Monday, September 5, 2011

Songs I'm Obsessed With: "Knocked Up" by Kings of Leon

Happy Labor Day, everyday people! I'm sure you're not actually reading this and are instead having fun with your not working, but hey, let's take a look at a great song just for kicks.

Long before Kings of Leon were the band known for mega-hits like "Use Somebody" and "Sex On Fire," they, well, weren't really known. Before they were very commercially successful, they had a very different musical style. It was harder, it was heavier and it was more soulful. Not that they aren't good now, they were just different back then, like how The Flaming Lips were different after Clouds Taste Metallic.



"Knocked Up" is an epic piece about what happens when the woman of a hillbilly couple becomes pregnant (presumably by accident) and they decide to keep it. "I don't care what nobody says/We're gonna have a baby." It's interesting to hear a song at such length about a topic so simple. The music is also so profound and compelling. It seems to seamlessly transition from spacey guitar riffs to head-banging choruses, and the most drawing part of the entire song is the drums. Most of the song has the drums doing a sort of constant riff with the drummer performing sixteenth-notes, one hand on hi-hat and the other on the snare. It makes the song slow and fast at the same time. Listen for it, it's really cool. Speaking of speed, it's impossible to notice during the first listen but the song gradually gets faster and faster. In fact, it's so hard to notice you'd have to be listening to the song on repeat, which is what I'm doing as I write this.

Please, by all means check out the video I've posted. It's a wonderful song, easily the most accessible by those used to Kings of Leon's most recent work. After that, be sure to listen to their earlier stuff, and appreciate their roots.


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