“The first shall be last and the last shall be first”, a fitting, possible prophetic beginning to a complete rundown of the Kings of Leon Discography. This is the introduction to a complete rundown of every Kings of Leon album from Youth and Young Manhood to Only By The Night, in order to provide a more complete picture of the band’s music. Before that I thought I should offer a bit of a history on the band so to provide some perspective on its origins. If you are not well acquainted with the band you should know that they have one of the most interesting back stories of any current rock band. Raised on the road by their father who was, like I said, a preacher, the boys were taught to look upon the world as a place of sin. “To be in the world but not of the world,” is a popular phrase among religious types, this type of mentality is reflected in the music of Kings of Leon in a kind of bitter sweet way. The change came when the boys’ father lost his faith, then stopped his preaching and started drinking. This meant that the world they knew as the inner circle of a religious community, was over and a new chapter in their lives had begun. Every song in their catalogue is a reflection of a true rock life style, seen, felt, and expressed through the eyes of, raised to be, true believers. During an interview with the lead singer Caleb, given by the CBC, he spoke about how he always knew that he was going to be something that would be bigger than himself. Caleb thought that he would be a preacher like his father, spreading the good word, heal the masses, convert the sinners and prepare for the end of days. During the same interview Caleb told the interviewer what the first rock song he ever heard was, he said that growing up he and his brothers were not allowed to listen to popular music and it was only in his teens while driving with his uncle that he got his first taste of rock music. The song, Crimson and Clover by Tommy James and the Shondells, this would change the singer, opening him up to a new world filled with Wawa and Distortion… and killer hair. What is often over looked and some what downplayed by the bands public face is that the band is truly a family affair, the band is made up of three brothers, lead vocals, bass, drums and one cousin lead guitar. This fact is probably overlooked by most media types so as to not encourage comparisons that could be made to other family bands. Think if people were comparing the Kings of Leon to the Hansons or The Ozmans, the comparison alone would be detrimental to the image of the band. Nonetheless, one thing is for certain the world has responded to this band’s music, formed out of a truck spot pulpits and country gospel song books, just waiting to be given that spark of life while traveling along the Mason-Dixon Line, in a pickup truck. This is what the Kings of Leon are about. Check back tomorrow for the album Reviews. First Up Youth & Young Manhood.
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