Aha Shake

Four kicks who's strutting na-how

Few bands culminate to resonate thoroughly with an entire generation. When I attempt to reflect on bands that have previously captured the imagination and affection of an entire generation’s youth, those that most readily spring to mind are The Stones and The Beatles. Fast forward to a more familiar decade, and Nirvana are undoubtedly way up there too, with their warts and all encapsulation of a young generation’s bottled up and tanked up frustrations.

The majority of today’s youth strike a tone much less moody than grunge. The vibe is much more ‘let’s go and have good times and take pretty pictures of it so I can get a new Facebook default’. The majority of this youth are head over heels for the monarchs of today’s popular new music, The Kings of Leon.

Obviously, obviously, I can’t speak for every young’un, but to summarize, I bet you’re a fan. Like the Stones before them, they strike a chord deep, deep down within us, that makes our bodies feel and ride every riff, and sets our nights on the path of wild.  Remember the first time you heard Sex on Fire? Hard to believe now that we were once virgins to that kind of unleash of angst. Though now, it’s fate is sealed to replace The Killers’ Mr Brightside as the tragically inevitable final song on a cheesy DJ’s playlist, we all loved it at first, and when my ipod set to random mode surprised me with it the other day, it still felt good. Cast your mind a little further back to your King of the Rodeo first time. That song shocked me with its appeal when I first heard it. I wanted to climb right inside it. Even now when I hear it I feel the dull shake of the initial eruption that exploded within me. I’d always thought it captured the mood of the time perfectly, I could hear every little high and low of my Uni life within the course of the song.

Only by the Night enjoyed such commercial success that the bands fan-base could well have doubled in size, inevitably leaving the original hardcore fans a little sore. But it’s ok. It’s ok because revisiting one of their albums is so enjoyable. And we feel that same rush all over again, the same way our pa’s and ma’s feel when they blow the dust off their old Sticky Fingers LP.

So, those four wise kings may consider this a message from a generation electrified; we are hooked and ready, ears pricked for whatever you got next. Bring it.