In the 21st century, music surfaces and fades faster than an artist can succeed. Quality music is a rarity, and this generation is too caught up in boy bands and oddities like Lady Gaga, failing to appreciate first-rate music from artists who manage to break through the tide of autotune and publicity stunts that plague the modern world of music. Few bands from the past few years, never mind the early 2000s, prevail within the current sphere of contemporary and mediocre music. But some days one finds him or herself with random lines from some irrelevant song that they haven’t listened to in what feels like an eternity stuck in their head. One of these nostalgia-inducing tracks is The Killers’ “Mr. Brightside.” When their first hit released in 2003, The Killers paved the road for their ten year success as a rock band of unfaltering substance. Now in 2013, they released a compilation album Direct Hits, celebrating their ten year anniversary of pure alternative rock triumph.
Featuring tracks from all four of their previous albums, the compilation restores fans’ fading adoration for the glitzy rock band. Among the fifteen tracks on the standard album there are two new tracks, an addition which gives long-lasting fans incentive to purchase the compilation. One of the new songs, “Shot At The Night”, was produced by electronic band M83’s Anthony Gonzalez. The hollowed-out dance beats bring a calmer element to an album full of abrasive, fast-paced guitar riffs and rock n’ roll white noise. The other recent track “Just Another Girl” shows the band’s more mellow side, juxtaposing loud, in-your-face tracks like “Somebody Told Me” or “Read My Mind”.
It could be said that once a band releases a greatest hits album they’re basically passing in their resignation as artists. Whether are not The Killers are throwing in the towel is hard to decipher, but one can only hope that the music industry does not lose yet another group capable of creating music other than the run of the mill pop songs that you hear every minute of the day on Kiss 108.
Within the past ten years, The Killers have struggled through their guy-liner stage and matured into a respectable and diverse alternative rock. Their progression in the music industry over the years can be seen throughout their eccentric music videos, as well as the appearance of the band members themselves. Direct Hits exemplifies The Killer’s development into the admirable and adept musicians they are today.
