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Kings of Leon

Kings of Leon is an American rock band formed in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1999. The band includes brothers Caleb, Nathan, and Jared Followill and their cousin Matthew Followill.

For kings of the medieval Kingdom of León, see List of Leonese monarchs. For other uses, see King Leo (disambiguation).

Kings of Leon

1999 (1999)–present

  • Caleb Followill
  • Jared Followill
  • Nathan Followill
  • Matthew Followill

The band's early music was a blend of Southern rock and garage rock with blues influences, but it has evolved throughout the years to include a variety of genres and a more alternative rock-based sound. Kings of Leon achieved initial success in the United Kingdom with nine top 40 singles and two BRIT Awards in 2008, and all three of the band's albums at the time peaked in the top five of the UK Albums Chart. Their third album, Because of the Times, reached No. 1.


After the release of Only by the Night in September 2008, the band achieved chart success in the United States. The singles "Sex on Fire", "Use Somebody", and "Notion" all peaked at number one on the Hot Modern Rock Tracks chart. The album was their first platinum-selling album in the United States, and the best-selling album of 2008 in Australia, being certified platinum nine times. The band's fifth album, Come Around Sundown, was released on October 18, 2010. Their sixth album, Mechanical Bull, was released on September 24, 2013. The seventh studio album, Walls, was released on October 14, 2016.[1] Their eighth studio album, When You See Yourself, was released on March 5, 2021. Their ninth studio album, Can We Please Have Fun, will be released on May 10, 2024. The group has won 4 Grammy Awards from 12 nominations, including Record of the Year for "Use Somebody" in 2010.

History[edit]

Early years: before 2002[edit]

The three Followill brothers (Matthew is their cousin) grew up in Oklahoma and Tennessee with their father, Ivan Leon Followill, a United Pentecostal Church preacher, and their mother, Betty-Ann. Nathan was born in Oklahoma, and Jared and Caleb were born in and around Memphis, Tennessee. Jared attended Mount Juliet High School, while Matthew was born and raised in Mississippi. According to Rolling Stone magazine, "While Ivan preached at churches and tent revivals throughout Oklahoma and the Deep South, his boys attended services and were occasionally enlisted to "bang on some drums". They were either home-schooled by their mother, or enrolled in small parochial schools at this time. Except for a five-year period when they settled in Jackson, Tennessee, the Followills' childhoods were spent driving through the southern United States in a purple 1988 Oldsmobile, camping for a week or two wherever Ivan was scheduled to preach.[2]


When the boys' father resigned from preaching and their parents divorced in 1997, Nathan and Caleb relocated to outside Nashville and originally embraced country music. While there, they met songwriter Angelo Petraglia, who helped the siblings hone their songwriting skills and introduced them to the musical influences of Thin Lizzy,[3] the Rolling Stones and the Clash in particular. Jared, who had briefly attended public school, was more influenced by the music of the Pixies and the Velvet Underground. When he and their cousin Matthew also moved to Nashville in 1999, Kings of Leon was formed. They named the band after their grandfather Leon, who died in January 2014.[4]

Signing and first EP: 2002–2003[edit]

By 2002, Nathan and Caleb had received interest from a number of music labels and eventually signed with RCA Records, which initially insisted on putting a band together for the two of them. In an interview with Billboard, however, Nathan outlined how they told RCA, "We don't want to be Evan and Jaron. We're going to buy our little brother a bass, he's a freshman in high school. Caleb will teach himself the guitar, Matthew played guitar when he was 10 and I'll play the drums. They said, 'All right, we'll come down in one month and see you guys.'" Later in the interview Caleb admitted to the brothers "kidnapping" their cousin Matthew from his hometown in Mississippi for him to join the band. They told his mother that he was only going to be staying for a week but never allowed him to return home. "We locked ourselves in the basement with an ounce of marijuana and literally spent a month down there. My mom would bring us food down," added Nathan. "And at the end of that month the label people came and we had 'Molly's Chambers,' 'California Waiting,' 'Wicker Chair,' and 'Holy Roller Novocaine.'"[5]


The band's first record, an EP entitled Holy Roller Novocaine, was released on February 18, 2003. At this stage, Jared was only 16 years old and had not yet learned to play the bass. The release of Holy Roller Novocaine gave the Kings of Leon a significant amount of exposure, receiving a 4/5 star rating from Rolling Stone magazine. All of the songs released on the EP were co-written by Angelo Petraglia, who also produced the record, and four of the five songs would later be released on Youth and Young Manhood. The versions of "Wasted Time" and "California Waiting" on the EP differ from their album versions, however, with the first having a more tense riff and different vocal style than the same track off Youth and Young Manhood, the second being recorded in a rush to finish the EP. The EP also contains the song "Wicker Chair", while a track called "Andrea" was discarded before its release.[6] In addition, three songs from Holy Roller Novocaine were used in the Farrelly brothers film Stuck on You with Matt Damon and Greg Kinnear: "California Waiting," "Molly's Chambers" and "Holy Roller Novocaine."

First albums and critical recognition: 2003–2006[edit]

The Followills' debut album, Youth and Young Manhood, was released in the UK in July 2003 and in the United States that August. The album was recorded between Sound City Studios in Los Angeles and Shangri-La Studios in Malibu, California. It was produced by Angelo Petraglia and Ethan Johns.[7] According to Rolling Stone magazine, the band's retro-chic look and blend of Southern boogie and gritty garage rock inspired comparisons to both Lynyrd Skynyrd and the Strokes. The album became a sensation in the UK and Ireland, where NME declared it "one of the best debut albums of the last 10 years" and The Guardian described the band as "the kind of authentic, hairy rebels the Rolling Stones longed to be". The album still failed to make any significant impact in the US, where reviews were generally lukewarm and the modern rock audience was generally uninterested. In the United States, Youth and Young Manhood sold only 100,000 copies, compared with the 750,000 copies it moved abroad.


The band's second album, Aha Shake Heartbreak, was released in the UK in October 2004 and in the United States in February 2005. Building on the Southern-infused garage rock of their first album, the album broadened the band's domestic and international audience. The album was again produced by Angelo Petraglia and Ethan Johns. "The Bucket", "Four Kicks", and "King of the Rodeo" were all released as singles, with "The Bucket" rising into the Top 20 in Britain. "Taper Jean Girl" was also used in the 2007 film Disturbia and the film Cloverfield in 2008.[8] The band garnered accolades from several of their rock peers, including Elvis Costello, and also toured with U2, Bob Dylan and Pearl Jam during 2005 and 2006.[9][10][11]

(2003)

Youth & Young Manhood

(2004)

Aha Shake Heartbreak

(2007)

Because of the Times

(2008)

Only by the Night

(2010)

Come Around Sundown

(2013)

Mechanical Bull

(2016)

Walls

(2021)

When You See Yourself

(2024)

Can We Please Have Fun

(2010-2011)

Come Around Sundown World Tour

(2014-2015)

Mechanical Bull Tour

WALLS World Tour (2017)

When You See Yourself Tour (2021)

Can We Please Have Fun World Tour (2024)

In other media[edit]

In early April 2011, an 87-minute film directed by Stephen C. Mitchell documenting the band members' lives was shown at the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival in New York, called Talihina Sky, the name of an early Kings of Leon track. The Tribeca premiere was followed by scheduling a hometown premiere at the deadCENTER Film Festival in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, on June 8, 2011.[52]


The European premiere was hosted at the Edinburgh International Film Festival on June 25[53] and was followed by an interview session with the band. UK distributor Revolver Entertainment streamed the movie and interview session to 150 UK cinemas for a "One Night Only" live screening event.[54] RCA Records later announced that the film would be released on Blu-ray Disc and DVD on November 1, 2011.[55]


Kings of Leon are mentioned in the Bedroom Philosopher's song "Northcote (So Hungover)" as inspirational icons: "Riding around on the 86, so hungover / Gonna go down to Pony, pretend I'm in Kings of Leon",[56] and depicted in the music video.[57]


Caleb, Nathan, and Jared Followill made a guest appearance in the It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia episode "The High School Reunion" (season 7, episode 12). The episode mocks the Fox musical-comedy Glee, which itself is set in a high school. The members of Kings of Leon dislike Glee and refused to let them use their music, and as fans of Sunny, asked to make a guest appearance.


In 2016 the Northern Ireland national football team made a historic run into the finals of the UEFA European Championships - branded as EURO 16 and held in France. The country’s first-ever goal and victory at the tournament came against Ukraine on 16 June in a 0–2 victory held at Parc Olympique Lyonnais in Lyon. The group of players that competed at the tournament have since been referred to in Northern Irish media as ‘The Kings of Lyon’.


Lana Del Rey mentions the band in the song White Dress from her 2021 album Chemtrails over the Country Club.


The cover of the Mechanical Bull album appears in the 2021 video game Life Is Strange: True Colors and the characters listen to the song "Don't Matter".


The band was also selected to play as part of the festivities of the 2021 NFL Draft at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio.

List of alternative rock artists

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Official website