Have the Kings of Leon fallen off their throne?

Have Tennessee rockers, ‘Kings of Leon’ fallen off their throne just seven years after they began their great quest for the Holy Grail? It certainly looks that way from recent events.

The band's concert in Dallas last Friday ended prematurely and calamitously as lead singer Caleb Followill told fans, “I'm gonna go backstage and I'm gonna vomit, I'm gonna drink a beer and I'm gonna come back out and play three more songs." The Kings’ lead man, never did return to the stage, with bassist and Caleb's brother, Jared left to front the crowd - "Caleb's just a little unfit to play the rest of the show...We love you guys so much, but I know you guys fucking hate us. I'm so sorry. It's really not our fault, it's Caleb. He can't play the rest of the show. We will be back as soon as possible."

Following this drama in Dallas, it was announced on the 1^st of August that the ‘Kings of Leon’ were canceling their entire US tour citing, Calebs vocal issues and exhaustion as the reason. The statement did however deliver some promise for KOL fans ending, “Unfortunately, the U.S. dates cannot be rescheduled due to the band's international tour schedule."

Jared's subsequent Twitter postings however suggested some more intense issues as the reason - "I love our fans so much. I know you guys aren't stupid. I can't lie. There are problems in our band bigger than not drinking enough Gatorade." The social media and entertainment press world in which we live in is in full throttle circus mode…there’s nothing quite like breaking down the monster they once helped create and perhaps built it up again in the future. 

Is this their eulogy I am about to undertake? I hope not, well, I hope not if they go back to basics instead of cut the recent drivel they’ve been producing.

I don’t want to come across as boastful, but I was on the, Kings of Leon bandwagon long before mainstream America was. With the release of debut album, ‘Youth & Young Manhood’, in 2003 I was sold. This was only elevated when I first saw the band perform live at Glasgow’s, Carling Academy on December of the same year. Tennessee bluesy rock was not the in thing at that time, neither were cowboy boots, skin tight drain pipe denims, shoulder length hair and handle bar moustaches, but the, Kings of Leon carried it off and the masses wailed their approval on that evening (including myself and Mrs ScoAustin). Indeed, I vividly recall a young lad of around 21 years sitting next to us with what appeared to be his 50 something year old father. The boy clearly enjoyed the show, but the father was in raptures. “That was great son…that was one of the best shows I’ve ever been tae…that was fantastic.”

The NME agreed, declared the band’s debut album "one of the best debut album of the last 10 years" and The Guardian described the band as "the kind of authentic, hairy rebels The Rolling Stones longed to be." Despite these raving reviews, that album failed to make any significant strides in the US…it sold a meager 100,000 copies. Songs such as ‘Red Morning Light’, ‘Trani’, ‘California Waiting’, Spiral Staircase’ and ‘Molly’s Chambers’ really captured the imagination. They still remain high on my playlist today and indeed I still hold the album in my top 20 all time list.

The band's second album, ‘Aha Shake Heartbreak’, was released just over a year later in the UK and generally built upon the southern infused bluesy garage rock of their first album. It was down and dirty with songs like, ‘The Bucket’, ‘Pistol of Fire’, ‘Soft’ and my favourite from the album ‘Four Kicks’. Some wider acclaim was offered with appearances of their music in movies like, ‘Disturbia’ and , ‘Cloverfield’. This was exacerbated when they had the honour of touring with both, 'Bob Dylan’ and, ‘Pearl Jam’.

Third album, ‘Because of the Times’ dropped in 2007. For the first time, the album demonstrated a clear evolution from, Kings of Leon's previous work. The band's trademark dirty, southern swagger was replaced with a more polished, perhaps, over produced sound. Although I still very much like this album, this was the first real worrying sign that the band was diverging in to another sound. As opposed to hosting several strong tracks, there were slimmer pickings with just three of four masterpieces in this work. ‘On Call’ soon became a huge hit in the UK debuting at number one and selling more than 70,000 copies in its first week of release. I personally enjoy, ‘Knocked Up’, ‘Charmer’, ‘Fans’ and Black Thumbnail’ from KOL’s third album.

‘Only by the Night’ released in 2008 really took the band to new horizons reaching number one in the UK and a lofty number four in the US. The band had made it back home at last with rave reviews from the top echelons of music press, ‘Spin’, ‘Rolling Stone’ and the likes. Meanwhile, ‘Pitchfork Media’ were highly critical offering a mere 3.8 out of 10 for the album. ‘Sex on Fire’ soon became the band's most successful and probably still is. A shame given I consider this track alongside the, ‘Wonderwall’ of, ‘Oasis’ - The most popular, but probably the weakest they have delivered. I struggled with the album as a whole…it was a huge leap away from all the things I liked of the original, Kings of Leon. It’s something my mother would enjoy listening to on the local radio station…it’s not bad, but it’s just not that very good either. It comes across as poppy, shallow and over worked. Don’t get me wrong, the songs were catchy, but, ‘Use Somebody’ is no classic, nor for that matter is, ‘Revelry’. The songs really begin to dry up and the quality in my view diminishes to just two or three songs. Even the bands traditional and appropriate look had changed…by this time, they looked more like, ‘The Killers’ with a more clean-cut look and now dawning waistcoats as opposed to tightly clad t-shirts.

The, Kings of Leon fame was widespread by 2009 headlining the biggest and best music festivals across the globe – Glastonbury, Reading & Leeds, Oxegen, T in the Park, Lollapalooza, and Austin City Limits to name but a few. I had the pleasure of seeing them at the kings of all theatres, MSG in 2009 and it was wonderful to see them really appreciate where they had gotten over several years of music making and touring. They were extremely humble and genuinely blown away that they were playing the famous stage of MSG.

The band's fifth album, ‘Come Around Sundown’ was released on October 18th 2010. Recorded in Nashville and New York, Angelo Petraglia and Jacquire King once more in the control room on this release. It’s an album that I afforded just one listen, declined to purchase and ultimately sulked about what has happened to one of my all time favourite bands. To think that they received a Grammy nomination in the best rock song category in 2011 for, ‘Radioactive’ blows my mind. “It’s in the water…it where we came from”…it’s a shadow of their former glories in a song that seeming strives to be an anthem, but succeeds in being cringe worthy in my humble opinion.  Yes, Caleb can still sing across his wide range of husky chords and yes, the band can play, but I am sure they can come up with better than that. 

The coming and going of bands like these really underlines the magic that bands like The Rolling Stones and U2 as well as artists like, Neil Young and, Bob Dylan possess. That they can continue to tour and release decent music across the decades is a testament to them. Regardless of what happens next, Kings of Leon have enjoyed a wonderful ride and I am grateful that I rode along with them…particularly for those first three albums. The fact that they became more marketable and sell-able elevated them to new plateaus, but may potentially result in their sad demise.