We’ve been shouting ‘coming out of my cage and I’ve been doing just fine’ for 14 years now and it’s still going strong in the UK charts.
The Killers released ‘Mr Brightside’ 14 years ago, 183 weeks, to the day and it’s still in the top 100 – impressive.
It’s currently sat at number 92 on the UK Official Singles chart.
According to the Official Charts website, the single was played an average of 752,000 times a week and has only been out of the Top 100 seven times since its release.
It’s not entirely surprising since the song is an absolute tune – it was named ‘Song of the Decade’ by Absolute Radio and Radio X.
It was the debut single for The Killers and featured on their album Hot Fuss.
The song is about the jealousy and paranoia of a man who suspects his partner is cheating on him.
The Killers’ guitarist Dave Keuning reportedly composed the song’s verses before meeting singer Brandon Flowers and Flowers then wrote lyrics and composed the chorus.
When the track was first released back in 2003, it didn’t actually do too well, but when it was re-released the following year it hit number 10 in both the UK and US charts.
There are two videos for this song: the first version also known as the UK version was filmed in April 2004 on Staten Island, New York.
Later on in the year the label decided to create a ‘more mainstream’ video for the US market – the second video also known as the US version was filmed in Los Angeles, California during November 2004.
The US video stars Flowers, Izabella Miko, and Eric Roberts in a love triangle, occurring within the context of a burlesque show.
The song received some fantastic reviews with The Washington Post describing Mr Brightside as ‘dashing through the tune as if it were a power ballad on speed’ while NME said the song was filled with ‘ambition, sex, and noise’.
The track was sent to radio stations as a buzz single and received frequent airtime by influential BBC Radio 1 DJs Zane Lowe and Steve Lamacq and was being play-listed by what was then called XFM.
Just one week after its April release, MTV2 secured a deal to air the song for a week.
The song was nominated for a Grammy in 2006 in the category for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal, but lost to a live version of ‘This Love’ by Maroon 5.
The Killers, who recently released their fifth studio album, Wonderful Wonderful, are performing at the Aussie rules football’s AFL Grand Final tomorrow (Saturday, September 30th), with Adelaide facing Richmond in Melbourne.
Ahead of their performance at the event, Australian sports commentator Gerard Whateley read out the lyrics from the band’s massive hit in the form of sports commentary.
The band are likely to perform tracks off their latest album, which has received warm reviews.
All Music editor Stephen Thomas Erlewine, wrote:
By this point, Flowers’ obsessions and signatures are so idiosyncratic, he’s clearly the auteur behind Wonderful Wonderful just as he was with [solo album] The Desired Effect, and the record charms because its ridiculousness is sincere and his sincerity is ridiculous – two qualities that make him and his art messy and quite genuine.
