The Story Behind: "Mr. Brightside"

Mr. Brightside is the first ever single released by American alternative rock band the Killers. The single was featured on their debut album entitled Hot Fuss, which was released in 2004. The album on which it was released had new wave music, post-punk and indie rock influences, and broke into the mainstream with songs Somebody Told Me, Smile Like You Mean It and of course Mr. Brightside.  

Writting/Recording Process

The song was written by Brandon Flowers (Lead Vocals) and Dave Keuning (Lead Guitar), and was one of the very first songs that the Killers ever wrote. According to Flowers the song was written at the end of 2001, when him and Keuning wrote a lot of songs for the band. Both of them also bought the brand new record from the New York band the Strokes, which after listening to it made them throw away all the songs that they have worked on, leaving only »Mr. Brightside« - the only song that made the cut from all of the writen material.  

The recording was done by Mark Needham and business partners Braden Merric and Jeff Saltzman in 2001 at Kill the Messenger Studio. It was first recorded as a refrence mix that was done in just half an hour with no special effects. The song had made other mixes of the song but prefered the original recording, which later made its way onto the record Hot Fuss.  

Meaning of the Lyrics

The song's lyrics were writen by Flowers, and they talk about how his ex-girlfriend cheated on him. Flowers stated in 2009: "I was asleep and I knew something was wrong. I have these instincts. I went to the Crown and Anchor and my girlfriend was there with another guy." Flowers was writing the lyrics for the song until the demo for the song was just about to be recorded, and is the main reason why the second verse is the same as the first one, but liked it anyway. 

Music Video

There were two music videos made for the song. One was the UK version filmed in April 2004 in New York, and the second one later in the year. The second video was made to be more mainstream and was for the target audience in the US. It tells a story about three people (played by Flowers, Izabella Miko and Eric Roberts) who are in a love triangle within the context of a burlesque show (common in the 19th and early 20th century). The video won the MTV VMA in 2005 for the Best New Artist in a Video.