History Music / TheKillersBand

* "[[GreatestHitsAlbum Rebel Diamonds]]" (2023)

** At their performance of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHaXv0Yu4AU "Human" at the EMA Awards]], [[spoiler:Brandon added in some lyrics from "Bring on the Dancing Horses" by Music/EchoAndThe Bunnymen]].

** At their performance of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHaXv0Yu4AU "Human" at the EMA Awards]], [[spoiler:Brandon added in some lyrics from "Bring on the Dancing Horses" by Echo and the Bunnymen]].

!!Their music include examples of:

The Killers are a rock band from UsefulNotes/LasVegas, made up of Brandon Flowers (lead vocals, keyboard), Dave Keuning (guitar, backing vocals), Mark Stoermer (bass, backing vocals), and Ronnie Vannucci Jr. (drums/percussion, backing vocals).

For an indie-rock outfit, they've been quite successful, selling 15 million albums worldwide (and with ''Sam's Town'' and ''Sawdust'' hitting UK number one).

Their sound has been (very accurately) described as "more Eighties than TheEighties." All their albums save ''Sam's Town'' have been essentially synth-driven indie-rock, with the influence of {{New Wave|Music}}, particularly Music/DuranDuran, painfully obvious. ''Sam's Town'' was different, but also very much Eighties, being Heartland Rock/Americana InTheStyleOf [[Music/BruceSpringsteen The Boss]], with some more synth.

The band took a break after years of touring, during which time both frontman Brandon Flowers and drummer Ronnie Vannucci, unwilling to slow down, released their own solo albums entitled ''Flamingo'' and ''Big Talk'' respectively. Most of the reviews agree that ''Flamingo'' was SoOkayItsAverage, while ''Big Talk'' was better received.

After another four year sabbatical following ''Direct Hits'', the band released their fifth studio album, ''Wonderful Wonderful'', in 2017. This was followed by their sixth studio album, ''Music/ImplodingTheMirage'', in 2020, and their seventh, ''Pressure Machine'', in 2021.

Their sound has been (very accurately) described as "more Eighties than TheEighties." All their albums save ''Sam's Town'' have been essentially synth-driven indie-rock, with the influence of [[NewWaveMusic New Wave]], particularly Music/DuranDuran, painfully obvious. ''Sam's Town'' was different, but also very much Eighties, being Heartland Rock/Americana InTheStyleOf [[Music/BruceSpringsteen The Boss]], with some more synth.

The band took a break after years of touring, during which time both frontman Brandon Flowers and drummer Ronnie Vannuci, unwilling to slow down, released their own solo albums entitled ''Flamingo'' and ''Big Talk'' respectively. Most of the reviews agree that ''Flamingo'' was SoOkayItsAverage, while ''Big Talk'' was better received.

!!Band members

The Killers are a rock band from UsefulNotes/LasVegas, made up of Brandon Flowers (lead vocals, keyboard), Dave Keuning (guitar, backing vocals), Mark Stoermer (bass, backing vocals), and Ronnie Vannucci (drums/percussion, backing vocals).

* ExcrementStatement: the humorous line of "Sometimes your the Shih Tzu, sometimes your the tree" in "C'est La Vie", references the idea that dogs love trees nearly as much as they [[DogsLoveFireHydrants love fire hydrants...]]

* ProtestSong: "Land of the Free" released in 2019 was the band's attempt at trying to tackle the political divide in America during the Trump era, with a music video shot by Creator/SpikeLee. The lyrics attempt to tackle immigration, gun violence, racism, and a myriad of topics which come across as NarmCharm due to the song's attempt to almost take on ''too many'' topics at once; with a gospel choir and bombastic rock instrumental accompanying it.

* CoolOldGuy: Almost any Killers collaboration with an older "classic rock" legend, such as Music/LouReed, Music/EltonJohn, [[Music/PetShopBoys Neil Tennant]], Music/JohnnyMarr and [[Music/FleetwoodMac Lindsey Buckingham]]. Especially in the reworking of "Dustland Fairytale" released in 2021 as simply "Dustland" featuring Music/BruceSpringsteen, ''The Boss'' himself.
** The band even managed to get Buckingham and Marr ''together'' on stage for a live performance in Los Angeles during their 2022 tour to all join in on Mr. Brightside.

* AbsenteeClubMumber: With both Mark Stoermer and Dave Keuning in the band's later years. Stoermer's pyrotechnics accident lead to a full hiatus from touring, although it wasn't entirely unknown for him to miss out on gigs earlier than that with "Mark is stuck at the airport" being a running gag among the fandom. Then there is Keuning's long hiatus from the band which briefly ended in 2021-2022 as he rejoined the group to record ''Pressure Machine'' after finishing his own solo album, and toured with the group until the end of the North American shows in 2022 when Ted Sablay resumed lead guitar duties. Despite this, Stoermer and Keuning have remained consistently considered as members of the band with their names always appearing in the album notes even when they are otherwise absent from the album or associated tour.

* ''Another Life'' (2011, Mark Stroemer)

* ''Filthy Apes and Lions'' (2017, Mark Stroemer)

->''Jealousy, turning saints into the sea,\\
Swimming through sick lullabies,\\
Choking on your alibis,\\
But it’s just the price I pay,\\
Destiny is calling me,\\
Open up my eager eyes,\\
Cause I’m Mr. Brightside.''
-->"Mr. Brightside"

** One of Mark's preferred bass guitars is the "Fender Geddy Lee signature bass" of {{Music/Rush}} fame.

* BrokenRecord: "I got soul, but I'm not a soldier, I got soul, but I'm not a soldier..."

* ConceptAlbum: ''Pressure Machine'' is a concept album about Flowers' childhood in Nephi, Utah, told from the perspective of the people there.

* MythArc: Brandon's parents are reoccurring figures in the band's songs; his parent's young romance as the inspiration for "A Dustland Fairytale", his father's religious conversion and decision to quit drinking the narrative of "Bling (Confessions of a King)", mentions of how they lovingly raised their children in "Quiet Town", and his mother's eventual diagnosis and death due to cancer in "Goodnight, Travel Well." The song "Lightning Fields" describes Brandon's father dreaming of seeing his wife again in the afterlife.
** Likewise Brandon's wife Tana and her upbringing begins to come into the music albeit with a focus on her dysfunctional home life and her desire to escape it in songs such as "Rut", "Caution" and "Blowback." Confronting the traumatic experiences of Tana's youth eventually inspired Brandon to take an introspective look at his own upbringing, leading to the stories in ''Pressure Machine.''

* {{Sampling}}: In "Dying Breed" in particular which opens with a beat borrowed from German krautrock bands such as Neu! and Can.

* ShoutOut: At their performance of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHaXv0Yu4AU "Human" at the EMA Awards]], [[spoiler:Brandon added in some lyrics from "Bring on the Dancing Horses" by Echo and the Bunnymen]].
-->[[spoiler: Bring on the new Messiah]]
-->[[spoiler:Wherever he may roam]]
-->[[spoiler:First I'm gonna make it]]
-->[[spoiler:Then I'm gonna break it]]
-->[[spoiler:Till it falls apart]]
-->[[spoiler:Hating all the faking]]
-->[[spoiler:Shaking while I'm breaking]]
-->[[spoiler:Your brittle heart]]

* SixthRanger: Ted Sablay during Dave Keuning's hiatus. Although Ted didn't appear on any of The Killer's albums (he does release his own solo work though), he stepped up from being a backing guitarist to the band's lead guitarist in concert; even learning the guitar solo to "Caution" originally performed by Lindsey Buckingham. Once Dave returned, Ted briefly continued to play the guitar parts for songs from ''Music/ImplodingTheMirage'' those first few months until Dave had a chance to learn them, and once the Imploding the Mirage Tour kicked off in 2022, Ted graciously stepped back into a backing role as Dave took over the lead guitar parts for those songs.

* SpokenWordInMusic: Ever wanted to hear Creator/WoodyHarrelson reading from Literature/TheBible before a ''bass drop'' happens and the song kicks in? It happens in the opening of "The Calling."

* StalkerWithACrush: The narrator of "Andy You're a Star".

* StudioChatter: An indecipherable bit of this at the beginning of "Leave The Bourbon On The Shelf", maybe Brandon talking to Dave.

* VivaLasVegas: Although the band themselves are not this trope, the music video for "The Man" is this, featuring various masculine Vegas stereotypes in Vegas itself and how they don't work out in the present day.

* AwesomeMcCoolname: Brandon Flowers.

* TheCityVsTheCountry: The dual comparison between Flower's two hometowns, Las Vegas and Nephi. One, a massive city in the middle of the desert with neon lights, gambling, sex, and vice flaunted openly. The other a rural town where religion influences everything, everybody knows each other, nobody locks their doors, and gossip spreads easily.
** Flower's decision to move out of Las Vegas and back to Utah later in life due to his wife Tana's traumatic experiences with her upbringing in Las Vegas can be seen as an attempt to escape ViceCity for Arcadia, and is reflected in the tonal shift between ''Wonderful Wonderful'' and ''Music/ImplodingTheMirage'' the albums that came out right before and after that move.

* RefrainFromAssuming: "All These Things That I've Done" is frequently known as "I Got Soul", and has even been covered using this title.

* SoloSideProject: Brandon Flowers and Ronnie Vanucci both released solo albums in the last few years, and eventually Keuning and Stoermer followed with their own albums. Keuning's solo albums were both released during his hiatus from the band.

* RecurringLocation: The Starlite Motel is first mentioned in "A Matter of Time" and appears again in the background of the music video for "Quiet Town." Seeing as Las Vegas and Nephi both have/had motels with the same name and both with prominent neon signs (the Nephi one in Quiet Town's video) this is an intentional thread between the two locations. The references to Charleston Avenue firmly plants the "A Matter of Time" motel in Las Vegas, while the one depicted in the "Quiet Town" video [[https://www.flickr.com/photos/19779889@N00/5804422551 was very distinctly]] Nephi's.

* CoolOldGuy: Almost any Killers collaboration with an older "classic rock" legend, such as Music/LouReed, Music/EltonJohn, [[Music/PetShopBoys Neil Tennant]], and [[Music/FleetwoodMac Lindsey Buckingham]]. Especially in the reworking of "Dustland Fairytale" released in 2021 as simply "Dustland" featuring Music/BruceSpringsteen, ''The Boss'' himself.

* HopelessWithTech: The band's fandom knows very well that the band just has ''no clue how to do social media.'' Take the release of the single "Boy" a song which the band had teased for a while as having been written before ''Pressure Machine'' and having inspired many of the themes of that album, but unfortunately was unable to appear in the album do its quickly evolving tonal differences. So "Boy" itself finally made its long hyped public debut live at a show in Madrid in 2022, and the band uploaded it to Instagram and the results are... [[https://www.instagram.com/accounts/login/?next=/p/CfusNoZlis5/ a potato quality video and rough recording of the song shot on a cellphone.]]