The Killers: A Retrospective, 2001-2023

The Killers A Retrospective: 2001-2023

Overview: The Killers formed in Las Vegas in 2001. The alternative-rock band has sold more than 28 million records worldwide. Their song “Mr. Brightside” is featured in the DMDB book The Top 100 Songs of the Digital Era, 2000-2019. Their 2004 album Hot Fuss is in the DMDB book The Top 100 Albums of the 21st Century. The Players: Brandon Flowers (vocals, keyboards, bass, guitar: 2001-present) Dave Keuning (guitar, backing vocals: 2001-present) Ronnie Vannucci Jr. (drums, percussion, guitar: 2002-present) Mark Stoermer (bass, backing vocals, guitar: 2002-) Matt Norcross (drums: 2001-02) Brian Havens (drusm: 2002) Dell Neal (bass, backing vocals: 2001-02) Links: DMDB encyclopedia entry for The Killers Top 20 Songs TheKillersMusic.om (official site) Facebook Wikipedia

Awards:

Compilations: DH Direct Hits (covers 2003-2013, released 2013) RD Rebel Diamonds (covers 2003-2023, released 2023) Immediately below is a list of the top songs by the Killers as ranked by the DMDB. The codes beside the songs indicate which of the above albums the songs appear on. In addition, you can scroll farther down the page to see a snapshot of the Killers’ individual albums with the singles from each indicated. The songs are again followed by the codes, but also for those songs that charted, the date of the song’s release or first chart appearance and its chart peaks are noted in parentheses. Click for codes to charts. Top 20 Songs: DMDB Top 1%: 1. Mr. Brightside (2003) DH, RD DMDB Top 5%: 2. Somebody Told Me (2004) DH, RD 3. When You Were Young (2006) DH, RD 4. All These Things That I’ve Done (2004) DH, RD 5. Human (2008) DH, RD DMDB Top 10%: 6. Read My Mind (2006) DH, RD 7. Caution (2020) RD DMDB Top 20%: 8. The Man (2017) RD 9. Spaceman (2008) DH, RD 10. Smile Like You Mean It (2004) DH 11. Runaways (2012) DH, RD Beyond the DMDB Top 20%: 12. Shot at the Night (2013) DH 13. Boy (2022) RD 14. Bones (2006) 15. Run for Cover (2017) 16. My Own Soul’s Warning (2020) RD 17. I’ll Be Home for Christmas (with Ned Humphrey Hansen, 2016) 18. Tranquilize (with Lou Reed, 2007) 19. Shadowplay (2007) 20. Quiet Town (2021) RD

Hot Fuss (2004): Mr. Brightside (9/29/03, 10 BB, 10 RR, 11 A40, 3 MR, 10 UK, 5 CN, 29 AU, 6 DF) DH, RD Somebody Told Me (3/15/04, 51 BB, 21 RR, 17 A403 MR, 3 UK, 17 AU, 11 DF) DH, RD All These Things That I’ve Done (8/30/04, 74 BB, 45 RR, 10 MR, 18 UK, 42 AU, 1 DF) DH, RD Smile Like You Mean It (4/2/05, 15 MR, 11 UK, 47 AU, 31 DF) DH Jenny Was a Friend of Mine RD Read more on the DMDB page for this album.

Sam’s Town (2006): When You Were Young (7/29/06, 14 BB, 31 RR, 15 A40, 16 AA, 30 AR, 1 MR, 2 UK, 10 AU, 15 DF) DH, RD Bones (11/25/06, 21 MR, 15 UK, 22 AU, 29 DF) Read My Mind (1/20/07, 62 BB, 43 RR, 25 A40, 1 AA, 8 MR, 15 UK, 39 CN, 32 AU, 25 DF) DH, RD For Reasons Unknown (6/25/07, 53 UK, 33 DF) DH

Sawdust (2007): Ruby, Don’t Take Your Love to Town (2/28/05, --) Romeo and Juliet (6/25/07, 86 UK, 98 AU) Shadowplay (10/8/07, 68 BB, 19 MR, 49 CN, 35 DF) Tranquilize (with Lou Reed) (10/12/07, 13 UK, 59 CN, 84 AU, 33 DF)

Day & Age (2008): Human (9/22/08, 32 BB, 35 RR, 3 AA, 6 MR, 3 UK, 9 CN, 28 AU, 17 DF) DH, RD Spaceman (11/4/08, 67 BB, 17 AA, 8 MR, 40 UK, 47 CN, 62 AU) DH, RD A Dustland Fairytale (5/9/09, 36 MR) DH, RD The World We Live In (5/18/09, --)

Battle Born (2012): Runaways (7/17/12, 78 BB, 11 AA, 7 MR, 18 UK, 37 CN, 67 AU) DH, RD Miss Atomic Bomb (10/23/12, 23 MR) DH Here with Me (12/16/12, 88 CN) The Way It Was DH Be Still RD

Direct Hits The Killers

Recorded: 2003-2013 Released: November 11, 2013 Peak: 20 US, 6 UK, 25 CN, 10 AU Sales (in millions): -- US, 0.75 UK Genre: alternative rock Rating: 3.859 out of 5.00 (average of 11 ratings)

Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

Tracks: (1) Mr. Brightside (2) Somebody Told Me (3) Smile Like You Mean It (4) All These Things That I’ve Done (5) When We Were Young (6) Read My Mind (7) For Reasons Unknown (8) Human (9) Spaceman (10) A Dustland Fairytale (11) Runaways (12) Miss Atomic Bomb (13) The Way It Was (14) Shot at the Night (15) Just Another Girl Total Running Time: 61:13 Tracks Not on Previously Noted Albums: Shot at the Night (9/17/13, 22 AA, 20 MR, 23 UK, 90 CN, 33 DF) DH Just Another Girl (11/25/13, --) DH About the Album: This collection gathers the best-known material from the Killers’ first four studio albums and adds two new tracks.

Wonderful Wonderful (2017): The Man (6/14/17, 31 A40, 1 AA, 2 MR, 63 UK, 65 AU, 31 DF) RD Run for Cover (7/28/17, 20 AA, 5 MR, 100 UK) Wonderful Wonderful (8/24/17, --) Rut (12/9/17, --)

Imploding the Mirage (2020): Caution (3/12/20, 26 AC, 16 A40, 2 AA, 35 AR, 1 MR, 95 UK, 3 CN) RD My Own Soul’s Warning (6/27/20, 4 AA, 7 MR) RD Dying Breed (8/14/20, --) RD C’est La Vie (2/27/21, 18 AA)

Pressure Machine (2021): Quiet Town (8/12/21, 6 AA) RD Runaway Horses (with Phoebe Bridgers) (8/27/21, --) Pressure Machine (10/10/21, --) RD

Rebel Diamonds The Killers

Recorded: 2003-2023 Released: December 8, 2023 Peak: -- Sales (in millions): -- Genre: alternative rock

Tracks: (1) Jenny Was a Friend of Mine (2) Mr. Brightside (3) All These Things That I’ve Done (4) Somebody Told Me (5) When You Were Young (6) Read My Mind (7) Human (8) Spaceman (9) A Dustland Fairytale (10) Be Still (11) Runaways (12) The Man (13) Caution (14) My Own Soul’s Warning (15) Dying Breed (16) Pressure Machine (17) Quiet Town (18) Boy (19) Your Side of Town (20) Spirit Tracks Not on Previously Noted Albums: Boy (8/13/22, 29 A40, 1 AA, 1 MR) RD Your Side of Town (8/25/23, 6 MR) RD Spirit RD About the Album: The second compilation from the Killers offers a full career retrospective of the band’s 20+ year career. While it is nice to have snapshots of their entire career in one collection, the set also short changes the band’s second decade. Nine of the first eleven songs were already featured on Direct Hits. It would be nice to see a collection focused exclusively on the Killers post-Direct Hits days. There are three new songs here.

Resources and Related Links: DMDB encyclopedia entry for The Killers Dave’s Music Database: Acts’ Profile Pages and Best-of Lists Wikipedia page for Direct Hits Wikipedia page for Rebel Diamonds First posted 12/8/2023.

Joan Jett hit #1 for the first of 7 weeks with "I Love Rock and Roll"

I Love Rock and Roll Joan Jett & the Blackhearts

Writer(s): Jake Hooker, Alan Merrill (see lyrics here) First Charted: December 12, 1981 Peak: 17 US, 15 CB, 15 HR, 1 AR, 4 UK, 18 CN, 15 AU, 1 DF (Click for codes to singles charts.) Sales (in millions): 2.0 US, -- UK, 10.0 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 86.64 video, 229.59 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: When the Rolling Stones sang “It’s Only Rock ‘n’ Roll (But I Like It),” the lesser known Arrows felt obligated to respond with their more celebratory message of “I Love Rock and Roll.” FB The American trio went unnoticed stateside, but garnered enough attention in England to warrant their own TV show. Still, they only recorded one album and this 1975 song didn’t even make it on; it was originally relegated to a mere B-side of a single. SF The Arrows’ message eventually reached a mass audience, though. While Joan Jett was touring England as a member of the teenage girl group the Runaways, SF she saw the Arrows performing “I Love Rock and Roll” on a TV show. She wanted to cover the song, but was outvoted by her band members. SF After the Runaways’ demise, Jett cut the song herself. She shopped it to twenty-three record labels before finally getting the attention of Boardwalk Records, RS500 a new label formed by Neil Bogart, the “emperor of disco at Casablanca” MA and “king of bubble gum at Buddah and Cameo/Parkway.” MA Even then, the song only surfaced in Holland as the flip side of a cover of Lesley Gore’s “You Don’t Own Me.” FB Jett still believed enough in the song to buy the radio rights for $2500. RS500 She made a decent investment: today, the song that became the biggest pop hit of 1982, WHC is worth close to $20 million. RS500 In the Arrows’ hands, the song’s message about a guy picking up a girl and taking her home made for a fairly clichéd topic in a rock song. SF In Jett’s hands, though, the song became an empowering anthem about the woman aggressively pursuing the guy SF and shaped Jett’s image “as a tough, confident” SF “girl-rock icon.” RS500 Resources: DMDB Encyclopedia entry for Joan Jett FB Fred Bronson (2003). The Billboard Book of Number One Hits (5th edition). Billboard Books: New York, NY. Page 553. MA Dave Marsh (1989). The Heart of Rock and Soul: The 1001 Greatest Singles Ever Made. New York, NY; New American Library. Page 300-1. RS500 Rolling Stone (12/04). “The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time” SF Songfacts WHC Joel Whitburn (1999). A Century of Pop Music. Menomonee Falls, WI; Record Research, Inc. Page 11. Last updated 10/27/2022.