The Killers to "knock Led Zeppelin and Nirvana off their pedestals"

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Killers frontman Brandon Flowers blames American rock fans "obsessed" with Led Zeppelin and Nirvana for stunting his band's stateside progress.

Speaking to NME, Flowers expressed frustration with American audiences who apparently "don't believe that it's possible that anybody else can be the real deal".

"We've been embraced in Britain in a way that I'll never understand, and it's such a wonderful thing," says Flowers, "But over here people are still so obsessed with Led Zeppelin and Nirvana, those sorts of bands, that nobody else is allowed [to grow]."

He also claims that The Killers aren't the only band to suffer: "It's not just us; there are a lot of great bands that have been held down or confined by the influence of these people that we've put up on pedestals. I'm tired of it, you know? I just want to knock them all off! And people don't like that attitude."

"It doesn't matter how many great songs we write or how many great shows we play. But we're slowly chipping away at it. With this last album there's been a noticeable shift but we're still nowhere near where we are in Europe."

The Killers are currently midway through a US tour, check their MySpace page for details of upcoming shows.

Chris Vinnicombe

Chris Vinnicombe worked with us here on the MusicRadar team from the site's initial launch way back in 2007, and also contributed to Guitarist magazine as Features Editor until 2014, as well as Total Guitar magazine, amongst others. These days he can be found at Gibson Guitars, where he is editor-in-chief.