Former alt-pop guilty pleasures stumble down Thunder Road.

The Killers - Sam’s Town
Posted by Tim Karan on 01-Mar-07 @ 12:33 PM

[2/5] Admit it, you loved the first Killers record. When "Mr. Brightside" came on the radio during your commute home from work, you sang its over-the-top chorus into an air mic and banged out its synth line on the dash. Back then the Killers had no qualms about playing the kind of radio-ready anthems that sounded perfect while you were rocking out in your car, but with their follow-up to 2004's multi-platinum debut Hot Fuss they've set their sights towards that always elusive goal of becoming "career artists." This explains why so many of the hook-y songs on Sam's Town are buried beneath either ill-fitting glam-pop vocals or cumbersome heartland-rock riffs. It's almost as if at one point, singer Brandon Flowers said, "This is too much like our last record. You guys make it sound more like Bruce Springsteen, U2 and... What the hell, Ziggy Stardust. I'm off to Dior." But what he got instead is a cluttered, derivative mess. (ISLAND) Trevor Kelley

ROCKS LIKE: The Strokes' Room On Fire • U2's Pop • Bruce Springsteen's Born To Run