The Killers track 'Mr Brightside' is the sort of song that can makes audiences go absolutely ballistic (in a good way), wherever it's played. The lyrics, while somewhat cryptic, are belted out at the top of everyone's lungs, leaving crowds to rejoice in its perfect simplicity.
Incredibly, 14 years after first being released, it's still in the UK Singles Top 100 Chart.
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The Official Charts website currently has it at 92, and has spent a whopping 183 weeks on that list. According to that website, the single was played an average of 752,000 times a week and has only been out of the Top 100 seven times in its long history.
Unsurprisingly, it was named 'Song of the Decade' by UK radio stations Absolute Radio and XFM, and in April 2010 Last.fm revealed that it was the most listened-to track since the launch of the online music service.
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"Coming out of my cage
And I've been doing just fine
Gotta gotta be down
Because I want it all"
It was the debut single for The Killers, and one of the first tracks written for the band by singer Brandon Flowers and guitarist Dave Keuning. When it was first released in 2003, it didn't do that well, but it was re-released the following year and peaked at number 10 in both the UK and US.
Keuning wrote the verses, and Flowers used those ideas to come up with the chorus and the rest of the lyrics. However, the duo worked so quickly to match those draft lyrics with their demos that they never wrote a second verse - that's why its repeated after the chorus.
"It started out with a kiss
How did it end up like this
It was only a kiss
It was only a kiss
Now I'm falling asleep
And she's calling a cab"
Credit: PA
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The Killers first performed the track in 2001 but Flowers told Rolling Stone it was 'terrible' and 'awful' back then. It's good that they stuck with the concept, however, because it's been their most commercially successful track - with more than three million copies being sold as of 2013.
The only song that comes remotely close to 'Mr Brightside' is Snow Patrol's 'Chasing Cars', which has spent 166 weeks in the Top 100 since being released in 2006. Coming in third is 'My Way' by Frank Sinatra with 133 weeks, followed by Kings of Leon's 'Sex on Fire' at 124 weeks, and Ed Sheeran's 'Thinking Out Loud' wraps up the top five with 117 weeks.
"While he's having a smoke
And she's taking a drag
Now they're going to bed
And my stomach is sick
And it's all in my head"
The Killers have just recently released their fifth studio album, Wonderful Wonderful, which has been well received by critics across the board. All Music editor Stephen Thomas Erlewine reviewed the album, saying: "By this point, Flowers' obsessions and signatures are so idiosyncratic, he's clearly the auteur behind Wonderful Wonderful just as he was with [solo album] The Desired Effect, and the record charms because its ridiculousness is sincere and his sincerity is ridiculous - two qualities that make him and his art messy and quite genuine."
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While they've had commercial success with plenty of singles like 'All These Things That I've Done', 'When You Were Young', and more recently 'The Man' and 'Run For Cover', it appears that their lasting legacy will be their debut single 'Mr Brightside', which never fails to get people's blood pumping and voice boxes sore from screaming their iconic lyrics.
Sources: All Music, UK Charts, Rolling Stone
Featured Image Credit: PA
Topics: Music