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

Newsflash: Coldplay Sued!

You know, there was a time, back in my youth, when I was an ardent Coldplay fan. I thought their debut album Parachutes was probably the greatest thing sliced bread, and was in love with Chris Martin's beautiful, sensitive guy lyrics and flashes of falsetto in his vocals. While my devotion waned with the release of their second album, I continued to enjoy them musically up until album number three, and then I quit Coldplay cold turkey. It wasn't just that my musical tastes were changing, but it was the band themselves that turned me off faster than you can say Yellow. Had Martin always been so whiny and annoying? Had the band always sounded so MOR and boring? Or had I only started to notice? In any event, hearing "Violet Hill" on the car stereo in LA earlier this year was the final nail in the coffin, and since then I've been decidely anti-Coldplay. Sure, there are certain moments, when "Shiver" or "Don't Panic" show up in my shuffle, and I'll listen to them and remember fondly those first innocent flushes of my brief love affair with the band. And then, the next song will play, and that'll be that.

With all of that in mind, I won't deny this news being slightly pleasurable to post. Coldplay is evidently being sued by Joe Satriani. Satriani thinks Coldplay, erm, borrowed without crediting him shall we say, from his 2004 song "If I Could Fly" in their new song "Viva La Vida". Evidently, Martin and Co. learned nothing from the late 1990s, when Team Rolling Stones (Andrew Loog Oldham, especially) went medieval on my beloved Verve's ass for "borrowing" (and "forgetting" to ask for permission for) that jangly orchestral intro bit of Urban Hymns' most famous track "Bittersweet Symphony." From what I remember, the Verve didn't see a red cent from that song.

Naturally, Satriani wants a piece of Coldplay's pie. And given the handy YouTube clip below, I'd say he's probably gonna get what he wants. And to be clear, it's not just that I don't like Coldplay. I am not a fan of stealing. When you write a song using someone else's music, it's not just your song. It's as simple as that. Give credit where it's due, folks. So put any band in Coldplay's place, and I would feel the same way.

Here's the comparison. You be the judge.