If, like us, you were of a certain age and of a certain musical inclination around the early part of the noughties, two albums that probably got a lot of rotation were The Strokes' 'Is This It' and The Killers' 'Hot Fuss'.
Both debut albums came out around the same time and even though The Strokes was clearly the better album, there was a sense of the 'guilty pleasure' to The Killers' brand of synth-led indie rock.
However, it seems that the latter's popularity did not go unnoticed by the former, according to comments made by guitarist Nick Valensi in a new book that documented the era.
In Lizzy Goodman's 'Meet Me in the Bathroom: Rebirth and Rock and Roll in New York City, 2001–2011', Valensi said: "We had conversations that went along the lines of ‘Gosh, I think our songs are better than ‘Mr. Brightside’ by the Killers, but how come that’s the one everyone is listening to?'”.
Even Rolling Stone journalist Jenny Eliscu said "“Hipsters get over shit so quickly. But it’s important to state that there’s a difference between the underground and hipsters. The underground is real and permanent. It’s more art than it is commerce. The Killers… and Kings of Leon were never part of the underground. Fuck no.”
What do you think - were you a bigger fan of The Strokes or The Killers?
