Kings of Leon No Longer Just “Big In the UK”

Tennessee rockers Kings of Leon – who have had nine top 40 singles over six years in Britain – have long bemoaned their lack of U.S. airplay. “I’m sick of being big everywhere else,” lead singer Caleb Followill said in a Rolling Stone interview. “For America to kind of turn its back on us is heartbreaking.”

Well, the boys need fret no more: their single, “Use Somebody” (from the album Only By the Night), has jumped to No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 this week. Sucks that “Sex On Fire” – which is the far better song – didn’t achieve this distinction. But “Sex On Fire” certainly laid the groundwork for KOL’s American success; many of my U.S. pals who are now KOL fans got into them because of that wonderfully dirty tune.

So are Kings of Leon America’s version of Oasis – a.k.a. the rocker brothers that brawl? I look forward to many tabloid headlines in the future.