I know it’s hard to believe sometimes – well, most of the time – but I do know the difference between things that are cool, and things that are uncool. But when it comes to music, I seem to have a mental block: I can list all the reasons why a particular song is uncool and should be shunned, but I’ll fall in love with it anyway.
When You Were Young by The Killers is a pretty good example. I can’t make up my mind whether it’s the product of cold-eyed careerism or an endearing and unsuccessful attempt to channel the band’s influences, but either way it’s a huge rip-off of some better-known artists. It’s got the bass breakdown from U2’s Beautiful Day and the guitar sound – and, it seems, most of the guitar solo – from the same band’s Miracle Drug; the key riff is alarmingly close to Coldplay’s Talk (which, of course, is Kraftwerk’s Computer Love through a fuzzbox) and vocally and lyrically it’s Springsteen on pomposity pills.
And I haven’t stopped listening to it for days.
All together now – we’re riding down a highway skyline on the back of a hurricane…
Wheeeeee!