Rocktober '00s Song #9: "Black Thumbnail" by Kings of Leon (2007)

Any discussion of rock and roll in the '00s has to include Kings of Leon.  They were kind of pegged as the "Southern Strokes" when they broke onto the scene in 2003, but I don't really think that's an apt comparison, as the bands didn't really sound anything alike.  And while The Strokes were street-savvy city kids from generally well-to-do families, Kings of Leon were a family band -- three brothers, Caleb, Jared, and Nathan Followill and their cousin, Matthew Followill -- who were raised in a nomadic upbringing, following their Pentecostal preacher father around the South.  They didn't really discover secular music until their teens.

The band's first three albums -- 2003's Youth & Young Manhood, 2005's Aha Shake Heartbreak, and 2007's Because of the Times -- are three of my favorite albums from the 2000s.  The band took steps forward with each album, but they're all great in their own right.  As is often the case, the Brits were ahead of us on appreciation of cool music, as the band's first three albums went to #3 on the UK album charts, and Because of the Times went to #1, starting a streak of six consecutive albums for the band that topped the UK album chart.  By contrast, their first three albums went to #113, 55, and 25, respectively, on the Billboard album chart.

I remember seeing Kings of Leon at The Riv here in Chicago in 2007, back before smoking was banned indoors.  It was about a month after Because of the Times was released, and the place was packed, a haze of smoke filled the air, and everyone was going apeshit, particularly during "Black Thumbnail," which pretty quickly became my favorite Kings of Leon song.

The song starts with a pretty crisp, jangly guitar riff (which repeats throughout the song), before lead singer Caleb Followill comes in with the first verse.  Slowly another guitar comes in, and then the bass and drums, building until the explosion that is the chorus.  And there's a crescendoing guitar solo before the last verse and chorus drives us off the cliff.  When you're listening to the song, you can imagine how it whipped the crowd into a frenzy on a May night in a smoky music club.