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Day & Age

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Untitled

Day & Age is the third studio album by American rock band The Killers, released on November 24, 2008 in the UK, Canada and the US.[1] Frontman and lead vocalist Brandon Flowers stated that it is the band's "most playful record."[2] To date, Day & Age has sold over 3 million copies worldwide.[3]

Production

The band began writing the tracks for Day & Age while on the road during the Sam's Town tour. Producer Stuart Price had worked on some Killers remixes, but the band had still never met him until they connected in London in 2007. Price and the band had dinner, before returning to his home studio and recording the lead single "Human" in just two hours.[4] Work on the album was conducted on an international basis; demos that were made in Las Vegas were sent to producer Price in London over the Internet, who would then call back to discuss the recordings.[5][6] With the album largely done, the Killers met at their Las Vegas studio in May 2008 to put the finishing touches on the album.[4] Flowers stated that the concept for the album is a "continuation" of Sam's Town,[7] saying "it's like looking at Sam's Town from Mars".[4]

In an interview with The Quietus, Flowers said that songs on the album were inspired by Elton John, David Bowie and Lou Reed. [8]

When asked where the album's title came from, Flowers replied, "I don't know. You wait for moments. I just wait for it to come, and I knew that [Day & Age] was right when I had it."[7] The album's title is also part of the lyrics to two of the album's tracks: "Neon Tiger" and "The World We Live In."

The Killers selected Paul Normansell to create the artwork for the album. Portraits of the band members themselves are included in the album. These portraits can be seen at various parts of the "Human" video, as well as the cover of Day & Age and the CD insert. On December 8, 2008, Rolling Stone named the album cover for Day & Age the best album cover of 2008.[9] On December 15, Rolling Stone readers voted Day & Age the Album of the Year.[10]

In September 2009, Flowers commented on the album, stating:[11]

"It sits well with our other two albums. It's obviously a little more on the pop end of things; it's not quite as masculine as Sam's Town, but I like it. "Spaceman" is such a playful tune, it makes my body do things I've never done before. "Human" is one of our best recordings so far. I don't think we've made our best album yet, and that makes me happy, to know it's still out there."

Chart performance

The album has been certified Multi-Platinum or Platinum in the UK, Ireland, Australia, Canada, Mexico, New Zealand and Spain. The album has also been certified Gold in the US, Austria, Denmark, The Netherlands, Germany, Greece, Italy, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland. This makes Day & Age the Killers' most far reaching international album.

The album debuted at number one in the UK albums chart selling over 200,000 copies in its first week.[12] It reached number 6 in the USA selling over 193,000 copies in its first week.[13] It has since gone 4x Platinum in the United Kingdom selling 1,200,000+ copies (Feb 2010) [14] and 1x Platinum in Australia[15] and New Zealand,[16] and was certified Gold in the United States[17] and Greece.[18]

The album sold more than 2,700,000 copies in the first year of its release. To date, Day & Age has sold over 3 million records worldwide

Singles

The first single from the album, "Human", was released to radio on September 22, 2008, and became available for download on September 30, 2008.[19] The band performed "Human" and "Spaceman" on the October 4, 2008 episode of Saturday Night Live.[19] They released the video for "Human" in October 2008.

"Spaceman" was released for download on November 4, 2008 in the US. The vinyl edition was released in the US on November 18, 2008, and included a free download of the album from Island Records. The music video was released in January 2009.

The third single varies from continent to continent. "The World We Live In" is the third single in Europe and Australia while "A Dustland Fairytale" is the third single in the United States.[20] The single "The World We Live In" has been described as " a song that gives you a disney/floating in the air feeling" by music critic Brian Narvaez.

As with the album cover, the singles' covers were designed by Paul Normansell and consist of the same individual band member images that appear in the album's booklet. Dave Keuning's picture was used for the "Human" cover, and the "Spaceman" cover was Brandon Flowers. Ronnie Vannucci's picture features on the single "The World We Live In". Mark Stoermer is on the cover for the single, "A Dustland Fairytale".[citation needed]

Additionally, the band released a video for "Goodnight, Travel Well" in partnership with MTV EXIT, UNICEF, and USAID in order to raise awareness about human trafficking. It premiered globally on MTV on July 13th 2009[21] and on UNICEF's YouTube page the next day.

Track listing

All tracks are written by The Killers

No.TitleLength
1."Losing Touch"4:15
2."Human"4:09
3."Spaceman"4:43
4."Joy Ride"3:33
5."A Dustland Fairytale"3:45
6."This Is Your Life"3:41
7."I Can't Stay"3:06
8."Neon Tiger"3:05
9."The World We Live In"4:40
10."Goodnight, Travel Well"6:51
CD bonus track (UK, Ireland and Australia)
No.TitleLength
11."A Crippling Blow"3:36
CD bonus track (Japan)
No.TitleLength
11."A Crippling Blow"3:37
12."Forget About What I Said"2:57
iTunes bonus tracks (US and Canada)
No.TitleLength
11."Tidal Wave"4:13
12."Forget About What I Said"2:57
13."Human" (Thin White Duke Remix) (Pre-order only) 
iTunes bonus tracks (UK, Japan and Australia)
No.TitleLength
11."A Crippling Blow"3:36
12."Forget About What I Said" (Pre-order only)2:57

Personnel

The Killers

Additional personnel

  • Daniel de los Reyes – Percussion
  • Alex Dromgoole – Mixing Assistant
  • Dave Emery – Mixing Assistant
  • Tommy Marth – Saxophone
  • Paul Normansell – Artwork, Paintings
  • Stuart Price – Production, Mixing
  • Robert Root – Engineering
  • Ted Sablay – Engineering
  • Tim Young – Mastering

Chart history

Chart Peak
position 		Certification Sales
Australian Albums Chart 4 Platinum[22] 70,000+
Austrian Albums Chart 9 Gold 10,000+
Belgian Albums Chart (Flanders) 12
Belgian Albums Chart (Wallonia) 41
Canadian Albums Chart 6 Platinum[23] 100,000+
Croatian International Albums Chart[24] 6
Danish Albums Chart 19
Dutch Albums Chart 12
Finnish Albums Chart 17
French Albums Chart
German Albums Chart 8 Gold[25] 100,000+
Greek Albums Chart 1 Gold 7,500+
Irish Albums Chart 1 4× Platinum[26] 60,000+
Italian Albums Chart 21 Gold 42,000+
Japanese Albums Chart 26
Mexican Albums Chart 3
New Zealand Albums Chart 2 Platinum[27] 15,000+
Norwegian Albums Chart 1
Portuguese Albums Chart 5
Spanish Albums Chart 9
Swedish Albums Chart 8 Gold[28] 20,000+
Swiss Albums Chart 4 Gold[29] 20,000+
UK Albums Chart[14] 1 4x Platinum[30] 1,200,000
US Billboard 200[31] 6 Gold 720,000+

Awards

Year Ceremony Award Result
2009 BRIT Awards Best International Album Nominated
2009 Shockwaves NME Awards Best Album Nominated
2009 Shockwaves NME Awards Best Album Artwork Nominated

Accolades

Publication Country Accolade Year Rank
Q UK 50 Best Albums of the Year 2008 22[32]
New York Post US Top 10 Albums of the Year 2008 2[33]
Rolling Stone US Readers’ Top 30 Albums of 2008 2008 1[34]
Rolling Stone US Top Album Covers of 2008 2008 1[35]

Release history

Country Date Label Format Catalogue #
Japan November 19, 2008 Universal CD, download UICL-1085
Italy November 21, 2008 Universal CD, download 602517872875
Australia November 22, 2008 Island CD, download 1785121
United Kingdom November 23, 2008 Mercury Download
CD 1785121
Vinyl LP 1785123
United States, Canada November 18, 2008 Island Vinyl LP, download B0012197-01
November 24, 2008 CD B0012197-02

References

  1. ^ "Release Date Set For Kanye, The Killers and Ludacris". Island Records. 2008-11-10]. Retrieved 2008-11-11. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  2. ^ http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1600069/20081124/killers_the.jhtml
  3. ^ [1]
  4. ^ a b c Scaggs, Austin (2008-10-02), "Killers Return With Disco Epics". Rolling Stone. (1062):14
  5. ^ "Killers singer discusses long-distance LP". Digital Spy. 2008-05-09. Retrieved 2008-06-14.
  6. ^ "The Killers Aim For Greatness On Third Album". FMQB. Retrieved 2008-10-14.
  7. ^ a b "Brandon Flowers Talks Day & Age: Best Killers Disc Ever!!!". Rolling Stone. 2008-09-15. Retrieved 2008-10-14.
  8. ^ "The Killers interview on The Quietus". Retrieved 2008-10-31.
  9. ^ http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/index.php/2008/12/08/readers-rock-list-best-album-covers-of-2008/
  10. ^ http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/index.php/2008/12/15/rock-list-readers-top-30-albums-of-2008/
  11. ^ http://www.thekillersfansite.com/article%20pics/rssept09.jpg
  12. ^ The Killers beat Guns N' Roses
  13. ^ http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/kanye-edges-gnr-ludacris-for-no-1-debut-1003918838.story
  14. ^ a b "Official Album Chart". The Official UK Year-End Top 200 Charts for 2008. ChartsPlus. p. 5. Retrieved on April 22, 2009.
  15. ^ http://www.aria.com.au/pages/httpwww.aria.com.aupageshttpwww.aria.com.aupagesARIACharts-Accreditations-2008Albums.htm
  16. ^ http://www.rianz.org.nz/rianz/chart.asp
  17. ^ "Search Results". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved 2009-02-03.
  18. ^ http://www.ifpi.gr/chart01.htm
  19. ^ a b "The Killers". The Killers. Retrieved 2008-10-14.
  20. ^ http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/killers-prepping-live-dvd-covers-album-1003965994.story
  21. ^ "UNICEF Press Release". UNICEF. Retrieved 2009-07-28.
  22. ^ [2]
  23. ^ [3]
  24. ^ http://www.hdu-toplista.com/index.php?what=
  25. ^ Template:Cite gold platin
  26. ^ [4]
  27. ^ [5]
  28. ^ Swedish IFPI certifications of 2009
  29. ^ [6]
  30. ^ http://www.bpi.co.uk/certifiedawards/Search.aspx
  31. ^ http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/reviews-album/day-age-1003895503.story#/album/the-killers/day-age/1185735
  32. ^ Q Magazine Jan 09, pg.84
  33. ^ Aquilante, Dan (December 7, 2008). "Best Of 2008". New York Post.
  34. ^ "Rock List: Readers’ Top 30 Albums of 2008". Rolling Stone (December 15, 2008). Retrieved on December 16, 2008.
  35. ^ "[7]". Rolling Stone
Preceded by UK number one album
November 30, 2008 – December 7, 2008 		Succeeded by
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