock band. I don't hate them and OBtN is in my top 10 from 2008 but it ain't my KoL.
I tend to think the grammy's are a fuckin' joke -- which is quite obviously true -- and them being nominated means nothing to me. I personally rank OBtN third in their catalogue ahead of only Aha Shake Heartbreak

PJGARDEN

I'm not sure of this so please correct me if I'm wrong, but the band didn't write any of the songs on Youth and Young Manhood did they? If this is the case, I don't really see that as their music or their style in the first place. It's hard for me to say they diteched their natural instinct b/c it was never theirs. I see them as a band that has evolved and has started coming in to their own. I don't really care what they dress like.

mavi

soulsinging wrote:

I love their new sound, way better than their mediocre first album.

so much for taste.....

Yellow Ledbelly

PJGARDEN wrote:

I'm not sure of this so please correct me if I'm wrong, but the band didn't write any of the songs on Youth and Young Manhood did they? If this is the case, I don't really see that as their music or their style in the first place. It's hard for me to say they diteched their natural instinct b/c it was never theirs. I see them as a band that has evolved and has started coming in to their own. I don't really care what they dress like.

Actually all songs were written by Nathan, Caleb and producer Angelo Petraglia on Manhood.

And, I tried to make clear that the way they dress now hasn't hindered my appreciation of them in any way, I just think that change was a sign of where they were/are heading musically.....which was/is away from being the bad ass rock n roll band they started out as. To you OBtN is an album that shows their evolution but I just don't see it that way from where I stand. If they are evolving I don't like the direction they are going

On a side note, there is a question/answer interview with Caleb in the newest Rolling Stone....he talks about how pissed off he was when he heard MMJ did "It Makes No Difference" with Eddie because they beat KoL to the punch

PJGARDEN

Yellow Ledbelly wrote:

PJGARDEN wrote:

I'm not sure of this so please correct me if I'm wrong, but the band didn't write any of the songs on Youth and Young Manhood did they? If this is the case, I don't really see that as their music or their style in the first place. It's hard for me to say they diteched their natural instinct b/c it was never theirs. I see them as a band that has evolved and has started coming in to their own. I don't really care what they dress like.

Actually all songs were written by Nathan, Caleb and producer Angelo Petraglia on Manhood.

And, I tried to make clear that the way they dress now hasn't hindered my appreciation of them in any way, I just think that change was a sign of where they were/are heading musically.....which was/is away from being the bad ass rock n roll band they started out as. To you OBtN is an album that shows their evolution but I just don't see it that way from where I stand. If they are evolving I don't like the direction they are going

On a side note, there is a question/answer interview with Caleb in the newest Rolling Stone....he talks about how pissed off he was when he heard MMJ did "It Makes No Difference" with Eddie because they beat KoL to the punch

Ok then I was wrong I hear what your saying but I still like the album

Yellow Ledbelly

It has been thrown around though that KoL was a creation rather than an actual band, which Petraglia has refuted....

Referenced only as "Angelo" on the album credits, Angelo Petraglia has been described as the “5th member” of Kings of Leon, the critically acclaimed Nashville band that's emerging as one of the greatest rock and roll bands of the 21st century. As a co-writer on the initial EP Holy Roller Novocaine (2003) and the breakout debut LP Youth and Young Manhood (2003), there’s been speculation that Angelo “created” the Kings, and some critics have gone so far as to claim that Youth and Young Manhood was nothing more than the product of a major label’s marketing department.

Sitting comfortably in his living room where most of the writing for Youth and Young Manhood took place, Angelo clarified that the initial introduction to singer/guitarist Caleb and drummer Nathan Followill was through his publishing company―as potential songwriting partners.

“There was a misconception from the beginning,” explains Angelo, “where some people thought this band was put together, which is so untrue. I mean these guys have so much talent, whether it was in the beginning very raw―talent is talent. To me, it was just guys that I hit it off with and dug making music with, and the writing was really cool.”
http://www.gibson.com/en-us/Lifestyle/F ... er-angelo/

Vedderman51

soulsinging wrote:

thunderDAN wrote:

I know Grammys are a joke- but how in the hell is Only By The Night up for a Grammy? Am I missing something with this album? Don't get me wrong, I love Kings of Leon, and wish them nothing but the best- but this album was terrible. It sounded like a band that strayed from their sound and it sounds extremely involved and inflated. I could see them being given an award for any of their previous 3 albums, but why this one? I guess it pisses me off because I wished this album would flop so they would go back to their own sound and not this U2esque arena rock crap they made in 08

Someone explain what I'm missing

Yes, you're missing something... taste

I love their new sound, way better than their mediocre first album. It's very groovy and soulful. They've only gotten better with age.

Ya! What this guy said

DewieCox

thunderDAN wrote:

Here is the thing though- this isn't about me hating the album because of them going mainstream. I hated it the second I listened to it the day it came out- that that wouldn't give them enough time to break out like they did. I liked Crawl and Manhattan when I heard it over the summer at the PJ shows- but the album versions are far more bland than the songs I thought I loved over the summer. The album has about 3 chart chasers, 2 decent songs and a bunch of filler. I mean can anyone tell me that '17' or 'I Want You' are good songs? '17' is the worst song to every be created by them.

17 sounds like it came off of BotT, and it would be one of the better more thought out songs on that album.

Some of the gripes I have heard about OBtN

"It's so predictable"- what the fuck does that even mean? For the gripers that say this, did you know how the album was gonna sound and when all the changes in the songs were coming? It's a statement I don't understand.

"It sounds so much different from their older stuff"- the same people will slag on a band for making the same album over and over. I'm not a fan of the earlier stuff, b/c it doesn't have a bit of originality. I heard their 1st few albums when they came out and was bored. It's their newer direction that hooked me. And does it really sound much different from BotT?

"Look at the way they dress"- though not as much around here, it has been mentioned. Who gives a crap what a band wears? Has nothin to do with music. So, they like to dress kinda girly? Who cares?

rhcpjam1029

i think it's kind of a social thing---

the industry realizes that kol are finally being recognized as a certifiable band and this is their fourth album.

the grammy's really just are a social thing and are just to help the record industry.

i mean coldplay, a band that has admitted to clearly plagiarizing other artists' work, is up for and probably going to win a bunch of grammy's.

jimed14

The second they gave the first ever "Heavy Metal / Hard Rock" grammy to Jethro Tull over Metallica's "... And Justice for All" ... I have not given the grammys another look ...

soulsinging

TW97526 wrote:

I would go the other way and say the grammy's mean nothing... Being nominated with the foo fighters, U2,, beyonce etc. doesn't mean anything. I thought them not being nominated for their first 3 albums was a good thing but I really dislike their new album. I see it as the opposite approach to what Pearl Jam, Silverchair and a host of other bands who didn't like the fame. They may as well be Coldplay in 2008 same type of band now. It's sad because I thought their ideals were the same as MMJ or Wilco but we were sadly mistaken. I want bands who are famous because they write good songs but keep their integrity intact. With their sharper cleaner image they have alienated some of their fans in a negative fashion. The new KOL fans are 15 girls who think Caleb is hot. I don't want that. Hopefully they change back to their credible ways next album/tour.

It's people like you that kill music.

Silverchair has become more poppy with every album. I love them, but let's be honest. They're not exactly Frank Zappa. Integrity is such a bullshit, subjective term. Pearl Jam is having their classic album reissued because their new material is always weak, and they're having Verizon sponsor it. But KoL are the ones with integrity problems because their newest album is more listenable and catchy than their mediocre garage rock early stuff? Give me a fucking break...

As to a bunch of girls as fans... personally, I'm damned happy to go to a show and see some eye candy now and again. There are worse fates than a show with a bunch of hot young women scandalously clad, as I found out at the KoL show on Halloween (18 and older, sold out show btw). It's a nice change from the 75% former frat member crowd at your usual Pearl Jam show.

God I hate indie snobs that whine about their pet groups selling out when their music evolves beyond high school talent show quality.