10 Perfect Rock Singles On Bad Albums
10. Beautiful War - Kings Of Leon: Mechanical Bull (2013)
What happened to these guys? When they exploded onto the music scene back in the early 2000s they injected a good helping of '70s Southern rock into a floundering music scene. For a brief moment, the moustachioed sons of preachers, were the saving grace of rock music. Molly's Chamber, Red Morning Light, and The Bucket, were all tracks that rumbled along with punchy bass lines, making you flounder about with a carefree madness.
They released three albums of edgy but accessible garage rock before slapping us all in the face with a flaccid take on arena rock. In 2013 they dropped a string of singles in anticipation for their sixth record. Sadly, for the most part, it was an offensively bland collection of tracks. We will refrain from further exploring the the decline of Kings Of Leon, and instead focus on one of their last hints of brilliance.
Beautiful War was released as the fourth single, and although it wasn't an all out Southern rocker, it was a return to form. Caleb Followill has always had a knack for writing soulful and introspective ballads. He went hard in his youth, but during the later stages of manhood, he revealed his more sensitive and tender side. Beautiful War, was exactly that, it explored the struggles of loving someone unconditionally even when they wrong you. It starts off slow, but before long you're swept up in the emotion of it all.