Aha Shake Heartbreak

Still not a Kings of Leon fan after Aha Shake Heartbreak. Most of it just felt like run-of-the-mill early 2000s alt rock — nothing that really stood out or made me want to revisit it. The lone bright spot was “The Bucket,” which actually had a solid hook and some energy. Other than that, it kind of blurred together. The lone bright spot was "Bucket"

3 kings of leon albums on here? This was my least favorite of the three Rating: 2.2

Sometimes they sing like an aggressive duck.

I really tried to like this band. The instrumentation is not bad at all, but the vocals are extraordinarily annoying to me.

Once again, not a fan of the singer's voice. The guitar is nice tho. Like how it soars. The bass is also good. The fuck is that album cover. Thought i would be a fan of Kings of Leon coz i like The Killers but seems like not so much. 'Day Old Blues' had a weird ass hook.

In the very early 2000s I largely stopped listening to new. Eventually I went back and found some good stuff, but at the time they mostly just stopped being interesting to me. This album didn’t do a lot to dissuade me of that opinion. I’ve heard some Kings of Leon that I kind of liked, but didn’t hear any of that on here. There were a few kernels that might grow into something I’d get into after a few more listens, but that I don’t care enough about any of it to see if that happens. Also, could’ve done without the ode to impotence.

An okay southern rock album brought down by some of the worst and least appealing vocals I think I've ever heard. The songs themselves range from decent to forgettable, but the vocals are unforgivably bad and grating. Top tracks: Milk, Day Old Blues

I hate his voice

quite a bit blah, easy to have on as background music

The only standouts of this album were when the singing annoyed me. 2/5

Pretty average this

Interesting instrumentals accompanied by fairly annoying vocal work. I have little love for this album and really expected more from Kings of Leon.

Meni će oni uvijek biti one (two) hit bend. Doslovce nikad nisam čula da je netko na pitanje koje bendove voliš odgovorio Kings of Leon 😂 (iako čak imaju puno listeners, barem na Spotifyju). U svakom slučaju, ne leži mi album, dosadni su mi i baš mi ništa ne radi. 2/5, 3/10.

Not two Kings of Leon albums in like a month :\ Stylistically, I prefer what this album does to Youth and Young Manhood, but I just think the songs themselves are a lot weaker and more annoying

This is very listenable to, but is also so very generically forgettable. It's classic "landfill indie" isn't it?? Having said that, "The Bucket" is a good song. I didn't know it was Kings of Leon though, and I am ashamed to say that if pressed I would probably have guessed it was by The Strokes, who are presumably a much cooler band.

BORING

naaahh

His voice sounds like a creaky metal door that's in need of oiling

Listened to this while playing Imperium: Legends. I lost...more than just the game. I was definitely not a fan of this album. It wasn't all terrible...but it definitely shouldn't be on this list. Generic in every sense.

Not much here for me. Different spin.

I really dug the instrumentals, but the vocals sparsely worked for me.

Boring og pirrandi rödd. KOL eru barn síns tíma og njóta góðs af því hvað rokkið sökkaði mikið upp til hópa kringum aldamótin.

Ekki skemmtilegt.

That wasn't pleasant. Their lead singer just isn't good.

This album confirmed for me that I do not like KoL. Every song sounds the same. And I think that singing voice is made up and not his real voice.

Musically, the compositions and musicianship at times is okay. Not big on the lyrics or vocals, they really detract and distract. I don't think a trumpet is the way to go. I think a female vocalist would work better. The production and stereo mixing is pretty good. Pistol of Fire has an okay vibe, but has me thinking that I would just go to CCR for the same vibe. I'm having a hard time with these vocals. As a 38 minute album I expected this to go by fast, but it is not. I started higher on this but it just kept dropping the further in I got. I think there are just other places to find better versions of this.

Not one song stood out. And maybe the producer and technical engineer could have done a better job when recording the vocals.

Not for me.

Rating this after only one listen so I don’t have to go through it again. Sorry, go off, kings but do it somewhere far away so I can’t hear you thanks

Okay, not my favorite

Well this album was 85% totally fucking annoying. Singer has NOT found his voice yet, it sucks here. The only thing saving this from a 1 is the fact that the band is pretty good and there's 3 songs where the singer doesn't ruin the song

Kings of Poo-Town more like.

Judt don't get it. Rubbish melodies the guy is unintelligible.

I couldn’t really get into a lot of songs on this album due to the mumble style of singing. I did like two songs out of all of the ones on this album. Probably a one time listen

Despite being exactly the type of album I’m looking for on this journey with it being a popular rock artist which I haven’t heard before the Kings of Leon Shaked heartbreak fail to impress me in any substantial way While the album is a fun lesson, it is neither technically impressive or catchy enough or experimental enough to grant a higher score than a 2 for me

Very uninteresting, skilled, loud guitar work with near screaming vocals. 2.5/5

Musically the album is okay, just not very special. Lyrics were consistently hard to understand throughout the album, which made this a bit of a chore. At least it was short. 2/5 Won’t listen again

I neither enjoyed, nor found this album essential by any means. I felt nothing beyond mild annoyance during some of the moments. There are a lot of pieces in the right place, but ultimately the intended emotions just don't ring as resonantly as they could.

Basically fun ultimately repetitive. Enunciation so bad it must be affectation. Not a necessary inclusion on this list. 2.5

Omg stfu stp

fine

This will probably come around in around 10 years, but right now? This sound is dated to an extreme extent. The Strokes sound kinda like this but way better.

Not the best album in their discography, but not the worst either. I don't know what the fuck happened here, but this doesn't looks like the same band that released "Use Somebody". In a "porn rock" made for people at the height of their horniness, Kings Of Leon shows here that even the best bands have their moments of decline.

Bland, generic, boring bro-rock.

Music was better than the singing. Not idea what he was singing.

It’s not often that this list makes me go off a band more than I did already. But hey presto. Back in the day I was quite into their debut, but this album turned me off them (and the later poppy/Killersesque stuff even more so). This album still sucks, the lead’s voice is bloody annoying and often unintelligible (not sure how I missed this previously) and musically I really don’t know what there is to like, just garagey/bluesy/Strokesy trash. Only ‘Razz’ and ‘Four Kicks’ held any interest. This then made me revisit the debut album to work out what I liked in the first place. Turns out in hindsight, other than a couple of good singles, it’s also crap. You live and learn…

Aha Shake Heartbreak is instantly forgettable. I didn't need one KoL album on this list, let alone two, and this one doesn't even benefit from any big songs, except maybe The Bucket, which I suppose I've heard but could never have told you the name of the track. The singer's voice is as shit as ever, the whole thing is desperately meh, 2/5.

I think I rate Kings of Leon higher than I ought to because I never really listened to their albums much, just picked out the good songs from 3 albums, but them onto my iTunes and assumed it was one album? This one isn't up to much, King of the Rodeo and The Bucket are good songs, Milk is kinda interesting, the rest is pretty weak. Not sure it even deserves a 3, so 2/5.

The instrumentals aren't bad, but I cannot stand the vocals. Something about them just grinds at me. 2/5

How can anyone think this album is a crucial listening in any way? Stupid album, stupid band, stupid book.

Musically pretty good, but the vocal arrangements and the singer's voice are just awful. Anyway, let's be honest here. Even with a good singer and lyricist, this shouldn't belong anywhere near this list.

This band would have make a great opening act for Franz Ferdinand!

Oh dear. Kings of Leon have just gone from a band that I know a couple of songs from and enjoy, to band with an album full of very samey songs and a singer with a whiny voice! I wish I hadn't listened to this album :(

There's no reason for this album to be included on this list. It's a fine garage rock album but it's honestly just ok in the grand scheme of things. Songs like King of the Rodeo are just annoying. Another record that's fine to be left to the sands of time...

I actually tried hard on this one but it was forgettable

Expected more. Some snap. But, didn't move me.

What's up with a southern guy singing with a valley girl accent? I remember that they opened for U2 on their Vertigo tour and can attest that they don't sound any better live. They aren't bad, just incredibly average, and I'd like to protest that they are in this list.

This one didn't really do much for me, and the singer's voice take's a little getting used to.

Nah, sounded like one big song

Prijelazni album na kojem još ne znaju jesu li južnjački strokes i ili južnjački u2. Bilo bi možda najbolje da nisu ni odlučili

10/31/24. Happy Halloween! I admittedly have a negative bias toward Kings of Leon, but have not listened to this album before. It falls flat for me - not terrible, but hard to connect to the songs and vocals. Feel generic and singer feels out of place.

Alles wat ik gezegd heb bij het vorige album kan hier ook bij geplaatst worden, want het is exact hetzelfde album, for all I care. Maar dat was een debuutplaat, dus dan neem je het ze iets minder kwalijk dat ze nog duidelijk naar een eigen sound aan het zoeken zijn. Er heeft geen ontwikkeling plaats gevonden, en de stem van Caleb is nog steeds een doorn in het oog. 'Milk' doet wat anders, en valt dan ook direct op. Dat is wel een aardige song. 5/10 Highlights: Milk

Copy-paste Maar nu zonder FIFA-banger 5,5/10

It's not often I get turned off a band strictly because I can't stand the singer's voice. I know it's a personal preference, I'm sure tons of people love Caleb Followill's voice, but I can't get past this annoyance and makes it difficult to be objective. I guess it's hard to get rid of the front-man/singer of a band that are all related (brothers/cousin) and because some grumpy amateur critic loathes the singer. It's too bad, because other than that, the music is actually enjoyable and some of the songs have jump with loads of energy and enthusiasm. This could have been a very good listen. Full disclosure, I know the band is hugely popular now, but I hadn't taken the time to actually listen to them, then or now (maybe it's because I heard the word, "christian"), so I have no real previous bias... 3 stars for the album (music), minus 1 for the vocals.

Instrumentals are fun to listen to. The vocals, not so much. How can someone be screaming and mumbling at the same time?

Loud and boring.

I thought the drum patterns were interesting! But I'm not a fan of this vocal style and couldn't understand the words. I think this genre isn't really for me (kind of like The Strokes, Franz Ferdinand, etc).

I think it's fine? Some of it has a good beat but I'm not in love with his voice Cinematic music for sure, I bet it's in movies all over

Actively annoying. 37 minutes was almost too much for me. Was relieved when it ended

2 stars. boring.

Hmm :/

meh. Nothing stood out, except for "Milk", which was awesome. Otherwise was pretty disappointed by my first real listen to Kings of Leon

This was utter garbage. This took place prior to the album that garnered them their career (Only By the Night). This album was terrible. No fucking idea what the singer said in the 38 minute runtime of this album. He just mumbled stuff about getting banged as far as I know. Absolute pinnacle of indie garbage Favourite songs: Pistol of Fire Least favourite songs: Milk 2/5

Skil ekki hvað þessi plata er að gera á þessum lista. Hún er mjög anticlimatic m.v. flest annað frá bandinu.

Nahhhh

First track made me think of this bit from Bad News - Hey Mr Bassman/Hey Mr Drummer: Vim: Er... You know that really fucking moronic bass run you do? Colin: Which one? Vim: It goes "ba-da-da-da ba-da-da-da duh duh duh duh"... Colin: Yeessss... Vim: Do you think you could liven up a bit? Give it a bit more? What I mean is...you can slide off the end of those notes...the second and the fourth one... […] It goes, "da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da DUUHHH! Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da DUUUHHHH!" And you can slide your finger down the fretboard. Colin: Yeah, but I've got a cut. Vim: (sighs) Can you use another finger? Colin: Well, I'll try, but it might mean using a different string.

Listened to earlier in the day and had mostly forgotten by the afternoon. Well executed for me, generic and forgettable.

Fav: Taper Jean Girl Least Fav: King Of The Rodeo Yeah, that singing is just not very good

Had some decent songs in it, but as a whole this was MID. Only positive thing going for this was the production everything else was subpar. This album has no business being on this list. Best - Taper Jean Girl and The Bucket Worst - Milk, Soft, Razz, and Four Kicks 2.50/5

I fell asleep :/

It was OK. Music was good, vocals questionable. Average. Not great, not awful

Voice of high complaint Whining through so so album Glad it’s not catchy

I rated their previous album (youth and young manhood) a 2 and called it mediocre and this is actually slightly better so it should be a 2.5, but we don’t have .5 here so I need to decide if it gets bumped up to a 3 🤔

Listening to a third Kings of Leon album has not changed my taste for this band. I'm just not interested on any level.

We’ve had too many Kings of Leon albums on here, this one made no sense in its inclusion.

Woof. Kings of Leon beyond the one album with the hits is like that old joke about reading Playboy for the articles. Who gives a shit? Apparently the guy who made this list, and I don't know why. Look, it's not like they're bad at music, they're just....Kings of Leon. The kind of music playing in the airport as you're hustling to the terminal, it doesn't even register with you that music was playing. Been loving the phrase "nothing burger" lately, that's what this is. Favorite tracks: Pistol of Fire, Soft. Album art: Looks like an homage to that Queen album cover, Night at the Opera, except it's, what, some kind of mix between a flower and an animal skull? No idea, I'll forget it about this as quick as I've forgotten about the music. 2.5/5

This is a good illustration of how tastes change - I used to quite like this album, but I find it a mostly tiresome listen now. Most of that is due to the singer's voice, which is really irritating. The music itself isn't too bad; some pretty strong songs, vocals excepted.

God, wat mis ik die old school Kings of Leon sound! Ik dacht niet dat er iemand was die dat daadwerkelijk dacht, maar blijkbaar had ik dan buiten de schrijver van de 1001 album boeken gerekend! Een nummer als Milk is mooi, omdat het heel klein is. Als je dan het nummer daarna pakt, dan hoor je meteen weer de 'signature' sound van Kings of Leon; de hele grote bombastische rock. Ik word daar gewoon niet zo warm van, vind de zanger ook niet super sterk is die nummers, waar ik Milk kan waarderen omdat het zo klein en pijnlijk is. Dan kan die zanger lekker jankend eroverheen, daar is die stem echt perfect voor! Waar zijn stem niet perfect voor is? Soft. Das echt gewoon herrie, gadverdamme zeg. Totaal: niet echt een boeiend album, Kings of Leon is voor mij toch altijd een beetje meh, weinig bijzonder en ik kan me niet voorstellen dat mijn leven nu verrijkt is door het luisteren van dit album. FAVO: Milk

meh

It‘s not their time anymore

Better than I expected but I didn't expect much. Good energy and not as generic as output post their Sex is on Fire album whatever that is called.

I was intrigued to listen to this as I'm familiar with the band's name and have heard some tracks but never really explored anything beyond that. Now that I have, I'm underwhelmed. The singer's got an affectation — or maybe just a natural singing style — that I couldn't warm up to. The music was just fine, but somehow never engaged me. 2 stars is harsh, it's not terrible music, but I would actively change the station if something came on by these guys — I find them mildly irritating — so I can't get to a 3. And what a crap album title.

This was hard to listen to. Like physically hard because I couldn't understand the speak singing/aka mumbling. Sylvia and I listened together to this one and both of us were not pleased.

She saw my comb over her hourglass body She had problems with drinking milk and being school tardy She'll lend you her toothbrush, She'll bartend your party

Great instrumentation, some really solid songwriting, and one if the worst vocalists I’ve heard in my life. Cannot get over how terrible he sounds. Not a fan. I’d love this album if they had someone else…🫤

I dated a girl that tried to convince me the Kings of Leon were actually good. I don't think I've ever actually gotten through an entire song without my eyes glazing over. It's not that it's bad, it's just that it's so incredibly mediocre. I'd actually rather it was bad so you could say they suck. Instead they just exist.

First thought - why is he singing like that? Instrumentals sound great mostly, the singing is just terrible and very distracting. I also did not really enjoy any of the songs in full. 2. [I called this a 2.5/3 before? being wayyy too generous]

This is the band to make you question the generator including albums that were removed from the book---three albums in the book and ALL THREE have been removed. 💀

Where did it all go wrong? This was a great start to their career, but I can't hear it in isolation from all of the subsequent albums now. Was fun at the time - sounds dated now.

I wanted to really dislike this. I can be such a musical snob. It threatened to keep my interest, but then descended into 70's cock rock. There's not a lot of invention taking place. Ideas are lacking, guitar solos drag on. Oh well.

The albums just fine, but how did this make the cut to this list. It just…was. 2/5 stars

Not for me 2/5

ehhh

Its fine. Good for night out at a wannabe cowboy bar

Meh

OK, but repetitive

It's really boring and uninteresting.

Luckily they got better

Første plus er spille længden. Første minus er den føles ihvertfald 10 minutter for lang! Jeg bryder mig virkelig ikke om den måde der bliver sunget på. Uendelig doven, og mumlende, og på trods af at jeg ikke kan høre halvdelen, så er jeg ikke i tvivl om hvor frustreret liderlig han er... - Gik ind til det med minder om en klar 1er, kommer ud med en overrasket 2er.

Not a great album by not a great band

not the biggest fan

Day145 - back to back kings of leon seems like a cruel joke. there’s thousands of artists and these goobers get at least 2 albums on this list

To my ears this is a fairly ordinary collection of rock songs not distinguished by the vocalist, whose style I couldn't take to

This is better than their big pop hits I guess, a little funk, but still sounds like crap to me. D

I like Kings of Leon but this album is just so so

Vocals were pretty tough to listen to. Instrumentals were fine.

2/5. Some fun rock songs and I appreciate the energy, kind of nonchalant and young, with silly lyrics. This works in their favor a little but the amateur songwriting gets old fast. This belongs on a college campus until they are able to better hone their skills. There is potential but not right now. Best Song: Slow Night So Long, The Bucket, Four Kicks

I’ve always kinda liked their two hit singles from 2008 and this is pretty well-made on a technical level, but wow do I not like it. Very sludgy. What is the lead singer doing. Best song: Slow Night, So Long

Another album that even when I tried to actively listen it didn't really grab me

Pretty mediocre kings of leon album imo

I wanted to like this, but it mostly is just slightly off to be a good song for me.

i’m sure if kings of leon became a great band this would be appreciated as a precursor to that but unfortunately it’s one of many examples of the proposition that siblings shouldn’t have a band. yes, there are notable exceptions to that rule, but this isn’t one. some of the more creatively star wars creature esque pronunciations i’ve heard

Whiny

Glad this made the list over Galaxie 500, Yo La Tengo & the Cranberries.

In 2004 I did not mind the vocals so much, as most of the songs sounded fresh at the time but that was then. Also: the album collapses after the 8th song or so. score in 2004: 8/10 score in 2024: 3/10

well, that sure was an album.

man, i don't know what to make of this album. it's just really, really, really not good. i like other kings of leon songs and thought they were decent overall but this album does not have It. first of all, the lead singer has THE most incomprehensible voice singing some absolutely baffling lyrics. he's got marble mouth something fierce. i had to pull up the lyrics to confirm that he was, in fact, saying the girl would lend him her toothbrush. day old blues has the most annoying and repetitive vocals of maybe any track I've listened to in the last 200 albums I've generated from this list. when four kicks started, i legitimately thought he was just yelling gibberish sounds. completely perplexing stuff. i guess it's ok as background music if you're really not focusing on it, but if you are it's enough to drive anyone mad. i don't give out a lot of 1-star reviews here (i mostly save those for the sex offenders with truly garbage albums) but this one comes reeeeeally close for me. favorites: the bucket

The strokes if they were 4 brothers from the countryside instead of 5 wealthy new yorkers. Jokes aside I think it's a pretty good and short description of what I've just heard. Solid instrumentals, the bass is pretty good and the guitar is a big hit or miss (It really works in songs like Soft for example, but is pretty forgettable in a lot of them). The vocals aren't exactly the best (Since I've already compared them to The Strokes I'm going to do it one more time and say that they'd probably have been great vocals if recorded on a saturated mic just like The Strokes did) and they really damage my view on this record, as the instrumentals are pretty good, so I'm going with a 2. Best song was Razz. Worst song was Milk (Ofc the weakest song would be the one that relies the most on vocals) and I'm going to give a special mention to day old blues.

Not a fan.

This could be better if dude wasn’t completely unintelligible.

please juste stop it 4/10

This wasn't as bad as I was expecting, although the last track was genuinely awful.

2.5

pretty blase indie rock with a comically annoying singer. blah blah blah all the songs blend together. there's a weird soft mushy quality to each song like they recorded this in a mattress store. 1.5/5

I find this band very hard to get excited about. What's the deal ?

After the first couple a songs this starts to wear really thin... its as if they want to be what the Strokes are but lack that genuine aloof swagger and intricate and accomplished musical precision that make the Strokes fun to appreciate on repeated listens.

I’ve never really been to impressed with this band. They’re definitely one of many bands that were commercially successful and signed to major labels, but tried to disguise themselves as a cool edgy indie rock band. Compared to other bands that were around during this time, Kings of Leon is just so watered down, saturated, and polished where it’s hard to tell them apart from any other commercially successful bands from the time period who where all running with the same sound.

Singer is terrible. Band is ok. A solid 2.

I don’t quite understand why these guys got as popular as they did. I guess they just seemed to hit the right pulse at the right time, and to me these guys fill the same niche as Creed or Imagine Dragons. But unlike Creed or Imagine Dragons, Kings of Leon don’t seem to be a band that people love to hate, although I feel like they should be. I never really got into Kings of Leon. I’d groan when “Sex on Fire” or “Use Somebody” came on the radio, I can’t stand those songs. Aha Shake Heartbreak released before the album containing those hits, and frankly it this album is much better than Only by the Night and anything KoL have done since then (at least among things I’ve listened to). Although “The Bucket” is just as groan worthy. And gosh, while I’m listening to some of these songs for the first time in 15 years, some of them are garbage. Side note: I didn’t think these guys were actual brothers, for a while I thought they were doing a shtick like the Ramones because they don’t really look alike to me.

Cannot stand the singer's voice. I've liked an occasional Kings of Leon song, but I can't handle a full album without getting annoyed.

Are you shitting me. Why? What possible reason is this here? The two singles are okay in a nostalgia for mid aughts indie discos, but this is dryyyyy

Always underwhelmed by Kings of Leon as much as I try to like them and understand that they ought to appeal to me by basis of some overlapping interests. In addition to being kings of the lukewarm song, this record has songs that actively put me off. Primarily it's the lyrics and their delivery that do it (sack the singer!), but some of the music too. Rating it 1.5 stars though I'm going to round up for a couple of the guitar solos.

This was meh

Meh

At least it doesn't have that garbage "sex is on fire" song on it.

Fun but so mid. Why tf is it on this list?

They obviously had a unique sound, but this is just so basic, like someone took The Strokes and aged them by about 30 years and made them much more boring. And The Strokes were already pretty boring.

There were parts of this that I liked. Sometimes, instrumentally, it was kind of a cool mix of Southern rock and 2000s NY rock scene sound. But I find the vocals almost unbearable and noticed myself disengaging from much of the album. I see why this band got big, but I didn’t love this.

Being familiar with their popular records from the late 2000s, I was hoping to find something more compelling in their first album...this was not the case. There's a *little* bit more rawness and experimentation with the guitars, but overall the tracks are bland and the singer's voice is as grating and incomprehensible as I've come to know. Favorite track: Razz

Ok solid indierock. But not a fan, something about the vocals that gets on my nerves after a few songs

I mean, this is *fine* for straightahead rock and roll, but they sound like a tighter version of any number of bands I've seen in bars over the years. Their guitarist does some interesting fingerpicking stuff here and there, but the singer's voice is nothing spectacular and all in all, I'll probably forget about this album in short order. Unexpected banger: Rememo

Se tunnetumpi(?) levy on paljon parempi. Tää oli vähän meh

Korta låtar och kort album, känns ändå ganska långt. Som en sämre Foo Fighters, bästa låten är Milk

No gods, no masters, no Kings of Fucking Leon.

there is an excerpt from Spotify that says this band embraced the identity of being called 'The Southern Strokes', and i kinda hear it? the style of composition is similar in some ways, but lacking the electronic incorporations that The Strokes bring. not my groove honestly. feels like 3 day old popcorn. its aight, you know, your still gonna eat it.

2 - türa see vend ajab mind tilti, napilt 1 Tra tegelt peakski 1 panema Vitttu küll, mida sa jorised

Kings of Leon... Guitar - great. Drums - sound good. Bass - awesome. Then the singer starts and it all goes downhill. I do not like that guys voice. like a cat scratching a chalkboard. Otherwise, not bad.

Hate the singer

This is so very boring to me

Imagine being a fan of Kings of Leon? Kings of Leon is the most generic of all early 2000s rock. It's the beige of early 2000s rock. It's the lukewarm of early 2000s rock. It's the broth of early 2000s rock. It's the going exactly the speed limit of early 2000s rock.

It was OK. The singer is annoying. Some of the music was good but overall unnoteworthy. No need to revisit.

It’s ok but I’d probably never go back to it

Lacks variation. And good songs. And a good singer. And ideas. 2/5

Not bad, but not my thing.

From the Wiki page for this US-based band: "Kings of Leon achieved initial success in the United Kingdom with nine Top 40 singles and two BRIT Awards in 2008, and all three of the band's albums at the time peaked in the top five of the UK Albums Chart. Their third album, Because of the Times, reached No. 1." …and "The album became a sensation in the UK and Ireland, where NME declared it "one of the best debut albums of the last 10 years" and The Guardian described the band as "the kind of authentic, hairy rebels the Rolling Stones longed to be". The album still failed to make any significant impact in the US, where reviews were generally lukewarm and the modern rock audience was generally uninterested. In the United States, Youth and Young Manhood sold only 100,000 copies, compared with the 750,000 copies it moved abroad." Tell me the author(s) don't have a bias when a US band can't get recognition in its own country, makes a splash in the UK and is deemed a must-listen album. This record is awful. It has no oomph. The lyrics when legible are written on a junior-high school level. This is one of those album that would get slammed if the vocalist was replaced by Yoko Ono but gets glorified in this book. 2/5.

This album is a mix of indie/alt rock, and very watered down southern rock. There’s a decent blues feel to it as well. The band is fairly tight and I enjoyed some of the bass work particularly. The guitar work and drum work are typical for the time and remind me a lot of the Strokes. The vocals are an absolute failure. Not only is the singing awful, the stylistic choices in terms of delivery and (lack of) enunciation ruin the album. I can usually deal with someone with a subpar voice, but the production choices make it sound like they grabbed a random guy from a bar and made him sing. I’ve tried to relisten throughout the day after my first run through and it’s annoying to the point of being offensive to literally anyone who can sing marginally well. Whoever signed these guys with this singer should be banned from the music industry.

Their first album was so good that this was so disappointing in comparison, so disappointing that it would take them a few years to even come close to the highs of that first album in their 4th album. This just sounds to bland and by the numbers that absolutely nothing stands out or is relistenable and I'm shocked that many critics rated it so highly.

I can't stand the vocals. I cannot. stand. these. vocals. Baby talk vocals. I can't do this. The vocals don't work for me. It's too bad - the music itself ain't terrible.

Damn, this still isn't the one with the radio hits on it? I like "The Bucket" and "Where Nobody Knows." But just give me the damn one with the popular songs and let's get it over with already, list.

I especially appreciate the bass in these songs, and the urgency and tightness of the playing. The drums are really fire. I don't really like the voice of the singer, and the completely (to me) unintelligible lyrics. I don't understand the album title. Singing is too fast I think.

Yeah ok fairly forgetable rock

Competently middle of the road

someday we will have to answer for the garage rock revival

Uninspired, unoriginal, kinda boring and just some horrible vocals and lyrics, and yet this is the best I've heard from this band.

The stuff i liked, I really liked. The stuff i didn't like, was almost un-listenable. I guess that evens out to a 3.

Weird album for me. I think it's important as a bridge between a time when alt rock had become very samey and when actually-alternative alt rock became widely commercial and popular. Some of the guitar work is very foundational for the alt rock of the 2010s. The AltNation SiriusXM station and many of the bands they play regularly owe a lot to Kings of Leon. Unfortunately, Caleb Followill's voice is unfuckingbearable.

I did not expect to like this album and I did not. I think maybe if a different band were playing the same songs I could get into it?

Who the absolute fuck is this vocalist doing an impression of, it was driving me nuts. However: for the most part, really liked the instrumentation! Bassist and drummer were real highlights, i would probably enjoy an instrumental version of this album 2.5

A lot of reviews for this album call it an update for "southern rock" but I would like to put forth that this is the groundwork for emo music. Notably: whiny lyrics about being skinny and effeminate, and a lot of disdain for women. And tapered jeans. I remember when Four Kicks got really big on the music video channels and I thought it was annoying then too. 1.5

There really is nothing wrong with this album and I don't dislike it al all, but if you put it among the giants on the rest of this 1001 list, this really feels like a pretty tame and barely decent indie rock album. Musically it is quite well put together, even though rhythmically nor musically it can hardly be called adventurous. And after these 3 listens in the last day, this album goes back in its case, likely never to be listened to again. 2*

basic indie rock with a really annoying singer

I was expecting this to be TERRIBLE based on the reviews of Bailey and Kelly but I actually found it to be just VERY BAD

Some interesting riffs but goddamn is that man singing in English or??? 35 minutes felt like 70. Pro tip: drop the “pipes”, it’s much better when he’s not signing. 2/5 would not listen to again.

eh...

If this had been the first KoL record I listened to, I never would've listened again. This record is musically creative, but Caleb Followill incites violence in me with at least half of his "vocals" on this record. His obnoxious noises were completely unnecessary to set this album apart.

Raw and untamed but in the bad way.

An interesting choice of album for the kings of Leon. Feel like they have significantly better albums. This one was not good. The singer did his best to be annoying throughout the whole thing while also being the horniest man on earth. This album felt like a collection of covers of other bands songs like the strokes and rhcp. This album was not a good reflection of why kings of Leon were popular. Won’t revisit this one. 4.1/10

Yeesh, saviours of rock and roll? The Southern Strokes? Last proper band in town? I think not. Was rock so impoverished in 2004 that this passed for excitement? I swear I have heard bands playing this schtick as well or better to 30 people at a small bar in Marrickville. And his singing has a weird affectation that really grates on my nerves. Wildly inessential listening. 1.5 stars begrudgingly rounded up for not being completely rancid.

Jeg kan ikke bestemme mig for om de lyder som redneck RHCP eller hipster Creedence, men uanset hvad bliver det lidt for meget når man hører et helt album... The Bucket og Velvet Snow var gode

Bedre end jeg havde forventet at det ville være, hvilket siger ekstremt lidt

I was excited to hear this, I know a lot of people love it. Man..what a disappointment. Lackluster production, terrible vocals and uninspired lyrics.

What, Kings Of Leon AGAIN? Apparently, this LP is not even included in the latest editions of the 1001 album book. Which speaks volumes all by itself. This one is supposedly the album you must listen to if you prefer a more "authentic" Kings Of Leon, at least compared to their later silly arena-rock era. I'm far from being convinced, though. Apart from the lead singer's peculiar voice (more on that later), there's nothing that's really original or memorable in this record (except from one track--more on that later as well). Some people like to rant about mid-naughts British "landfill indie", and I agree with them that a lot of those rock acts heavily promoted in Britain at that time were underwhelming. Yet few people are talking about US "landfill retro-rock" around the same years. Even if that thing existed as well. About Caleb Followill's singing, it sure is an acquired taste, yet I have to admit it doesn't irk or grate my ears the way it does for many other reviewers in here. At least his strange drawl and mannerisms give a bit of character to what are otherwise quite bland compositions, without much in terms of harmonic and melodic inventiveness. The energy in this record is decent, but the musical dynamics, either for individual songs or the overall tracklisting, are somewhat botched. And some tracks even seem poorly mixed to my admittedly subjective ears. Maybe it's because it was quite an impossible task for a mixer to know what to do with that peculiar voice. Sometimes a technical flaw can turn into an artistic asset. But things can happen the other way around, unfortunately. One track stands out, however. It's "Milk", a moody cut with a very original song structure, instrumentation and vocal performance. If only more leftfield tracks like that had been interspersed with the bland riffs and jams plaguing the rest of this record, maybe you would have an LP worth your time. Interesting tidbit: when Lana Del Rey explained in an interview why she quoted Kings Of Leon's name in her own "White Dress", she mentioned that song and how it was related to her memories of the first small apartment she lived in during herearly adult years. If you listen closely to the two tracks, you can even see how "Milk" actually inspired the chord progression and particularly extravagant vocal parts of "White Dress". Another reason to find this tune endearing. And a way to state that I only have benevolent feelings for early fans of the band--it's just that two decades after the release of this record, I honestly can't see the appeal it can have for new listeners these days. You had to be there in those "landfill retro-rock" years, I guess. Two stars instead of one, then, mostly because of "Milk" and the missed opportunity for a greater album Kings Of Leon had at the time. Which translates to a 7/10 grade for purposes that are more genral than the ones you need to select "essential" albums. Next please. Number of albums left to review: 399 Number of albums from the list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 271 Albums from the list might* include in mine later on: 144 Albums from the list I won't include in mine (many others are more essential to me): 187

Lame shit

Generic. Forgettable. Did not need to hear it before I die

Objective vitutus tätä kuunnellessa... Arvosana on tuskan takana..

whinier than i recall.

This might be my least favourite Kings of Leon album. They're good musicians but the songs don't cut it here. Second half in particular drags. Not sure why this one is in the book.

Kelpo poprock mutta eipä ihmeellisempi. Kaipaan koukkuja 2/5

En ihan tajunnut tätä levyä. 2/5

melodic. dull.

Meh

Some good songs but overall I don't really like the atmosphere of it

Never got on the Kings of Leon train, never could stand the singer's voice.

The music is decent but I strongly dislike the lead singer, especially the mush-mouth delivery of most of the songs - he brings it down a star in my book unfortunately

Kings of Leon has some good songs but none of them were on this album.

Surprised at how good some of the guitar lines were on this one, but as others have noted the lead singer sounds like he’s choking on his own tongue and it kind of ruins the vibe 😔

Did not grab me. No Sex on fire either.

Never have I ever desired to listen to Kings of Leon -- at least this is short. Instrumental opening is fine, but as soon as the vocals came in I remembered why it was that I've never seeked them out. For such a punchable voice they have no right putting the vocals so elevated in the mix. Milk made me actually want to tear my ears off. The Bucket wasn't much better. The run from Soft through Four Kicks is as good as this album gets. If I squint, Soft reminds me a bit of the euro rock invasion (Strokes, etc.) -- about as enjoyable as this album has been so far. Razz is another solid one -- hopping from foot to foot. Day Old Blues pulls things down to a more somber note, which works outside of the goddamned chorus -- this guys voice is brutal. Four Kicks might be the best one on here. Whiskey soaked guitar riff in a barroom shuffle with incoherent vocals playing more of an instrumental role than anything else. Not much to remark on through the remainder. This was not my cup of tea... I've got a high tolerance for expressive vocals, but this is the first album in quite a while where I outright rejected the lead singer. Something about his voice just shit all over any forward progress most instrumentals made. Really didn't help that they put it so forward in the mix. Even so, there were a few places where it "worked" okay. Soft 2 / 5 for me.

I really thought I would like this more than I did

Some kind of weird folk punk mix that I didn't really jive with. The song Day Old Blues annoyed me

Hmm :/

Was expecting much more.

There were moments where I really didn't hate this, but there were moments I really did.

I’d heard these guys’ radio hits and liked them well enough, so I was kinda interested in hearing a whole KoL album. It’s not very good at all. It sounds like someone took the small town college frat/party band and put them in a studio and hoped the production would smooth out the rough edges.

I sure hope the singer isn’t saying anything important because it’s impossible to understand what he’s singing. Is the sound he makes more important than the words? Is this in fact an instrumental album? Whilst not entirely without merit, I suspect this purports to be fashionable and hip but will eventually be used to sell cars or feature on soundtracks; there are better bands to be found doing something similar.

Dat viel me tegen

The vocals are distracting. The sings really do do much for me. It seems very average. 2.5/5 Standouts: (none).

Pretty average, but fun enough

Nope

Kings of Leon- Pretty cool rock music - I see the strokes comparison. I see why this guy who made list likes it but not sure it belongs in this list. Kinda rough around the edges compared to their later arena rock albums. Didn’t realize these guys were brothers/ cousins and were very young when they made this/ just started playing their instruments. Milk is a weird tune The bucket- cool pedal 2.5

I don’t like this band These kind of strokes-esque songs with the relentlessly shitty guitars get old really fast for me The singer has a unique voice but i always found it a little obnoxious Only tune I recognized was taper Jean girl but I didn’t realize that was them. Milk was maybe the most interesting song I was very psyched for this album to be over

I’ve never heard any of these songs. Everything was ALMOST exciting but never quite hit the mark for me. His voice should be exciting but it really annoyed me.

KOL has it's place in the whole music lexicon, but I don't have a place for it in my heart.

Can't get past the awful singing

Slow night,so long-like giutar, gonna ignore lyrics👍 king of the rodeo- seems like the chorus has too many lyrics in it and bad outro Taper jean girl- another quite oof song lol Pistol of fire- cool guitar solo, good transition, bad lyrics again👍 milk- this is just straight up bad, stripped down doesnt work here The bucket- meh, giving adcore Soft- thanks for the honesty i guess👍 Razz- what is with all these songs ragging on your brother 👍 day old blues- a snooze and also borderline yodelling lol four kicks- riff is fine, vocals are getting annoying velvet snow- quite repetitive and generic Rememo- bit more bluesy, interesting 👍 Where nobody knows-this is fine👍 Pretty mediocre soft rock 2/5

Weak.

They get better

Forgettable, honestly.

PREFS : Slow Night, So Long, The Bucket, Soft, Four Kicks MOINS PREF : Day Old Blues

I’m familiar with a small amount of their songs so I was excited to listen to them but quickly found out that my good taste of them was limited. This guy’s voice is so forced and just ugly. The music had potential to be good but his voice was squeaky, whiny, all things I was NOT happy with. Tbh disappointed.

If the singer would have taken the Chick Fil-A sandwich out of his mouth for a goddamn minute before singing I might have liked this a lot more. As it is, the music is fine enough but I realized it kind of doesn't go anywhere, and the dry weird/distracting vocals just end up making this annoying. 5/10 2 stars.

kinda surprised they went with an early record without their hits its fine but the lead singer is unintelligible 2.5

not for me

Loose, raw, southern blues. That kind of rowdy and horny you can really only be if you're a guy from the ages of 16 to 21. It's fine, but does it need to be here? Favorite tracks: "Taper Jean Girl", "King of the Rodeo"

put in your black eye shadow, liner, and lipstick, it’s time to brood. a plodding and cerebral album, it lacks some of the shine of their pop gems. however, that doesnt detract from the energy and lo-fi energy. it’s dark to a point, the drums are visceral and sound like theyre veing played in the rain. a strong album. v strong.

Listened Before? N A decent modern rock album. Nothing really special. Kings of Leon tend to sound pretty same-y on all their albums. Not a winner for me. Added to Library: N Songs added to playlist: Taper Jean Girl

Love the music - unusual, interesting and engaging rock - but I dislike the vocal. Strange semi-Spanish accent very offputting.

Just brick after brick

If they are kings, it is time for a coupe. 1

Have no idea why Kings of Leon were ever considered elevated above the other landfill indie of the era.

I'd rather get another Brit DJ album than Kings of Leon. this sucks

I’m trying to imagine the guy who would agree that there are THREE essential Kings of Leon albums. It’s almost impossible. I’m not sure he’s even really a guy, rather than some sort of creature. I don’t like him.

I hated this. I can't get behind the emotion of the songs of I can't understand what he's singing. It's all mumbly and mushy.

for some reason physically repulsive to me.

I listened to the whole album hoping to hear one hit. Let’s say I was disappointed and puzzled why it was listed.

so terrible. i hate the sound of the singers voice, it's so grating and ugly. it makes me angry. one of my most hated albums i've gotten so far

mediocre and I found it a very boring listen

You know that episode of WKRP in Cincinnati where Dr. Johnny Fever is offered some nose candy to give some crummy band's record some airplay?? Well, how do you think *this* garbage ever got on the airwaves?

"уши закладывало даже у их микрофонов" улыбнул комментарий: "Такое ощущение, что он просто нашел самый раздражающий звук, который только мог издать своим голосом, и построил на этом всю свою карьеру". бл, ну вот есть же рифчики звучные, инструменталы прикольные, и вот реально ска всё упирается в этот блеющий рвотно блевотный голос. Перри Фаррелл из Jane's addiction, Элвис Костелло, Патрик Моррисси из the Smiths (ещё терпимо ок), Джулиан Коуп из The Teardrop Explodes(ну на грани), Брайн Малко из Placebo(калллл), Диана мать его Анкудинова...а теперь ещё и Калеб Фоллоуилл. их движения ртом — моя ушная вакханалия. плакали даже беруши.

папа мне сказал слушаться Полину, Полина сказала что альбом говно

I really wanted to have a good experience with this album. I went into it with a good attitude, but I hated it. I don’t like the instrumentals I don’t like the production I don’t like the vocals or vocal delivery, and the lyrics do nothing for me. This is one of the very few 1/5 albums that I was very confident in not liking. Frankly I’m praying another slot on this list isn’t taken up by this one boring as shit band.

Not for me. 1/5

Music for dudes, bros, and dudebros.

Without the vocals, it would be inoffensive indie rock. But who even cares about this album anyway? There were much better 2000s indie albums.

Rating: 3/10 Extremely displeasurable. The vocals might not be boring but god do I hate them. I can just barely understand the lyrics but I wish I couldn’t. The musicianship just borders on generic, ripping from influences both old and new (The Strokes). There is just enough of a different element to that usually urban city sound here with its Southern tinge, but its execution of it just makes me hate it all the more. The band almost manages to save itself towards the end with Four Kicks, with its punk edge, and Velvet Snow, the album’s best songs I think that are merely tolerable, but it’s not enough. I haven’t checked but I foresee more Kings of Leon and I’m not looking forward to it

Not my type right now, I love the band and the lore but this album just not my type

Awful

In a nutshell: it's a shame about Caleb. Decent backing musicians, the drums and guitars are what you need and expect from a garage rock band. It does rip off The Strokes and Arctic Monkeys, as do the lyrics. What ruins it is the frontman's voice. Caleb's voice is one trick. It has as much charisma as a dying cactus. Overall: 2/10

File under: album or artist from the 21st Century I have never heard. Musically it's OK at best, but I can not get past the vocals. Not essential listening. (Cue the GWB meme: “Sir, there’s a second KoL album on the list.”)

no me gustó, lo noté medio desprolijo y suena raro. igualmente los álbumes posteriores si me gustan

At times, this singer reminded me of the sound my childhood car would make when its tail was accidentally stepped on.

- Clearly pedos. - I remember liking a couple songs from the first album when it came out, but the vocals on this one are almost unlistenable -- so out of tune. Milk was so painful to listen to. And even the hit (the Bucket) is annoying with his out of tune sliding "technique". - This album sounds like a budget version of the Strokes. - The instrumentation feels very remedial - like playing one or two notes over and over. They definitely aren't masters of their instruments. - The lyrics are also nothing (when you can understand them), except when they're explicitly pedo. So... - So, in short, there's nothing good here... Why did we have to listen to this? And why are there THREE Kings of Leon albums on this list. This fact, alone, is making me rethink this project.

not as good as Joni Mitchell’s Blue

This was ass. Some of the instrumentation was fine before it eschewed any interesting directions and became generic, offensively inoffensive rock music. Combine that with self-indulgent, self-important, uninspiring lyrics you get some ass music.

Why do I keep getting these guys

This is #day596 of my #1001albumsyoumusthearbeforeyoudie challenge, and… it's been, what, less than a week since I got my previous Kings of Leon album. I mean, I just can't tolerate those vocals, but I also can't hear any historical or aesthetic value in this music whatsoever. A little more than halfway through, I didn't feel like continuing. You don't have to hear this before you die… unless you want to die sooner. No surprise, all three of their albums were eventually thrown out of the list. This is a 1 out of 5. Looking forward to #day597.

puta que pariu eu ODEIO kings of leon

é melhor que o último deles que passou por aqui mas continua de péssimo gosto. o nível tava baixo demais, melhorar um pouco não significa que ficou bom não.

vocals kinda annoying, music is not really my style i guess, I've listened some of their songs in the past and never liked them so yeah

Ik ga stuk wat de hellie is deze stem. Naast de overdreven stem en weirde lyrics gebeurt er verder ook echt niks dus nah.

thanks i hate it. wat een kutstem. best leuk muzikaal verder met vlagen (voelt meer als puur toeval dan talent verder). borderline onluisterbaar, begrijp écht niet wat dit hier doet

ja wat wil je ervan zeggen

Milquetoast at best.

I won’t listen to Kings of Leon anymore. I’ve already decided that they are not for me.

Three albums from these guys on this list??? Why. WHY.

So ordinary...

I saw Kings of Leon open for U2 around the time this album came out. It was the absolute worst live performance I’ve ever seen and I told everyone I knew how much this band sucked. I like some of the stuff they have put out since, but I still maintain that this album is one of the more painful albums I’ve ever listened to.

hace 20 años nos reíamos de como sonaba a lata y hortera todo lo ochentero. Han pasado 20 años de eso

La verdad es que me lo esperaba tan malo que no me ha parecido tan tan horrible. Dicho esto, no voy a volver a escucharlo en mi vida.

This album has me thinking about the miracle of human life. Imagine carrying a precious lil' bebe in your belly for nine months, Nourishing and caring for them. And then they emerge from your womb sounding like Caleb fucking Followill. He then proceeds to use his nasty little vocal cords to sing about school girls in The Year of Our Lord 2004. I'm getting my tubes tied.

The singer sounds similar to how I imagine a wounded moose might sound. It's almost painful to hear the way he contorts his vocal apparatus to make such agonising noises. Add some generic indie/rock early 2000s guitar sounds and you have something fit for elevator or telephone on-hold music. One star.

Heard Before? Nope, although it certainly seems familiar. Notes: - what if we formed a band after only hearing the first Strokes album and nothing else? - what if we saved learning how to write songs for later? - production is crisp but somehow hollow, as if the engineer couldn't find the interesting parts. to be fair, I couldn't either. - extra sadly, there's not even anything bad enough to be funny, although "Razz" comes close. Verdict: Why would anyone choose to listen to this over anything else? Shockingly derivative and amateur. I don't enjoy their later career, but they at least got more competent and gathered a few more influences. Listen Again? A resounding no. Life is short.

Not great. One song I liked, the rest of them are more annoying than anything, it’s either a 1 or 2. A few songs were ruined with some bad creative choices

Nope. Can't stand KOL

Wat een sadistische gedachte dat iedereen deze stem moet horen. Die was al irritant op de radio. Maar dat blijkt nog de aangezoete versie te zijn. Op de album tracks is het nog veel doordringender. Migraine-alarm. En dat dus een heel album lang. Heb het in drieën moeten splitsen. Bands met een handicap komen soms naar voren door het uitventen van die handicap. Dat gebeurt hier veel te weinig. Al is Milk daar wel een voorbeeld van.

This fucking sucks holy hell. If there was gonna be any Kings of Leon it should’ve been Only By The Night because at least that has Sex on Fire and Use Somebody. This one has neither and it is just shit to listen to

🤷🏿‍♀️ I’ve got nothing

Around 2004, 2005 I said "not funny" to one of my music friends who was singing Kings of Leon but I thought was pretending to imitate a MR person. Now I can't hear this guy and not think he's putting on some bad embarrassing affectation

Nope.

That was terrible. In two instances I had to stop what I was doing to exclaim "Jesus f*#&+!%n Christ! What the f*@#!?", and demanded that he just stops whatever the hell he was doing. I believe these were the tracks "Milk" and "Day Old Blues", so, consider yourself warned. I'm not going back to verify.

kojarze kingsow leonowych z ich radiowego sex on fire i use somebody, ale to nie ta plyta aha shake heartbreak to ich drugi krazek z 2004, a same kole to amerykanska banda okolo rokowa, ktorej brzmienie wiki okresla jako bluesowe alternatywne garazowe granie, a pomimo tego, ze wszystkie te gatunki lubie, zwlaszcza bluesowe, to nie czuje ich muzyki, 35 minut z tym albumem razy dwa, bo myslalem ze wczoraj jakos nie mialem mooda muzycznego po slipknotach, ale dzisiaj tak samo brzmi on mialko, wiec jest to rokowanie popowe ktore wpada jednym a wypada drugim uchem, nie potrafie powiedziec co mi sie podobalo, a co nie, chociaz tutaj mialbym do czego bardziej pic, bo nie slysze w tym bluesowania, a bardziej jakies ciagoty do duba czy innych reege, ale to pewnie jedynie uprzedzenia do muzyki typu bialy czlowiek robi czarna muzyke lub ta dziwna maniera w glosie wokalisty, na plejke dodam the bucketa, ktory jest najbardziej popularnym trakiem z plyty

OOooooooOoooooooO

not for me

This came out when I was in middle school and I genuinely to not get how this band was so hyped. They sound like an also ran garage rock band of the era. The vocals verge on obnoxious most of the time. It's a got some moments where they lean into sloppier rock and roll and that sounds pretty good, but they never even maintain for a full song. The down tempo moments sound like shit. The lyrics are abysmal and pretty gross at times. One explicit and some implicit lyrics about lusting after/making out with underage girls. Dropping the C word and just general shit headedness. I understand the appeal for whoever voted this thing on here that it's a throwback to sleazy rock and roll, but that doesn't excuse the lyrics. That shit sucks. Knocking off a point for those.

I had higher hopes for this album. I ended up skipping a few songs, and after a while just gave up completely. I was driving across town for a meeting so I didn't pay attention to which songs I skipped or where I gave up.

Stopped listening after less than a minute in, hated the singer's voice and life is too short to listen to any more

I have a problem with Kings of leon. It kind of operates within the genre limits which i usually quite like (although i don't stick to any genre restrictions), but for some reason i get nothing out of this band. The songs are not too good, the band playing and arrangements are the same old same, and the singer seems to try too hard to sound like he's channeling his inner emotions or whatever through the songs, but it just feels false. I probably am wrong here, but to me this is just muzak disguised as alternative rock music

Abysmal. I found no enjoyment in this at all

boring bad

Capping off a week with Lou Reed, Leonard Cohen, Talking Heads and Frank Sinatra isn't doing any favors for Kings of Leon. But as boring and self-satisfied as I find the Followill clan, this list is making me defend them because if you're going to include two of their albums (and why would you?), how is the second one Aha Shake Heartbreak and not Only By the Night? At least Only By the Night shot them into superstardom and has a cultural argument to make the list. There is nothing on Aha Shake Heartbreak that two dozen other bands haven't done better. It's not even a good example of its genre. The production is so muddy, too. Completely forgettable. It's not a 1-star album in the wild, but in the context of this project, it should't be anywhere near this list.