The Killers song they admitted was a “complete fluke”
No tried and tested approach to songwriting exists that’s guaranteed to work every time. Songs can be born in a million different ways, and there is no right or wrong method, as The Killers have discovered first-hand throughout their 20-year musical journey.
Typically, according to drummer Ronnie Vanucci Jr, the initial idea usually comes from singer Brandon Flowers. He is their chief lyricist, and they collaborate to fulfil Flowers’ vision, but that’s not always the case. The Killers aren’t ruled under an iron fist by their leader, and he’s open for the rest of the band to contribute their thoughts to take the songs down a different route.
Explaining their creative approach, Vanucci told Artist Direct in 2018: “I think every song is a little different. Brandon has certainly had more of a – pleasantly by the way – a presence in the songwriting. He has just turned into an idea man. He’s just got it.”
“And when somebody has that energy, and you’re able to tap into that energy, the goal is to get to the top of the mountain,” he added. “The goal isn’t trying to show the other band members how many songs you can write to or something like that. For me, it was like, ‘Oh, this is great. I love what he is doing’.”
Even though Flowers is the group’s chief “idea man”, it was a different story with their hit single ‘The Man’. The track, released as the lead single from 2018’s Wonderful Wonderful, was initially a completely different song, with Vanucci admitting it was a “complete fluke”.
“‘The Man’ was a complete fluke. That was a different thing. Actually that was me and Jacknife fooling around in the studio with loops, and we came up with that,” he revealed in the same interview. “And then Brandon had an idea for a song called ‘The Man’ that was a little different than what we were working on, and we just put those lyrics to this groove and Brandon put a chorus on it, made a better chorus.”
When Vanucci and producer Jacknife Lee were “fooling around in the studio”, there was no endgame to their session. It wasn’t intended by the duo to be anything more than two friends having fun, but it acted as the perfect foil for Flowers’ self-aware lyrics about his arrogant younger self.
Explaining his lyrical contribution, Flowers told NME: “Around about the time that The Killers started, I guess that’s where ‘The Man’ harkens back to, and years after as well. I can live with it, you know. It was nice to sort of go in and inhabit that character, and that figure, and that version of myself for much longer.”
Vanucci and Jacknife created an equally abrasive beat that matched the pomposity of Flowers’ lyrics, encouraging him also to up the ante on the braggadocious chorus. ‘The Man’ may have been a happy accident, but it shows how experimentation and a refusal to be tunnel-minded in the studio can reap handsome rewards.
