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October 6, 2008

The Killers On SNL: Are They "Human" Or Are They "Spaceman"

thumbnail icon: The Killers On SNL: Are They "Human" Or Are They "Spaceman"

Both. But Whatever you think of the Killers, one thing is inarguable: Brandon Flowers despises conventional torso-wear. The band returned to Studio 8H looking trim and with plumage on their shoulder pads (well Brandon did anyway) to perform two from their forthcoming set Day & Age: "Human," which has been streaming and sounded a little less Europoppy live, and this album's "Read My Mind" (which I love), "Spaceman," originally debuted at that fan club show in NYC a few months ago).

"Human"

"Spaceman"

Anne Hathaway hit her notes better than Brandon did Saturday night, but hey he's looking just about as skinny as her at least (down to his Hot Fuss fighting weight) and I'm actually enjoying these songs a little more now. This cracked me up:

This was good too, punched in the face just before eating-y.

Wiig kills some more:

Best ep this season, which isn't saying a lot, but still. If you missed it, Videogum's got just the funny parts.

Posted at 12:36 PM by amrit in
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43 Comments

So, you're saying you love "Read My Mind" or "Spaceman"? Becaquse if it's the latter, I totally agree (not so much if the former). Also, let's not forget Will Forte terrific sing-along!

Posted by: Chadams at 10/06/08 12:53 PM | Reply
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god, what douches, from vegas? really, vegas - that precious singer guy with his owl feather shoulders and stupid theatrics, stop masturbating to yourself in the mirror pallie

Posted by: yeegads at 10/06/08 1:04 PM | Reply
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God this band SUCKS. The singer looks like a reject from the Freddie Mercury fag-along competition. At least they've stopped trying to ape Springsteen and are back to aping Duran Duran.

Posted by: p.Vice at 10/06/08 1:07 PM | Reply
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honestly I cringed watching these performances. I had to mute them they sounded SO terrible


Posted by: meemoo at 10/06/08 1:11 PM | Reply
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The new songs sound great and SNL was surprisingly funny this week. I guess even a broken clock is right twice a day.

Posted by: Stephen B profile link at 10/06/08 1:12 PM | Reply
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personally i prefer them when they ape the boss. sam's town was a great album.

Posted by: fruit at 10/06/08 1:13 PM | Reply
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Colin

Is it just me, or does everybody hate the Killers unless they're commenting on their current songs? Every post about them always gets the same response: "Oh I hate the Killers, but this songs not bad." There comes a point where they're not bad anymore, and you just have to admit it.

Posted by: Colin profile link at 10/06/08 1:19 PM | Reply
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grace6697

no, they're horrible. no exceptions to this rule.

Posted by: grace6697 profile link in reply to Colin's comment at 10/06/08 1:21 PM | Reply
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i actually like this performance of "human" more than the released single itself -- but yeah the jacket with the faux feathers do not help (they're fake, right? 'coz it's all kinds of wrong that birds had to die just so brandon flowers could look ridiculous -- glad he finally shaved though). i wasn't feeling "human" the first few times i heard it, but now i can't stop listening to it! definitely looking forward to the album even though i'm not really digging "spaceman"... a song about alien abduction? come on, i'm an xfiles fan... but that is so 1990s.

Posted by: finn at 10/06/08 1:28 PM | Reply
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Reading the headline quickly, I got all excited for a second.
It is Man... or Astro-man?

Posted by: some guy at 10/06/08 2:06 PM | Reply
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Kevin

spaceman is actually good. i know, i know.

Posted by: Kevin profile link at 10/06/08 2:38 PM | Reply
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I was dying the first time I saw the Mark Wahlberg talks to animals sketch Saturday night

Posted by: Andrew at 10/06/08 3:29 PM | Reply
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I'm surprised that Flowers hasn't learned to sing on stage, hasn't he had enough practice? get it together man!

Posted by: RevDave profile link at 10/06/08 3:45 PM | Reply
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The Killers will continue to put out albums with anywhere from 1-4 songs per album that you like. You will continue to overrate them if you think they're amazing and underrate them if you dismiss everything they do. Then one day you'll see them closing out some festival with thousands of people singing along to the 10-15 great songs they will create, and you'll say that they're not the greatest band but they had some great songs. And then you will say, hmm, I guess I shouldn't have gotten so worked up every time they released a song since I should've known I'd like between 1-4 songs on each of their albums... (-1 myself for using 200 words to tell people to stop wasting words.)

Posted by: Bob at 10/06/08 3:55 PM | Reply
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Anything else you can tell me about what/how I'll fell towards things? Much appreciated.

Posted by: Alfalfa in reply to Bob's comment at 10/07/08 12:38 AM | Reply
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whats with his "dancing" it looks like he has a seizure on stage

Posted by: ? at 10/06/08 4:18 PM | Reply
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What about seizures on stage?

Posted by: Ian Curtis in reply to ?'s comment at 10/09/08 1:26 AM | Reply
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who was the asian guy hidden in the background that was providing all the actual work? (backing vocals synths guitar etc)

Posted by: what at 10/06/08 6:37 PM | Reply
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i was thinking the same thing!
at least their putting their support players on stage, instead of behind the bass amp or some other relegated position

Posted by: aaron in reply to what's comment at 10/06/08 8:13 PM | Reply
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ahaha he stole Prince Akeem jacket!!!

Posted by: billy at 10/06/08 9:14 PM | Reply
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What a bunch of narrow-minded souls. The negative comments must be coming from those that are far more talented... able to take the stage, and deliver knock-out performances. Yeah... right.

Posted by: Killers Rule at 10/06/08 9:44 PM | Reply
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The Human video is already out! Kind of wanted to watch that one based on the "not as europpy as the single" comment. Because seriously that song is not hitting it with me, at all!

I agree with Bob. Both their albums have a couple of songs I like, a couple I'm so so about and a couple I just can't stand.

The Spaceman performance was kind of weird, though. Is Brandon Flowers trying to capture the psycho Chris Martin stare? He's getting there.

Posted by: d33r profile link at 10/06/08 10:07 PM | Reply
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first time in a long time I've enjoyed the band & actually wanted to buy the CD!

Posted by: Flying Spaghetti Monster at 10/06/08 11:36 PM | Reply
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holy shit - these guys are awful. their performance on snl was so bad, i was actually embarrassed for them. now i saw my morning jacket live last night in columbus - now that is a REAL BAND - - do yourself a favor, listen to these guys rock out amazing music and throw away your hair gel and tight jeans, b/c the killers are the NKOTB of 2008

Posted by: rhino7575 profile link at 10/07/08 7:45 AM | Reply
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Penis. Penis. Fart. Wiener. Lip balm. Penis. Handbag. What was the question?

(after a read-through I actually swapped the placement of "wiener" and "fart". timing is everything)

Posted by: Mr. Pumpy at 10/07/08 10:02 AM | Reply
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jneslo

I'm not the biggest fan of either song but, I think my real issue is that I feel the Killers just do whatever they perceive to be hot at the moment. I'm fine with people changing there sound I just feel like the Killers do it for all the wrong reasons.

Posted by: jneslo profile link at 10/07/08 11:55 AM | Reply
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i'm not really getting this observation, jneslo. the '80s euro vibe thing isn't exactly ruling the radio stations these days (and in these miley/demi/jonas-ruled world of ours, i doubt it ever will) and '80s music still has a tough time trying to gain the respect it deserves. exactly how many rock bands out there who's listed duran duran as one of their influences and still manage to hit it big? and sam's town -- bruce springsteen? was the boss ever the "in" thing to "ape" back in 2006? if you want to name bands who just go with the flow, i think all you have to do is look at the direction where timbaland is making music. if anything, the killers should be credited for going against the grain... even if sometimes, yes, they do fail at it.

Posted by: finn at 10/07/08 2:13 PM | Reply
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I felt embarrassed watching this performance. The first song was so-so, sounds like some song out of an 80's kids movie like the Neverending Story but not as good. The second one was god-awful. The vocals were off-key almost the entire time. The vocals were so flat they make Anthony Kiedis sound like a good singer. And the way he was dancing around and what he was wearing made him look like a nervous schoolboy about to piss his pants.

Posted by: Lonnie Pigford at 10/07/08 2:51 PM | Reply
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The indie world has been aping Springsteen for well over a decade. Conor Oberst's entire career is predicated on the fact that he's supposed to musically be the bastard love child of Bruce and Bob Dylan. And look at anyone from the National to the Hold Steady to the Arcade Fire, who've all admitted to owing a debt in their story-songs (mostly about down-and-out losers) to Springsteen. The indie world has been biting hard on Bruce's shtick for a while, though a majority of it from his Nebraska-era material. The only reason the Killers debt to Bruce gets noticed is because they were pretty blatant, and it was something of a noticeable detour from dancey new wave into semi-serious Americana.

Posted by: Rob S. at 10/07/08 3:00 PM | Reply
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Yeah cause bruce invented the narrative ballad

Posted by: dannygutters in reply to Rob S.'s comment at 10/09/08 10:21 AM | Reply
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Also, something about the guitarist bothers me. He has way too much confidence. You can just feel it protruding "I"M DAVE KEUNING AND I"M SO GREAT YOU WILL BOW TO MY PERM".

Posted by: Lonnie Pigford at 10/07/08 3:06 PM | Reply
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For the record my hair is naturally curly I do not perm these locks

Posted by: DAVE KEUNING in reply to Lonnie Pigford's comment at 10/08/08 12:27 PM | Reply
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Please do not worry about what people think about your person.
These negative comments provoke your response and are based on jealousy I presume
It’s easy and one must be a coward to use a nickname (therefore Lonnie PIGford was very well chosen !!) ;) to post comments like these.
Just continue to create great music, you have great hair, you rock, you look fine.
If you need more encouragements, just let me know ;)

Posted by: Irene in reply to DAVE KEUNING's comment at 11/19/08 5:27 AM | Reply
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Videos are down ....... thanks UNIVERSAL.

Posted by: b.LOUD at 10/07/08 3:09 PM | Reply
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The guitarist makes me laugh. When I saw them live, most of the songs broke into a guitar solo where he'd stand on a platform with a spotlight illuminating him. I felt like I was watching the making of an '80s hair metal music video.

Posted by: Rob S. at 10/07/08 3:24 PM | Reply
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"You eat apples, right? I produce Entourage."

Posted by: Greg at 10/08/08 11:57 PM | Reply
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They are Devo.

Posted by: zxcvb at 10/09/08 2:59 AM | Reply
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How dare you.

Posted by: fido in reply to zxcvb's comment at 10/10/08 12:16 PM | Reply
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DEVO? If only! This was shite. The big Springsteen rip-off? Epic Fail. So now they're legging it back to their old sound in an effort to rescue whatever fanbase they have left. They really do suck.

Posted by: Swiller at 10/09/08 1:24 PM | Reply
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just dumb.

Posted by: The Fucking President of the United States at 10/09/08 4:01 PM | Reply
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TK are amazing- anyone who disagrees is dumb!

Posted by: Jade at 10/11/08 3:41 PM | Reply
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I don't think The Killers are horrible. I don't know what everybody is bitching about.

Posted by: the FBI at 10/11/08 9:59 PM | Reply
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I really want to see the skit when paul rudd and kristen wiig sing that son together

Posted by: liv at 11/19/08 10:01 PM | Reply
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