Mr. Brightside


"Mr. Brightside" is the first single released by American rock band The Killers. It was released as the band's debut single and is featured on their debut studio album, Hot Fuss. Written by band members Brandon Flowers and Dave Keuning, it was one of the first songs the Killers ever wrote. Two music videos were made for the song: the first was shot in black and white and features the band performing in an empty room. The second, filmed for the song's re-release, is based on the 2001 film Moulin Rouge!
The song was originally released on September 29, 2003, and achieved success within the UK. It became more popular upon its re-release in 2004, peaking at number 10 in both the United States and the United Kingdom. It is the Killers' best-selling song in the US, where it has sold over 3.5 million copies. In the United Kingdom it is one of the top fifteen most downloaded rock tracks ever.
"Mr. Brightside" was named "Song of the Decade" by UK radio stations Absolute Radio and XFM, and in April 2010 Last.fm revealed that it was the most listened to track since the launch of the online music service, with the track being played over 7.66 million times. In October 2010, it was voted ninth in the Greatest Guitar Riffs of the 21st Century so far by Total Guitar magazine. Additionally, in 2010 Rolling Stone listed "Mr. Brightside" as the forty-eighth best song of the 21st century.

Recording and production

Lyrically, "Mr. Brightside" depicts the jealousy and paranoia of a man who suspects his significant other is cheating on him. Guitarist Dave Keuning composed the music before meeting Flowers. Flowers then wrote lyrics and composed the chorus after hearing Keuning's ideas. Flowers credits the speed of the song's creation due to it having only one verse. He says, "We went in and made demos pretty quickly after that, and it took a ton of time. That's also why there's not a second verse... I just didn't have any other lines, and it ended up sticking." Drummer Ronnie Vannucci Jr. is credited with creating the fast-paced drum beat in the first twenty-two seconds. The "calling a cab" section of the song has both a musical and textual similarity to the middle section of the song "Queen Bitch" from David Bowie's album Hunky Dory. "Mr. Brightside" is written in the key of D major.
The song was mixed for its inclusion on Hot Fuss by Mark Needham, along with business partners Braden Merrick and Jeff Saltzman. The song was first created as a reference mix in just over half an hour "on an 8 input console, with no automation" according to Needham. Despite several subsequent remixes, the members of the Killers preferred the original one, which then made it onto the record. In recording the vocal effects, Saltzman used Echo Farm, sticking with the default vocal effects setting. Needham says it "overdrives the vocal a bit and sets an 84 ms delay."

History

In their first performance together as The Killers, Flowers and Keuning played "Mr. Brightside" as part of a two-song open-mic night set at Las Vegas' Cafe Roma. Of the performance, Flowers says "It was terrible, awful." In November 2001, the group had recorded "Mr. Brightside" along with three other demos including "Desperate", "Replaceable", and "Under the Gun" at Mike Sak's Kill the Messenger Studio in Henderson, Nevada. They handed out a demo of the song for free during their shows in 2002. After signing with UK indie label Lizard King Records, the track was sent to radio as a buzz single and it received frequent spins by BBC Radio 1 DJ's Zane Lowe and Steve Lamacq as well as being play-listed by XFM. Just one week after its April release, MTV2 secured a deal to air the song for a week.

Reception

In one of the song's first reviews, The Washington Post stated that the song is "dashing through the tune as if it were a power ballad on speed, Flowers and company had the capacity crowd pulsing along with glee." "Mr. Brightside" became a popular song within the Las Vegas music scene with one reviewer calling it a "feel-good anthem that ranks as one of the best local tracks in a long time". In a glowing review, NME said the song was filled with "ambition, sex, and noise". In an overwhelmingly positive review by Rolling Stone, the song was described as having "swelled with anthemic majesty".

Commercial performance

"Mr. Brightside" entered the Billboard Hot 100 at No. 40 on February 12, 2005, and peaked at No. 10 on June 11, thus making it a sleeper hit. Two weeks after its peak at No. 10 on the Billboard charts, The Killers released their debut album Hot Fuss. The song reached 3.5 million in sales 2016.
In 2005, "Mr. Brightside" was the sixth most downloaded song on iTunes. To this day "Mr. Brightside" still has the highest popularity rating that iTunes offers, even after being available for purchase for over ten years. Additionally, sales of Hot Fuss album reached over 5 million sales by 2006. The online music streaming service Last.fm reported in 2010 that "Mr. Brightside" was the most downloaded song on the website. By July 2014, the song sold more than 820,000 copies in the United Kingdom, making it the UK's No. 12 most downloaded rock track of all time.
In the list of songs which have spent the most weeks on the UK Singles Chart, "Mr. Brightside" is currently in first place, with 206 weeks in the Top 100., it had charted on the UK Singles Chart in 11 of the last 13 years, including a 35-week run peaking at number 49 in 2016–2017. It was the UK's most streamed pre-2010 song, until it was surpassed by Oasis' "Wonderwall" in late 2018, and continued to be purchased for download hundreds of times a week by 2017. In March 2018, the song reached the milestone of staying in the Top 100 of the UK Singles Chart for 200 weeks. Explanations have included the song's popularity at parties, its popularity on streaming services, and the continued presence of The Killers as a popular live band in the UK.

Music videos

There are two videos for this song: the first version was filmed in Staten Island, New York, and was directed by Brad and Brian Palmer under their studio Surround. Later on in the year the label decided to create a more mainstream video for the US market: the second video was filmed in Los Angeles, California. Directed by Sophie Muller, the video stars Flowers, Izabella Miko, and Eric Roberts in a love triangle, occurring within the context of a burlesque show.
The US version won an MTV VMA in 2005 for Best New Artist in a Video, beating other nominees such as John Legend, Ciara, The Game, and My Chemical Romance.
The photos featured on the inner sleeve of the album Hot Fuss were shot on set during the filming of the UK version music video and were inspired by the black and white look of that video.

Releases and cover versions

In 2005, Jacques Lu Cont released a remix of the song. This version was received to negative reviews, with Michael Paoletta saying that this version "depletes the song of its energy and intensity". That same year, this song as well as two others by the Killers reached the Billboard Top 20 single chart
An early demo of the song featured Dave Keuning on bass and Matt Norcross on drums, before Mark Stoermer and Ronnie Vannucci were members of the band. The original demo was officially released on the 2013 compilation album Direct Hits.
A remix of the song by Stuart Price was featured on The Killers' 2007 B-side and rarities compilation, Sawdust. This version was over twice the length of the original, with the 2004 release having been 3:45, while Price's version is 8:48. During the tour for Brandon Flowers's solo record, he performed the remix version with Stuart Price during his show at Brixton Academy and has since performed it on his tour as the show closer, again in the remix form. On The Killers' 2012 album Battle Born, they released "Miss Atomic Bomb", which is considered a companion song to "Mr. Brightside" lyrically.
The song has been covered in a swing/jazz style by Paul Anka on his 2007 covers album Classic Songs, My Way. Crossover rock-jazz artist ELEW created a piano version for his 2010 ELEW Rockjazz Vol. 1. English pop-punk band McFly covered the song as a B-side to their 2005 single "I Wanna Hold You". Texan artist Playradioplay! covered the song on his 2007 EP The Frequency as well. An acoustic bluegrass cover was recorded for CMH Records' Bluegrass Tribute to The Killers. Abi Sampa from The Voice UK recorded a mashup of "Mr. Brightside" and M.I.A.'s "Paper Planes". Many other artists have performed live covers of the song, including American rock band Fall Out Boy, Isa Raja on X Factor Indonesia and Scottish singer-songwriter Amy Macdonald.
The song has also been covered by the Vitamin String Quartet, Boyce Avenue and on the UK television show Orange Unsigned Act by contestant Tommy Reilly. Additionally, a cappella versions have been produced by groups including Wheaton College's Gentlemen Callers, MIT's Resonance and Boston-based Overboard. Flowers performed the song during his solo tour in 2010. Indonesian hardcore band Thirteen also cover this song. The Wanted covered the song as part of a medley of The Killers songs during their summer 2013 live shows.

Media use

"Mr. Brightside" appears on the soundtrack for the 2006 film The Holiday. The song is played on a CD player by character Amanda Woods, portrayed by Cameron Diaz, in order to relieve stress and forget about her boyfriend's infidelity. The song is also briefly featured in the 2013 film About Time.
The song has become a crowd favorite among Michigan Wolverines football fans at Michigan Stadium, where fans in excess of 100,000 sing along to the tune when it is played in the fourth quarter. The 2017 football season saw the song being sung in unison by the student SuperFans at Alumni Stadium during Boston College Eagles football games, and has become the unofficial go-to song for Boston College fans during sporting events. It was also a memorable feature of the 2017 AFL premiership celebrations by Jack Riewoldt of the Richmond Tigers, who sang the song in its entirety live alongside The Killers.
British singer James Blunt has said that "Mr. Brightside" is his favorite song of all time.
In 2008, it was released as downloadable content for the Rock Band series. It is one of the all-time highest selling DLC songs for the game.

Track listings

Original 2003 UK White 7"
  1. "Mr. Brightside"
  2. "Smile Like You Mean It"
Original 2003 UK CD
  1. "Mr. Brightside"
  2. "Smile Like You Mean It"
  3. "On Top"
  4. "Who Let You Go?"
Re-Release UK Red 7"
  1. "Mr. Brightside"
  2. "Who Let You Go?"
Re-Release UK CD 1
  1. "Mr. Brightside"
  2. "Change Your Mind"
Re-Release UK CD 2
  1. "Mr. Brightside"
  2. "Somebody Told Me"
  3. "Midnight Show"
US Promotional Release
  1. "Mr. Brightside"
Australian Limited Edition Tour Single
  1. "Mr Brightside"
  2. "Somebody Told Me"
  3. "Who Let You Go?"
  4. "Mr Brightside"
European 2005 Single
  1. "Mr. Brightside"
  2. "Somebody Told Me"
European 2005 Maxi single
  1. "Mr. Brightside"
  2. "Somebody Told Me"
  3. "Mr. Brightside"
US 12"
  1. "Mr. Brightside"
  2. "Mr. Brightside"
  3. "Mr. Brightside"
  4. "Mr. Brightside"
  5. "Mr. Brightside"
  6. "Mr. Brightside"

    Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Chart Position
UK Singles 127

Chart Position
UK Singles 123

Chart Position
UK Singles 180

Chart Position
UK Singles 169

Chart Position
UK Singles 169

Chart Position
UK Singles 87

Chart Position
UK Singles 63

Decade-end charts

Certifications

Accolades

PublicationCountryAccoladeYearRank
Absolute RadioUnited Kingdom100 Best Songs Of The Decade2009
1
Channel 4United KingdomGreatest Songs of The Noughties2009
2
ComplexUnited StatesThe 100 Best Songs of the Complex Decade2012
74
KROQUnited StatesTop Songs of 20052005
3
NMEUnited KingdomBest Tracks of 20042004
5
NMEUnited Kingdom150 Best Tracks of the Past 15 Years2011
5
NMEUnited Kingdom100 Greatest Songs of NME's Lifetime 1952–20122012
83
Total GuitarUnited KingdomGreatest Guitar Riffs of the 21st Century2010
9
Triple JAustraliaHottest 100 of 20042004
13
Rolling StoneUnited States100 Best Songs of the 2000s2009
48
Pitchfork MediaUnited StatesThe Top 500 Tracks of the 2000s2009
72
PitchforkUnited StatesThe Top 50 Singles of 2005200518
VH1United States100 Greatest Songs of the '00s2011
55
XFMUnited KingdomTop 100 Songs of the Decade2009
1
XFMUnited KingdomThe Top 1,000 Songs Of All Time2010
1
NMEUnited KingdomThe 500 Greatest Songs of All Time2014
116
Triple JAustraliaTriple J Hottest 100 of the Past 20 Years, 20132013
7
BPIUnited KingdomMost Streamed Songs Released Before 20102017
1

Awards

The song was nominated for a Grammy in 2006 for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal, but lost to a live version of "This Love" by Maroon 5.
YearCeremonyAwardResult
2005Billboard Music AwardsDigital Song of the Year
2005MTV Video Music AwardsBest Rock Video
2005MTV Video Music AwardsBest Group Video
2005MTV Video Music AwardsBest New Artist in a Video
2005MTV Video Music AwardsBest Art Direction
2005MuchMusic Video AwardsPeople's Choice: Favorite International Group
2005MuchMusic Video AwardsBest International Video – Group
2005TEC AwardsOutstanding Record Production Single or Track
2006Grammy AwardsBest Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal
2006International Dance Music AwardsBest Alternative/Rock Dance Track
2014Official Charts CompanyPop Gem Hall of FameInducted