Saturday, June 26, 2004

The Killers charted with “Mr. Brightside”

Mr. Brightside

The Killers

Writer(s): Brandon Flowers, Dave Keuning, Mark Stoermer, Ronnie Vannucci Jr. (see lyrics here)


Released: September 29, 2003


First Charted: June 26, 2004


Peak: 10 US, 10 RR, 11 A40, 3 AR, 10 UK, 5 CN, 29 AU, 6 DF (Click for codes to charts.)


Sales (in millions): 3.0 US, 4.8 UK, 10.54 world (includes US + UK)


Airplay/Streaming (in millions): 0.5 radio, 467.0 video, 1797.97 streaming

Awards:

Click on award for more details.

About the Song:

The Killers “crawled out of Vegas armed with glitzy beats and faux Bowie accents.” RS’09 “Merging Duran Duran makeup, New Order hi-hats, and Bruce Springsteen-ian grandiosity, they gave rock fans a non-geriatric arena-ready alternative to the world’s Nickelbacks this decade.” PF

The group might have just been another of the pack of the new millennium’s wave of new dance-rock, but “‘Mr. Brightside’ made them famous.” RS’09 “Preening and posturing and fusing high drama, power pop, and rock gravitas into one perfectly transcendent song.” LR “In a stroke of genius they never quite equaled, these Las Vegas rockers married the infectious grooves of the then-trendy dance-rock scene to a surging melody straight out of the U2/ Coldplay handbook.” MX They brought along “a story line that sums up the first two seasons of Gossip Girl.” RS’09

The Killers’ lead singer Brandon Flowers had a girlfriend who cheated on him and the band’s guitarist, Dave Keuning, extracted revenge with this song about her. Flowers told Q magazine about discovering her unfaithfulness. “I was asleep and I knew something was wrong. I have these instincts. I went to the Crown and Anchor [a Vegas pub] and my girlfriend was there with another guy.” PF

However, Flowers’ anguish proved to have a “bright side.” The song didn’t just give The Killers their biggest hit, but one thoroughly embraced by fans. UK radio station XFM wrapped the decade with a listener poll to determine the top 1000 songs of all time and “Mr. Brightside” topped the list. While such a lofty position showed the weaknesses of turning an “all time” poll over to voters, it still showed just how much fans cherished the song.


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Last updated 7/24/2023.

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