JenniferCroftAsMedia: 2011

Thursday 20 January 2011

Double page spread article

It all began with 3 brothers, 1 cousin, 1 backwater town, who knew they’d be kings of the world. Senseless investigate how the ‘Kings of Leon’ became the most inspirational band around. But how long will this last?

It may surprise some readers of how inspirational the Kings of Leon have become, but certainly not the huge amount of fans out there. Senseless went out to investigate just how inspirational The Kings of Leon really are. One extremely happy parent told Senseless ‘My son got into a lot of trouble with the police and I was really concerned. Then he went to a King of Leon’s gig and he was so inspired he began to play the guitar and now instead of walking around the streets he has band practise with his friends every Friday night’. This is just one story out of thousands.
Another huge fan of the Kings of Leon told Senseless,

‘They showed me that if you have determination you can achieve huge goals’.

This is definitely true, as the Kings of Leon came from a very ordinary background and released many album’s but the most outstanding was ‘Only by night’ released in 2008. This has the songs we all know and love such as the sensational song ‘use somebody’ and ‘Sex on fire’. Many critics believe this album is what made them who they are today. This was deemed true as The King of Leon received many awards for this album, such as the Grammy Award 2010.
However there have also been incidents where the Kings of Leon have felt that their fans are loosing support for them. Such as the 2009 Reading festival, when the Kings of Leon did not receive the reception they wanted. Senseless found a fan who attended that festival, we wanted to find out what went wrong as their fans have always seemed so loyal. The fan says ‘I personally did enjoy most of the gig, but the weather was terrible and you could tell this affected a lot of the crowd. I was upset that not many people still wanted to support the Kings of Leon but I feel fine knowing I was still shouting when no one else was.’ Senseless wanted a second opinion on this so interviewed another fan, who says

‘There was just no atmosphere, the Kings of Leon were trying so hard and the crowd just were just not recuperating it, maybe they are loosing their touch?

This became a huge debate among fans, who began to shout ‘The kings of Leon will never ‘loose their touch’’. This just shows everyone how hard it can be for the Kings of Leon, but how many loyal fans they have to support them.
  The Kings of Leon are back after a short break, with their new album ‘Come around sundown’. Senseless asked a critic what they thought of this album, ‘let’s just hope the sun is not coming down on their career’.
   This album so far has been extremely controversial as The Kings of Leon are trying a new type of modern music, completely different to their last album. But is this a good fresh start or a complete disaster? We asked a fan in a music store what he thought about the Kings of Leon’s new album, he said ‘they had high expectations to fill after their last album was so successful, but I enjoyed listening to the singles on the album.’ However a critic told Senseless he ‘completely disagrees with the choice of music for their new album as it completely clashes with their older albums’. He then adds ‘it’s just not what you would expect from the King of Leon’. But isnt that what we love about bands, changing their style to so they dont get boring?
   A fan was determined that the Kings of Leon were not going to release another album. This is what she thought when she found out about their new album. ‘They are amazing, they put so much passion into their music and it really shows when you listen to it. COME ON the Kings of Leon!’   Throughout ‘Senseless’s’ journey into the minds of critics and The Kings of Leon fans, its clear to say they are getting a lot more attention than they did a couple of years ago playing in their garage. Now they are playing in front of 18,000 fans! No matter what happens the Kings of Leon will always have its true fans across the world that will never let them down. Everyone has critics who do not agree with what they are doing and not everyone will like the Kings of Leon. But they defiantly have a fighting spirit and do not give up, that’s for sure! Let’s hope this is not the end of the Kings of Leon and they realise more and more albums in the future. But I think it’s fair to say the Kings of Leon are definitely one of the greatest bands of all time.