Kings Of Leon Say Pop Music Is “F*cking Awful” & “Making The World A Bad Place”

Carl Williott | November 19, 2013 11:32 am

Kings of Leon have taken a page out of The Killers playbook and straight trashed pop music in a recent overseas interview. Two members of the Followill clan — lead guitarist Matthew and bassist Jared — recently spoke to The Sydney Morning Hearld and vented about what they think is the sorry state of pop music. “Some pop shows I watch, it feels like the end of the world, it’s fucking awful,” Matthew said. “It’s not even music any more.”

Jared chimed in with his own exasperated take: “They make me cringe. I can’t watch that stuff. Not even just because they’re taking their clothes off, it’s the whole thing, the dance moves, it’s not good.” Matthew even thinks these ills may spread beyond the world of pop music. Because what about the kids? “You would never want your children to watch [shows like that] and I can’t believe that younger kids, even teenagers are watching that stuff,” he said. “It almost seems to be making the world a bad place.”

At least KoL were more dignified in their reactions than The Killers. A few weeks ago, Brandon Flowers and drummer Ronnie Vannucci, Jr. lashed out at pop in a similar manner (and in fact levied the “it’s not even music” critique verbatim), but employed an outdated, offensive insult. Vannucci lamented: “America is retarded musically. There’s a lot of bullshit on US radio.”

Singer Brandon Flowers echoed that unfortunate choice of words: “I start to wonder, what do adults listen to?… You should listen to something that’s for you — not about giving your virginity to your boyfriend on Saturday night. It is retarded. Every song is that song. And if 40-year-olds are listening to that rubbish, they’re going to raise kids on it. It’s not even music.”

The ironic thing, of course, is that numerous rock fans feel the same way about these two bands when it comes to a growing disenchantment with mainstream rock. It’s just as easy to groan about how The Killers and Kings of Leon encapsulate the genre’s lack of excitement and risk-taking, and to blame them for the downfall of guitar rock (and the world).

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