The Albums That Matter: Battle Born

Joe runs through every album on his iPod, in alphabetical order, and offers some brief thoughts. Check out previous columns HERE.

Battle Born

The Killers

2012

Even if you don't necessarily agree with this, there are a lot of metrics that indicate that the Killers are one of the most popular rock bands of the modern era. That in itself is enough for most serious music blogs to not take them all that seriously, and I don't blame them (I'm talking about nationally published music blogs—we support Sam's Town here on PoYB).

The Killers can be supremely hokey; this is by design. They wear their hearts on their sleeves, and that makes most humans uncomfortable. Unironic emotional displays are tough to stare at. But then there has to be something to this band's enduring popularity, no? What is it about the Killers that makes people like them so much?

I credit (blame?) Brandon Flowers for this. He has a knack for making even the dumbest shit sound absolutely epic. Any certified doctor will warn you to be careful when you're reading the lyrics sheet for any Killers song, since that amount of cringing will no doubt do some damage to one's spine. But when you hear Flowers sing this shit, you can't help but get wrapped up in the bombast of it all. It's a neat trick, and general critical reception notwithstanding, I will always appreciate it.

I will appreciate it, even when the Killers really push the limit of this theory. Enter Battle Born. I think everyone—Killers fans, skeptical critics, wayward birthday pukers—can agree that Battle Born is the Killers' worst album. We can all agree that it is bad. But the crazy part is that the Killers can make even a bad album at least most palatable. Battle Born is a bad album, but it's one that I honestly enjoy listening to. Not even in a "so bad it's good" way; in fact, kind of the opposite. The Killers rescue a bad album from actually being bad? I dunno.

"A Matter of Fact" is one of the best examples I can pick out here to illustrate this. The whole thing is fucking silly, honestly. Any song that makes use of lyrics like "wreckage of broken dreams" and "come hell or high water" or any other rock cliché just should not work. But wait until that fucking bridge kicks in. Flowers is singing like this is life or death (god, Joe, talk about clichés). Flowers takes trash and turns it into gold.

And sure, there are straight-up bad songs here, that not even a towering Brandon Flowers performance can save. The very next song, "Deadlines and Commitments," wants to be a lightly calypso-singed bass boogie, and just comes off as corny. It lacks a hook, honestly, so there's nothing for Flowers to even try to sell.

But exceptions aside, most of this shit just works, even when it shouldn't. Every shitty synthy Bruce rip-off, every spacey intro, every cut-and-paste third grade poetry lyric, it all adds up to a decent album! I'm not going to sing its praises anymore, because it's not that great, but it is absolutely and definitively an "album that matters."

If this album sounds interesting, try this song: "The Rising Tide"

Stray Observations

• In the press cycle for Battle Born's follow-up, Wonderful Wonderful, Brandon Flowers and the rest of the band stated that they had been "unhappy" with how Battle Born turned out. When I said that everyone thinks that this is the worst Killers album, I meant everyone, even the Killers themselves.
• But that's interesting though, as it always is, when a band talks down on their own previous work. It's rare for a band to be honest like that, and I appreciate it when it happens. At the same time, I think there's the idea of every work being the best work you can possibly make, and so if Battle Born wasn't that, then what was it? A cash-in? Possibly. 
• If you're wondering, the rest of my Killers ranking is this: Sam's Town at #1, Hot Fuss at #2, Wonderful Wonderful at #3, Day & Age at #4, and Battle Born last.
• But we'll see how this spring's Imploding the Mirage turns out, eh? Honestly, I'll check it out, even if it turns out to be Battle Born 2.
• ALBUM COVER: I imagine that Brandon Flowers was too embarrassed to have to explain this schlock. Instead of guessing, let's go to the Killers' subreddit, where there are a few good guesses that are cheesy and yet probably accurate because they are so cheesy.
• ALBUM NAME: This is a new bullet point that I'm starting right now, where I try to explain why the album is called what it is called. This is an easy one, because Wikipedia has the answer in the introductory paragraph! "Battle Born" is found on the Nevada state flag (they are from Las Vegas, you see), and also it is the name of the recording studio where the album was mostly created (it's the Abbey Road of early-2010s alternative rock, you see).
• I know it's not technically an outdated reference, but when Flowers sings "Don't want your picture on my cell phone" on "Here with Me," it just sounds outdated for some reason, doesn't it? Maybe this has to do with how timeless the Killers usually sound, and how any lyric that timestamps a song whatsoever is going to sound out of place.
• Okay, back to the whole "this is the worst Killers album says everyone" theory. Maybe I'm wrong. I don't know. Contrary evidence: in 2012, readers of Rolling Stone magazine ranked Battle Born the second best album of the year. Number one? Adam Lambert. I don't know what to make of any of this, honestly.
• CHART PERFORMANCE: Another new bullet point I've decided just now to continue, when applicable (i.e. I'm not going to waste anyone's time writing "CHART PERFORMANCE: jackshit" for, like, some obscure emo EP from the '90s). Battle Born topped out at #3 on the Billboard 200, blocked by P!nk and Kanye West (with GOOD Music) god help us all. "Runaways" hit #78 on the Hot 100. when "Call Me Maybe" was sitting at #1—can't argue with that.
• "Miss Atomic Bomb" is a good name for a song from a Las Vegas band. Pro tip: Do not waste your time at the Atomic Testing Museum on Flamingo Ave. in Vegas. It sucks ass.
• Also, apparently "Miss Atomic Bomb" was supposed to be the "epic" companion piece to "Mr. Brightside." As one of the best songs of all time, not much can compare to "Mr. Brightside," and this Battle Born track doesn't even come close.

NEXT TIME: Bay Dreams by Culture Abuse