If The Killers suffered from “difficult third album” syndrome they actually didn’t present it. Having established themselves globally with 2004’s widely-acclaimed Sizzling Fuss, the Nevadan quartet consolidated with 2006’s dynamic Sam’s City and breezed via 2008’s Day & Age to attain a 3rd consecutive multi-platinum smash.
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The band had already pushed the boat out with Sam’s City: a file filled with grandstanding, arena-sized anthems which frontman Brandon Flowers offered to Entertainment Weekly as “the album that keeps rock’n’roll afloat.” Nonetheless, elevating the bar remained paramount for the charismatic Las Vegas rockers they usually have been already onerous at work on new tracks whereas they nonetheless touring to advertise Sam’s City throughout 2007.
To assist notice Day & Age, The Killers approached Stuart Worth, a zeitgeist-surfing manufacturing wunderkind whose credit additionally included Take That, Madonna, and New Order. The 2 events’ paths had beforehand crossed as Worth (underneath his Jacques Lu Cont soubriquet) had remixed The Killers’ world smash “Mr. Brightside,” however when Flowers and firm met the producer in London to debate his helming some tracks for his or her B-sides anthology, Sawdust, they ended up working collectively on a demo of a promising new tune entitled “Human.”
That includes the enigmatic refrain “Are we human, or are we dancer?”, which Flowers had tailored from a quote attributed to US author/journalist Hunter S Thompson, the infectious, synth-swathed “Human” turned Day & Age’s signature single and one in every of The Killers’ most widely-acclaimed tracks. Described by Flowers as “a cross between Johnny Cash and Pet Shop Boys, if that’s possible”, “Human” was the catalyst for a brave assortment of songs which confirmed that The Killers had no intention of repeating themselves.
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Kicking off with the strident “Losing Touch” (a smoldering critique of the illusory nature of fame), Day & Age gleefully proffered a various assortment of treats starting from the suave, Roxy Music-esque pop of “Joy Ride” to the lilting, Caribbean-flavored “I Can’t Stay” and the world-music-tinged “This Is Your Life.” Exhilarating, widescreen epics “Spaceman” and “A Dustland Fairytale,” nevertheless, confirmed that the band hadn’t eschewed the grand designs of their earlier file – one thing Flowers freely acknowledged when he informed the NME that “A Dustland Fairytale” was “more like an extension of Sam’s Town, and not a reaction to it.”
Day & Age instantly attracted rave critiques, together with PopMatters’ declaration that it was “the quartet’s boldest album.” Interviewed by MTV on the time of the album’s launch, Brandon Flowers and guitarist Dave Keuning elaborated additional on Day & Age’s eclectic sonic palette, with Flowers suggesting, “People are bound to put a tag on it, but for us it feels very fresh – plus our fans are getting more diverse and growing up with us.”
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Flowers’ commentary proved to be extraordinarily astute. When Island/Def Jam first issued Day & Age, on November 18, 2008, the album debuted at No. 6 on the Billboard 200 and shot straight to No. 1 within the UK, rewarding The Killers with their third consecutive British chart-topper. With an extra push from a world tour, together with sold-out exhibits on six continents and prestigious US pageant headline slots on the likes of Lollapalooza and Coachella, Day & Age ultimately went quadruple-platinum within the UK and shipped properly over three million copies worldwide. It stays an vital milestone in The Killers’ profession and a disc that’s greater than worthy of rediscovery.
“It sits well with our other albums,” Brandon Flowers stated in a 2009 Rolling Stone interview. “It’s obviously a little more on the pop end of things, it’s not quite as masculine as Sam’s Town, but I like it. ‘Spaceman’ is such a playful tune and ‘Human’ is one of our best recordings so far. But I don’t think we’ve made our best album yet – and it makes me happy to know [that one’s] still out there.”
