One Track at a Time – Kings of Leon – McFearless

Alright, enough of this sissy stuff. Time for One Track at a Time to really grab you by the balls and shove some f’in rock down your throat. I hadn’t realized the consistency in which I’ve posted folk (The Cripple Lilies), acoustic (Pedro The Lion), and downbeat (Pit er Pat) tracks. We had quite the discussion arise on our comment board after our Kings of Leon post, most notably Oz being called a British cigarette. Barring those comments, the post was quite demure: Woody gave his opinion on the disc and posted a few tracks. However, he left out easily my favorite (and therefore best) track of the whole thing: “McFearless.”

While the title leaves something to be desired, the song completely makes up for it. Hell, the drum beat completely makes up for it on its own. My friend John, who’s been drumming since 6th grade memorably said, “It sounds like he doesn’t know how to drum….but it’s exactly the same every time.”

I saw KOL at Bonnaroo and am completely convinced that they are the rock music we will look back on in 15 years and identify with this era. They were so in sync with each other that I just had to smile and enjoy their raw talent. “McFearless” is fairly simple and straight foreword musically; a bassline that follows the chords and a screeching guitar distortion that provides harmony. The drum line, however, is completely unexplainable yet fits in perfectly. The snare hits, while off rhythm with the song, fit into the beat as a whole. Vocal harmony breaks in during the chorus and the last 35 seconds of the song harbors a vamped up bassline, even more vocal harmony and some amazing singing by Caleb.

And as for the next OTaaT, I think I feel some Sinatra coming on. But until then, put up your rock fist and bang your head to McFearless without shame, because there’s nothing sissy about this one.

Kings of Leon – McFearless (Courtesy of Can You See the Sunset)