Kings of Leon
Last Christmas, I was stuck in Kathmandu for a week. There are lots of bars in Thamel, the tourist district, and there are lots of covers bands playing in them.

I got talking to the bass player in one of these bands (and the Nepalese equivalent of Bez, but that's another story) and he confirmed what I already suspected: that the bands all know each other, and the line-ups are pretty fluid. Everyone has pretty much played in everyone else's band at some point.

Consequently, all these bands play all the same cover versions, in pretty much the same order.

I have always utterly bemused by the Kings of Leon's widespread appeal. I had quite a few discussions with other people about them, usually women, and it seemed to boil down to them being cute. Fair enough, if you like tone-deaf howling hairy inbreds, but I don't listen to Cheryl Cole's musical output because she's attractive.

So I hated Kings of Leon already, but after enduring repeated power cuts at night, and then hearing "WAAaaaaAAAAAH THEEES ECKS izz un FAAAAAYAAAAAAAAH" reverberating repeatedly from one covers band after another after another after another from all the nearby bars, I learned to truly loathe them.

Purveyors of lumpen, unimaginative, growly stodge, the musical equivalent of cheap supermarket sausages. Seven months later, I heard that they'd been forced to leave the stage after a bunch of pigeons shat on them from the rafters. I had never realised that pigeons had any taste.
( The Hedgehog From Hell it's funny because STAR WARS, Thu 30 Dec 2010, 17:35, closed)

Agreed, KOL are overrated tosh.....
They seem to have the 'hairy-chimp-in-plaid-and-leather-shoes-with-no-socks' look that mags like Q wank themselves silly over though.
( industrial_bunny Wayne Rooney has a head like a baked potato, Thu 30 Dec 2010, 17:41, closed)

Couldn't agree more.
I went to see them a couple of years back. They were so bad we left after the second song. You couldn't even hear the singer as there was some problem with the PA. When we walked out a ticket tout stopped me and asked why we were leaving, after telling him how shite they were he offered me a tenner for the ticket so he could sell it on. So not too bad then.
(Apeboy, Thu 30 Dec 2010, 17:53, closed)

You lot
will probably enjoy this then...

www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOF1FJ7wGhw
(Megamoss, Thu 30 Dec 2010, 20:13, closed)

I used to like them
Their first two albums were pretty solid I thought, and I saw them live in that phase and they put on a great show. But then they went from playing dirty Southern rock to adopting a sleek pop sound that didn't do them any favours, and now they're what Homer Simpson might call "wuss rock". Hating a band because they "sold out" is cliched as all get out but I think in the case of KOL it's justified.
(ElGranto, Thu 30 Dec 2010, 20:50, closed)

Agree with this...
They've become dance floor favourites at all the functions I've worked. Sure sign of musical shark jumping, in my book...
(Beer Elf Thought this was like a campfire, anyhow, on, Thu 30 Dec 2010, 21:56, closed)

I'm just delighted
to discover that other nations also are blessed with their own versions of Bez.
(louveciennes , Volvospotter, Fri 31 Dec 2010, 21:34, closed)