BY CEVAT BARIŞ YILMAZ (CS/II)
baris.yilmaz@ug.bilkent.edu.tr
It’s been 13 years since Kings of Leon released their first album, “Youth and Young Manhood.” Back then, they were a raw Southern garage rock band. They were the new kids in Nashville, seemingly coming from the ’70s with their long hair and leather jackets. The album offered the song “Trani,” for conveying the lazy feeling of the draining Southern heat; “California Waiting” for driving through the sunset and tasting freedom on a summer evening; “Spiral Staircase” for blasting away the whole town; and “Molly’s Chambers” for singing and dancing on the beach until morning. Maybe they didn’t get spotted quickly in their homeland, but they did reach third place on the United Kingdom charts.
Then, the very next year, “Aha Shake Heartbreak” came out. It was the soul twin of the first album, as if it were its B side, released after a year-long delay. Here, Kings of Leon gave us “Rememo” instead of “Trani”; “Where Nobody Knows” instead of “California Waiting”; “Four Kicks” instead of “Spiral Staircase”; and “Taper Jean Girl” instead of “Molly’s Chambers.” This album also reached the top 3 in the UK, but again couldn’t even make it into the top 50 in the US.
By 2007, the young Southern boys had grown up and decided to change. They were still Southern, and still playing from their garage, but they had different stories to tell, and the track “Knocked Up” signaled that they would keep changing. “Because of the Times” marked the first alteration in the band’s style; it was an alternative rock album as much as it was a garage and Southern rock album. This new style helped Kings of Leon get to the top of the charts in the UK and to 25th place in the US. “Because of the Times” sold more than a million copies worldwide.
Then, in 2008, came “Only by the Night,” with which they left their Southern soul behind and became an international stadium band. Their first-ever big hit songs, “Sex on Fire” and “Use Somebody,” were on this album, which sold more than seven million copies, topped the charts in Australia, Belgium, Ireland, New Zealand and the UK, and peaked at second in Canada and fourth in the US. In 2009, the band gave three consecutive sold-out concerts in London’s O2 Arena and won their first Grammy award.
In 2010, Kings of Leon released “Come Around Sundown” which is for me their best album. In it, I think they managed to combine what they used to be and what they wanted to become. The album displays both their old Southern roots and the new style they adopted in their previous album. However, the most notable aspect of this release is the way the songs connect with each other. Instead of putting together 10 unrelated songs, as is the case for most albums today, they succeeded in creating a stylistic bridge between each song and the next. Starting with “The End” (in fact the first track on the album), all the songs tell a different story from the same journey. You feel the warmth of the South, as in the first two albums; you touch the sands of a Southern beach, feel the wind coming through the window of a car, see the sunset on a sea turned to red. In addition to its musical success (at least in my view), this album marked the first time that Kings of Leon topped the rock music charts in the US, while also placing second among albums from all genres.
“Mechanical Bull,” released in 2013, put an end to the stylistic search they had begun in “Because of the Times.” The album was made up of generally good songs, which didn’t risk going outside the 
band’s recognized style. There was neither stylistic exploration, nor internal integrity as on the previous album.
The most recent release by Kings of Leon is their seventh album, “WALLS,” which came out this year. To me, it seemed to be something of a repetition of their previous album. We’ve understood for a while now that they’re no longer the same Southern boys they were ten years ago. However, it’s still disappointing that for six years we haven’t seen an album that has Southern influences, is integrated in itself like “Come Around Sundown” or is seeking a new musical style.
But even though the last two albums didn’t satisfy my expectations concerning Kings of Leon, I still think the band will make us feel the warmth of the South again. They’ll reclaim the Southern crown and record a new “Youth and Young Manhood.” They’re still not that far from Nashville…at least for now.