My crush? Songs that The Killers hope you’ve forgotten.

First, let’s get this out of the way. I actually enjoy The Killers’ music. I loved pretty much all of their first album, and their recent song “Read My Mind” is tops on my current “Top 25 Most Played” iPod listing, the result of incessant repetition a few months ago. But this band is a great example of a general “nothing new under the sun” feeling I’m getting from music these days. Perhaps it’s just me getting older, but so much I hear now sounds an awful lot like things I heard then. I mean whatshername, Fergie, has a new hit song that, while I admire her for actually singing instead of that chant-rap crap the buying public was letting her get away with, contains such a blatant rip of Madonna’s “Like A Prayer” that I just want to walk up to strangers in the street and point this out. This one is obvious enough that I think even the average guy on the street just might get it, and for a second my frustration may be comiserated. sigh… Anyway, I really do like The Killers and wish them well. And there’s plenty of room in my heart and mind and iPod for them and their obvious influences. And The Bravery, too. But I just started to get amused at the thought of the guys in the band having to scramble around and hide all their U2 and Cure CDs whenever the groupies come over, so nobody catches on. Here’s some examples of the kind of stuff that they toss behind the couch until company leaves:

1. Blondie, “Dreaming”
I mean come on! I played this for Sam in the store, and honestly the first thing that came to mind was, “how did nobody get sued over this?” Besides the melodic Killerness of the chorus, this song also boasts big fun ABBAesque harmony arrangments and plenty of raw ore that would later be refined by The Go-Gos (”We Got The Beat”) and Kim Wilde (”Kids in America”).

2. Modern English, “Tables Turning”
Enter the old analog synth sounds, the vocal distortion, the epic-poem song that breaks down into a poignant piano solo halfway through. I personally think that Modern English is the single biggest influence on The Killers and their neo-post-modern-new-wave-post-punk ilk. There are worse influences to have.

3. U2, “Like A Song…”
This has turned out to be one of my favorite U2 songs, and I was a big fan of everything between “Boy” and somewhere around the end of “Where The Streets Have No Name”. Featuring Larry Mullen Jr at his all-time tom-flogging, hihat-splashing best, this is also a great showcase for the U2 formula of everyone playing a melody, from single echoed notes on guitar to high rhythmical plucking on bass. This is the sound that launched a thousand post-punkers. I guess I’m including this less for “hey that sounds like The Killers” purposes, and more for the thought that this is probably the type of energy that fueled young Killers / Bravery / Clap Your Hands / Wolf Parade / Hard-Fi, etc, and is a song that The Killers should really cover live if they don’t already. That and Psychedelic Furs’ “Heaven” - I think a Killers version of that would rock.

4. Iggy Pop, “Neighborhood Threat”
Pay attention, young killers-in-training. Take note of the warbly voice and limited range, the theatricality, the backing chorus… When you grow up and write songs of your own someday, make sure to sprinkle these in liberally. Oh yeah, and remember to give proper attribu- hey, where are you guys going? Get back here, we haven’t covered The Buzzcocks or Gary Numan yet! Oh well, I guess you’ll discover them on your own… Obviously.

Download: Blondie, “Dreaming” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: Modern English, “Tables Turning” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: U2, “Like A Song…” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)

Download: Iggy Pop, “Neighborhood Threat” (mp3)
(Right-click/control-click link to download)