It was cool to like Kings of Leon in 2005. Nobody had heard of them and the redneck Strokes sound on "Aha Shake Heartbreak" was really fresh. You could buy a concert ticket for less than $10. And they had this weirdo Pentecostal-white-trash background that made their music all the more mischevious.
It isn't cool to like Kings of Leon in 2010. Kelly and I paid $40/ticket to see them put on a short, boring, ambivalent performance in Cary this past Spring. They're on pop radio. They probably wear really expensive blue jeans. Basically - they've become the antithesis of everything that made them fun.
So I broke up with them. Actually - I broke up with them the day I heard "Sex On Fire" on the radio. Kelly will confirm. We were in her car and the song came on Kelly's favorite Top 40 station:
- "Is this Sex On Fire?"
- "Yes."
- "Well. I guess that's that."
We'll always have the good times. Their back catalog will remain in heavy rotation - "The Bucket" will remain one of my favorite songs and their 2nd and 3rd records will always mark fun times around 2005, 2006, 2007.
They're still a great band and they'll still sell a gazillion records and gazillion concert tickets. Just not to me.
(Note - I've had similar break-ups with Pearl Jam, Metallica, Modest Mouse, Son Volt, Ben Folds, Beck, and Weezer. So pretty good company for KOL.)