3. GENRES
ALTERNATIVE ROCK
▸ Cultural origins: Late 1970s to early 1980s
▸ Alternative Rock is a genre of rock music that emerged from the independent music
underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s. Therefore, it is
quite hard to specifically define what alternative rock is actually about. But AR can
breakdown in many sub-genres, such as britpop, gothic rock or indie rock. Due to the
variable properties of this genre, we cannot know what the audiences are like, but at
least we understand the word "alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from
mainstream rock music, expressed primarily in a distorted guitar sound, subversive and/
or transgressive lyrics and generally a nonchalant, defiant attitude.
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4. GENRES
INDIE ROCK
▸ Cultural origins: Early 1980s
▸ Back to the 80s, this genre is originally used to describe the music of the band come from
small labels. Indie rock was extremely diverse, with sub-genres that include indie pop,
jangle pop, and lo-fi, among others. Therefore, the definition of Indie Rock is actually quite
vague and unclear.
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5. GENRES
NEW WAVE
‣ Cultural origins: Late 1970s, United States,
United Kingdom and Ireland
‣ It can be defined as the combination with
Punk Rock because it was created in a
similar era with Punk Rock. But New wave
differs from other movements with ties to
first-wave punk as it displays characteristics
common to pop music, rather than the more
"arty" post-punk, though it incorporates
much of the original punk rock sound and
ethos while arguably exhibiting greater
complexity in both music and lyrics.
Common characteristics of new wave music,
aside from its punk influences, include the
use of synthesizers and electronic
productions, the importance of styling and
the arts, as well as a great amount of
diversity.
6. GENRES
POST-PUNK REVIVAL
‣ Cultural origins: Late 1990s United States
‣ Punk Rock was once very popular in
1970s United Kingdom. But after the few
years of it, there came Post-Punk which
inherited the spirit of Punk Rock. But the
history of Post-Punk didn’t last a long
success and ended up like the history of
Punk Rock. So after Post-Punk, there was
a new genre which tried to recreate the
spirit of Post-Punk in the late 1990s
United States called Post-Punk Revival. It
even obtained commercial success in the
early 2000s. After the trend of Post-Punk
Revival, the bands of this genre didn’t
seem to continue this success and a lot of
them broke up after the early 2000s.
7. GENRES
HEARTLAND ROCK
‣ Cultural origins: Late 1970s, United States
‣ It differs with the style of Punk Rock because it is influenced by Folk Rock and Country Rock.
The style of Heartland Rock is indeed a comparatively specific to other genres, so the
characteristics can be identified easily. It mixes typical Rock n’ Roll and Country Rock and it
was created in the US. The artists usually have strong identities of America with the style of
Country. It is a genre between old and new. Although the genre had already faded in the
1990s, it had an impact many remaining Rock bands worldwide.
8. KEY BANDS AND ARTISTS
WITHIN THESE GENRES
The band we are researching is The Killers, because it is quite a mainstream
band so their style and ideologies are not very specific for a certain group of
audiences. Therefore, I am going to find some bands of alternative rock,
especially founded during the Post-Punk Revival in the early 2000s. The
bands may not be very similar to The Killers, but their target audiences are
mainly teenagers and young adults, so the ideologies are theoretically
corresponding to what they think/want.
10. KEY BANDS AND ARTISTS WITHIN THESE GENRES
KINGS OF LEON
‣ The themes of their songs are about relationship, but they depict it in a rebellious
way. Because most artists have love song, but the genre depends on how they
portray the love theme. In their song – Sex On Fire, the lyrics are about sex. It is quite
obvious because the title has already addressed this theme. But the portrayal of
love in this song is not only sex, they even depicts the feelings on it directly. It
provides a rebellious image to the audiences.
‣ This band has a stronger image of
male compared to The Killers. It
doesn’t only address by the theme
of the song. In their music video of
Sex On Fire, they dress to show their
arms so audiences see their muscles.
A warm colour tone is also used to
enhance their passion of love. So
overall, the identity of them is quite
stereotypically male with strong
image and passion and power.
12. KEY BANDS AND ARTISTS WITHIN THESE GENRES
THE STROKES
‣ The Strokes is a representative during the Post-Punk Revival period. So their style and theme
are quite similar to punk but just slightly different with the original punk in 1970s. They have
a style of rebellion, which just the punk bands. It is shown by their clothing in their music
videos and live performances. For examples they always wear t-shirts with leather jackets on
top and jeans. The vocalist - Julian Casablancas even always wear sunglasses to provide a
mysterious image. These are typical punk bands dressing in the 2000s.
‣ The themes of The Strokes are very
similar to The Killers and other punk
rock bands. Their songs are usually
about love. This theme is actually most
teenagers audiences are interested in
because of puberty that they are
curious about love and relationship.
Therefore the bands for teenagers and
young adults as target audiences
would mainly create songs about love
to attract their attentions.
14. KEY BANDS AND ARTISTS WITHIN THESE GENRES
PANIC! AT THE DISCO
‣ They can be defined as pop rock or alternative rock, so their music genre is not
close to The Killers. But one similarity is they are both mainstream bands.
Although The Killers is an indie band, their target audience and style are
actually mainstream and for many kinds of audience. Therefore, Panic! At the
Disco and The Killers have something in common.
‣ If we look at the dressing styles of Panic!
At the Disco, we can see they are similar
to The Killers by their neutral-sex
appearances. Normal rock bands usually
wear casual clothes such as t-shirts and
jeans, but PATD wear differently. All the
members always wear suits and even
with eyeliners on their eyes. In order to
catch the audiences’ attention, they
would like to try different types of
costumes to be variable.
15. THE IDEOLOGIES
OF ROCK GENRERock is a representative of youths and young adults audiences since they are the target
audiences of this genre which was founded in 1950s. Through the years of development,
the genre has been divided into different genres towards different directions. Even
though the variety of the genre is a fact, the key ideology of rebellion has not changed a
lot. The sub-genres of rock can be defined as many levels of rebellion.
But The Killers is a mainstream band. The target audience of them are not only
teenagers, but a huge age range of audiences. Therefore, they are comparatively low
level of rebellion to other punk rock bands. Even though this is a fact that they don't hold
an extreme ideology, they are indeed influenced by punk rock according to their genre.
So the themes of The Killers contain the ideas which are suitable for all the audiences
but they still show the vitality of youth.
16. THE IDEOLOGIES OF ROCK GENRE
LOVE THEME
‣ Like most of the rock bands, the songs are about love because this is what teenagers are
interested in. Although there are many bands making songs about the same topic, there is
always a demand of this kind of songs staying in the market. An image of the band towards
love depends on their audience, then they would always make themselves the perfect lovers
for their audiences. In the songs of The Killers, their songs always show their weak side on love.
They don't look tough in their music videos, but looking like a caring, low-key gentleman. This
is the difference between them and others. For other punk/post-punk bands, the bands always
look tough and show the strength of being men to create a protective feeling to their fans.
‣ Due to the diverse types of audiences, the
themes of love in The Killers’ songs are not
just about relationship or puppy love.
Although they have many songs based on
this theme, they still made songs about
family love and parents. They even make
annual Christmas song at the end of a year
such as Boots, which is about father’s love.
So The Killers has a large range of audience
to keep their work stay at mainstream music
market.
17. THE IDEOLOGIES OF ROCK GENRE
DEPRESSING TONE
‣ Teenagers are experiencing their puberty which makes them emotional. There are many factors
would make teenagers tend to listen to music which depicts the struggles in their teenage
period. For example, the Emo used to be a popular culture among the teens during the 2000s
and it is an exact reflection of the teens’ ideologies. Emo is not only showing what type of music
they listen to, but also a lifestyle which reflects their thinking. They tend to dress in dark tone and
frequently spreading out depressing feelings. Some of them might even have acts of self-
harming or suicide. We don't often see mature adults have this kind of acts or dressing, but it
only appears in the teens. Because it is exactly how the teens select music according to their
ideologies.
‣ Of course, The Killers is much different
compared to the Emos. But they also
adopted this ideologies of teens into their
music. Their songs are always about lost and
struggles of love. We don't always see happy
endings in their music videos. It is what
exactly teenagers are being through with.
This style started fading in their later period,
but it is still a good reference to their early
work.
18. THE MISE EN SCÈNE IN THE
KILLERS’ MUSIC VIDEOS
The styles of The Killers is variable, as mentioned above, because they are a
mainstream band. Fortunately there are still some similarities between all of their
music videos that we can refer to.
The Killers was founded in Las Vegas, in which is a well-developed city and full of
entertainments. Therefore, there are many Vegas locations (or Vegas-like) where
were used in their music videos. More than that, they even emphasised the this
characteristics in their videos that address that they are from Vegas.
19. THE MISE EN SCÈNE IN THE KILLERS’ MUSIC VIDEOS
CLASSICAL SETTING
‣ Las Vegas used to be a desert before it
was planned to be a metropolis. As a
result, there are two types of locations
are often used in their videos.
Sometimes they used desert as their
videos’ location, in order to emphasise
the circumstances before Vegas was
developed. This setting is also used for
a Western background in their videos
as if they bring the audience back in
the 19th century. Due to the Western
background, all the band members
would dress like cowboys or Western-
like characters to associate with the
location. For example, they denim
jackets and jeans which make them
dress like Western.
20. THE MISE EN SCÈNE IN THE KILLERS’ MUSIC VIDEOS
URBAN SETTING
‣ Other than this, sometimes they used
the metropolitan scenario to highlight
their “Vegasness”. The landscape of
the city is frequently shown to confirm
their identity. It creates an expression
that they are living in a big city and
sometimes they feel lost. Apart from
Vegas, they also filmed their music
videos in other metropolises such as
Tokyo. It builds up their image of being
modern to imply that they are new,
young but classic. In this urban setting,
they would wear suits which makes
them look like gentlemen. Or they
would wear other modern clothes like
biker jackets.
21. THE MISE EN SCÈNE IN THE KILLERS’ MUSIC VIDEOS
UNUSUAL COSTUMES
‣ The Killers didn’t only follow the
conventions, they also made their
costumes variable and fashionable. They
have impressive ideas of performances.
They would like to dress something
unique to attract audiences’ attention.
Especially for the vocalist - Brandon
Flowers, he is the leader of the band so
he is the one often dresses different and
pretentious compared to other
members. Their costumes are not only
unique but also spiced up with hilarious
styles which some of them are not seen
normally on streets but only in theatre
drama. Therefore, the art of The Killers’
performance is not close to reality, but
on the level of drama instead.
