Understanding Mr. Brightside

Because it's great, that's why.

I was a teenager when Mr. Brightside came out, and if I'm being honest, most of the music that came out when I was a teenager didn't really have much staying power. Like, I still love a lot of it, but even the biggest hits of the era, at least in rock music, seem to have largely faded from the public consciousness. So why is Mr. Brightside different? How has it managed to so quickly establish itself as a timeless icon when it sounds so thoroughly dated? It's clearly of its era, and yet it's transcended it in a way that few other songs from that movement have. But why?

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[tone]

Some additional thoughts/corrections:

1) To be clear, when I say I question XFM's methodology in declaring Mr. Brightside the #1 song of all time, that's not because I think some other song deserves it more. I mostly just don't think you can rank music like that.

2) Yeah, I'm kinda flagrantly abusing tremolo notation in the bass part, but in my defense it seemed easier than writing a bunch of 8th notes, so who's to say if it's actually incorrect?

3) Also, am I using the term "upper structure" correctly? Not really! But it's the best and clearest way to describe the thing I wanted to describe, so jazz nerds can deal with it.

4) Technically the second phrase of the verse is also a quatrain, it's just only gone one rhyme through it. Actually, technically, all four phrases are quatrains, just with couplet-style end rhymes. Huh, these thoughts/corrections all seem to be about me misusing technical terminology this episode, don't they? Weird. Not gonna reflect too much on that.

5) In the prechorus, the upper structure of the 2nd chord is actually slightly different, in that he plays an Ab on the D string as opposed to leaving it open, (it's tuned down a half-step, so it rings as Db) but it's such a buried note that I don't think it has any real impact on the harmonic structure of the section.

6) In the modified bass demo, the moved walk-down sounds a little extra dissonant because I made the rest of the track with stem separations, not the actual stems, so there's a couple of the upper harmonics from the original bassline still hanging out in there. (The bass itself is the stem there, to try to drown out those harmonics with correct ones.) I could've done it all with stems but I thought it was important to get it as close to the original mix as possible, and with studio stems you don't necessarily get that. Hopefully the slight timbral dissonance isn't too distracting.


8) While it's true that Keuning wrote the guitar part before Stoermer joined the band (Flowers has talked about receiving a tape with some ideas on it that included this song when he joined, and he joined before Stoermer did.) I don't actually know that Stoermer wrote his own bass part for the prechorus. The walkdown might've been Keuning's idea, which is why I offered it as just one possible explanation, not a definite fact.

9) Another way in which the chorus progression is weird is that it keeps changing chord types. It starts on a modal dyad, moves to a power chord, then suddenly it's a 7th chord. That would be very confusing as pure harmonic material, but makes a lot more sense when viewed through the lens of voiceleading.

10) Did I purposefully avoid mentioning Hey Ya in the ending bit about party songs with gloomy lyrics just so everyone would leave comments about Hey Ya, driving up engagement? I dunno. Did it work?

[yaboichief]

Imagine being that girl this song is about, every bar you go into for the rest of your life every party you go to and there is a solid chance you're going to hear this

[titaniumvulpes]

My favourite part of the song is the second go of "and I've been doing just fine". The jump up in pitch for that second "just" has _so much_ sarcasm and resentment in it. True catharsis moment.

[QuixEnd]

I worked weddings for 3 years and this song is covered in nearly every one of them. Didn't really know it was quite this massive though

[one_million_hamsters]

I saw The Killers live during Breaking the Mirage, and Mr Brightside was of course the last song played. At first, the band played the music to the song, except Brandon stayed quiet. He allowed the crowd to sing the lyrics to the song while the band played, afterwards allowing Brandon to play the song as normal. Singing Mr. Brightside in a chorus of a thousand voices was something absolutely magical and I need to experience it again.

[GabrielLopez-moxo]

I’m kinda convinced musical genius just happens and we retroactively apply analysis to make brilliance make sense because the thought of someone planning this out to me seems somehow less likely

[randysterbentz]

Interesting take on "Mr. Brightside" meaning he's choosing to look past the events and move on. In my head, I think of it ironically. Everything his ex and the new guy are doing is "all in his head", and he replays scenarios of them together over and over, torturing himself with those thoughts. He's not looking on the brightside, he's very much stuck in the darkside.

And that's how my life was when my ex got together with my best friend months after breaking up. Constantly making up scenarios of how intimate they were being whenever I wasn't around. I connected with this song on SUCH a significant level at that point in my life.

[jordang]

I never noticed the "bed -> head, sick-> ...." leading rhyme thing because I've been listening to this song since before I knew about the birds and bees and it was always"just how the song goes ╮⁠(⁠.⁠ ⁠❛⁠ ⁠ᴗ⁠ ⁠❛⁠.⁠)⁠╭" in my head lol!

[emilybarclay]

This song activates British people like sleeper agents. Just the first few chords made me feel like I’m in the inbetweeners

[gregorypendell]

This is one of those songs that I’ve listened to literally countless times and yet every time I hear it I’m overwhelmed with just how incredibly good it is.

[aquilux-vids]

8:20 I want to add: something that he manages to do by cutting the rhyme short and dragging you to the next verse here is to replicate the feeling of forcibly dragging your thoughts away from something that's too painful to engage with yet. It thoroughly captures that feeling of "I can't stop thinking abou-NO NOT THAT. Think about anything but that."

[mbrsart]

I've always seen the phrase "I'm Mr. Brightside" not as "I'm Mr. Brightside, so I'll be okay" but "I'm Mr. Brightside, so I _have_ to be okay even though I'm definitely _not_ okay." It's a very sardonic emotion there, especially given the subject matter of the song. It's this toxic idea that it doesn't matter how you feel; if you're a man and a woman doesn't like you back, you have no right to feel upset about it, even if she's cheating on you right in front of your face.

[Iwasbornin]

I spent 10 years playing in a wedding band and we would give the couple a list of songs we knew and the only song picked for every wedding we played at was I Will Survive. The upbeat music and the feeling that song gives you, just like Mr Brightside does, is the reason why no one cares that the lyrics are about the dark side of relationships or the ending of such.

[Martell]

I think the fact that the first and second verse are the same is one of the factors that contribute to Mr. Brightside being such a popular party song.
You only need to memorize 1 verse, 1 prechorus and 1 chorus to sing along. Much easier than most songs.

[DanHam.productions]

As a song writer and someone who “plays at” bass, I think that walk up at the end bass line serves a very important purpose. Its the collective breath that the song takes preparing us for one of the most succinct lyrics in the song “and I just can’t look its killing me and taking control.”
It also creates a sense of hope for a split second before landing right where it started again. The bass is the soul of any song, and Mr. Bright side is all about wanting to move on but not being able to. So in my opinion that cycle of spiraling deeper and deeper, and at your lowest moments being able to climb up just a little, only to fall right back into that same spiral again is exactly what the song needed. Just like with the vocals the next line provides resolution for the previous line.

[vox]

I love that you put way more thought into the structure of this song than the band probably did. Having played in many original bands over the years, the process is more organic than thought out. Band members are usually fluent in the language of rock and choices just come out of everyone’s influences and experiences and what sounds “cool”; not a lot of “thought” going on.

[MainlyHuman]

I think that last note deserves a lot of credit for the song's success. There are few songs that end feeling so desperate to play another.

[zekewalker]

you say the rhyme scheme on "my stomach is sick, but she's touching his CHEST" is unexpected I straight up didnt know what you meant because the song is so deeply ingrained in me as is, that my brain doesn't expect any other word

[hcgtrplaya]

This song is definitively not about closure. It’s about unresolved tension experienced by an author overcome with jealousy. Calling himself “Mr. Brightside” is an ironic comment showing that he has to put up a facade to hide his true hurt. He is in turmoil over something that he should be able to walk away from (he saw his now ex cheating, which should prompt him to just leave her behind) but he can’t let it go. His bright, sunny disposition is a front for the darkness he is experiencing in his mind, and in this situation he doesn’t have an outlet for it - it’s literally consuming him. His paralyzed moment of realization is washed away by an overwhelming sense of hurt and frustration that he can’t help but view ironically, almost in a cavalier tone like “oh Mondays am I right?” But it’s not “Mondays, ” it’s him coping ineffectively with being cheated on. It’s a sucky place to be.

[JoelVanEtten-qocc]

This whole video is a masterpiece, but I'm most impressed with how you're able to write and draw left-handed with a Sharpie without smudging