KINGS OF LEON ROCK!

 DOHERTY: Regular readers of this blog (and we know you're out there!) have probably figured out that Norah and I, despite being good friends and writing partners, have vastly different tastes in music. And while she knows all today's popular performers, I'm still dancing around the kitchen to the Grease soundtrack. (That would be funny except it's true). Yes, dammit! I love musicals.
 
WILSON: By contrast, the last musical I loved was Rocky Horror Picture Show! (Sing it with me: “Let’s do the time warp again!”)
 
DOHERTY: But there is one band that we do have a common love for – big time: Kings of Leon. 

 
WILSON: KOL, baby! The first time I heard them, I was napping. Yep, napping. My husband was listening to some book on tape about the American Civil War downstairs, and I needed to drown out the droning narrator. So I tuned the television to Much Music and crashed. And from a sound sleep, I swear I was wakened by that amazing, scorching guitar riff in Sex on Fire. I sat up in bed to find out who the hell this was. OMG!!!! The video totally rocked!

DOHERTY: Well, my introduction was in Norah's car. Whenever we travel, we take her car, and she'll often have the music blasting though the speakers when she picks me up, and greeting me with an enthusiastic, “You gotta hear this song!”
 
WILSON: That’s right. All music, all the time. My daughter, now 21, asked me a question about 15 years ago that`s always stuck with me. “Mom, why aren’t girls allowed to sing in your car?” Blew me away. But she was right! All the bands and artists I was listening to were male. Ack! I told her, “Mommy hasn’t heard a girl who was angry enough since Chrissie Hynde.” Of course, there’ve been a few angry females get air time on my speakers since then, but I digress.
 
DOHERTY: Anyway, while on one of our longer trips, Norah popped Kings of Leon into the CD player. Oh wow ... Sex on Fire! That song rocks. Okay, was this a fluke? Hell, no, the whole freaken CD rocked. I LOVE THIS BAND! I am now as cool as Norah! (Okay, no I'm not.)
 
WILSON: Yep, Kings of Leon rock! They bluesy-rock, to be specific. And it’s all peppered with these spooky riffs, with surprises around every corner. Of course, I started out gorging on Sex on Fire. Then I OD’d on Use Somebody and thrilled to Crawl. But after digesting the CD (ONLY BY THE NIGHT) over a period of months, you know what my favourite track is? I’m pretty sure it is and always will be the very mournful Cold Desert:
 
          I never ever cried when I was feeling down
          I’ve always been scared of the sound
          Jesus don’t love me; no one ever carried my load
          I’m too young to feel this old

 
WILSON DOHERTY: <Sigh.>