Most Annoying Band of 2008: Kings of Leon

Now that we're safely ensconced in Top 10 territory round these parts, it's time to break out some other superlatives to help sum up the year that was 2008. I'm feeling a little feisty this afternoon, so my first entry's gonna be on the spicy side.

For the record, there was a time when I seriously loved me some Kings of Leon. I thought their first album, and especially their first EP, were both off the charts. They had great Tennessee accents, and were unassuming in their awesomeness. I dug them for their country-fried rock and roll, and for their tattered jeans and worn plaid shirts. They were salt of the earth, sorta sleazy (in a good way), good time dudes.

But now, oh my how times have changed.

Kings of Leon actually started earning the Most Annoying (and Most Disappointing) mantle late last year, when I saw them live with Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and saw how they had begun to transform. It was like Samson, once they cut off their hair into trendy cuts and zipped themselves into the same old skinny black jeans everyone else wears, their music began to suffer. And their new album is nowhere near the Kings of Leon I used to love. "Sex on Fire", seriously?! I found every song of theirs that I heard I had to turn down the volume on, because it made me so sad to think about what happened to them. They now sound so middle of the road I can't stand it.

This isn't a case of not liking someone who gets popular, it's not liking someone for totally changing who they are. And then there was the whole comment about how they were the first Jonas Brothers. That, my friends, sealed the deal for me. It's as if they have no concept of how good they used to be, regardless of whether or not that comment was tongue-in-cheek or not.

Honorable Mention: Coldplay, the Hold Steady