Ah, yes. The mob mentality.
I’ve written, somewhat incessantly for a music blog, about my distrust bordering on hatred of all organizations, institutions, really anywhere where you have a group of people with a common cause. I am a great believer in thinking for yourself and if there is any uniting theme behind this blog it is writers and readers have absolute freedom to say what they think. I, myself, have been known to change my mind about a band in MID SENTENCE.
The reason for this is
A) an insistence on freedom of expression (the freedom to, as writer Mike Nessing once did here, call me deaf) . I appreciate thinking. I like to think. And I can’t think in lockstep with other people, it is too restricting.
B) I don’t believe in consensus opinion. Whenever you find a consensus you tend to discover that it is as smart as its stupidest member.
This became abundantly clear when the two Kings Of Leon fan clubs bombarded rock nyc with complaints about my negative review of KOL at MSG on Tuesday. All in brain dead boot stomping lockstep, braying and bleating and whinging and swearing and snotting. A coupla smart cookies wrote in but the vast majority, lead by a self-satisfied lonely hears named Layne or something, didn’t have a thought in their heads about a word i’d written. Chumps.
First here is the truth about KOL:
They are a fairly good Southern boogie bar band with a great lead singer. Built to play second banana, they do it alright. When playing lead band they can’t get out of their own way and are a terrible, terrible bore. The lead singer can’t lead and they can’t reach the cheap seats. Recorded: Maybe 6 good songs and 2, maybe 3, great ones.
Next here is what the KOL fans hate about me:
1. I can’t write
2. I can’t spell.
3. Too many typos.
4. I don’t know grammar.
5. I am deaf.
6. I hate everybody
All of those are just the natural give and take when you dis somebodies fave band. Really, if you can’t take the hits don’t get into the ring. This following complaint is stupid
6. I am too old.
And these are simply nasty
7. I am a “fag”
8. I am “Iranian”.
I am neither but I would much rather be a gay Iranian then have anything to do with the abysmal KOL fanclubs.
I don’t hate everybody. Quite the contrary. I NEVER write negatively about bands under a certain size, those I dismiss, like KOL, I don’t hurt. They’re too big. And I love more bands in a week than the KOL cutups have heard in a lifetime.
The thing about the misspelling and typos is as follows. I don’t misspell for the most part, if I write wanna instead of want to or aint instead of ain’t it is because I choose to. The typos occur because I barely do one edit on my own posts. Oddly, the only people who complain are those that disagree with me. The answer however is simple. Don’t read the blog. I mean, for fucks sake, we couldn’t be smaller if we tried. The only surprise in all this is anybody could be bothered defending KOL from me.
As for the band themselves. Really, the level of discourse from the majority of their fans was pathetic. Anybody who considers Caleb and co good ol’ boys from Tennessee has no grasp of reality. They are the poster boys for a certain rock and roll malaise. After paying their dues they take their moment at the top as a golden opportunity to piss on everybody beneath them. Drug addled, arrogant, model dating, self-important assholes on a band trip to the bottom of the charts where they will have to kiss all the butts they’ve kicked as they’ve stepped over one head to another.
The stories of this bands arrogance is legend and there are a few on this website if you wanna check em out.
Look: it doesn’t matter to me if you wanna love a buncha assholes. It doesn’t matter to me if KOL are nice, nasty, or just invaded Poland. All that matters is the music.
So let’s see where the KOL fans got it right.
1. They complained that I complained not about the music but about the performance. Yes, it is true. The music was boring but not terrible -though they’ve gotta watch how they handle the guitarist. The performance was terrible.
2. They complained that I was in the rafters, how could I review a band from the cheap seats? If KOL can sell cheap seats I can review em from there (PS not cheap either)
3. They complained the band should be seen in clubs. Undoubtedly, but then don’t play arenas.
4. They complained I went in with preconceived ideas. To a degree but I am always willing to change my mind.
5. They complained Cal moved to the rhythm when I said hedidn’t. I couldn’t see it from where I was sat.
In the end, whatever mistakes I’ve made in my assessment of KOL is NOTHING compared to their fanclubs overestimation. The set list at MSG was exactly the same as two days before in Boston. They play the same set over and over and over again. KOL fans are like women in an abusive relationship, they know they should get out of it, but they keep saying “He really loves me deep down inside”.
And one final word: I plan to see Kings Of Leon next time they are in town because of this comment by a reader: “I think your right in what you say,they are shit live compared to any other major band but to kol fans,it doesn’t matter,they could play in a field and ppl still go crazy!if you don’t love kol you won’t get it,I’ve nurmous friends who think there poor live purly because they don’t interact but they’ll learn in years to come you need something more than songs to pull in a crowd!!”
What if I’m wrong and it takes just one more viewing to get it?