Eleven years ago in February 2005, I purchased—meaning my grandparents bought for me—my first copy of a music magazine. I only wanted this issue of Spin because the band that slowly took over my life the previous months, The Killers, was on the cover. My 14-year-old self read their article a few too many times before proceeding onward the rest of the magazine. Spin became the only music publication I knew about other than Rolling Stone, so I bought a few more issues of it here or there, whether The Killers were on the cover or not, because I enjoyed the content for the most part. A lot has changed in the years since I bought that initial issue, mainly that Spin is no longer a print magazine, and we are now enemies.
One thing did not change in 10 years: The Killers were still my favorite band, and I will defend them until the end of the earth probably. In May 2015, The Killers’ frontman Brandon Flowers released his second solo album “The Desired Effect,” and Spin, as a magazine that has been writing about him for the past decade, was dutifully reporting on it. A few weeks before the album’s release, a video was posted on the Brandon Flowers Vevo account with the audio for the single “I Can Change.” The title and album art all indicated that video was indeed aforementioned song, but it was actually the song “Voices” by indie band Neulore. This song is so clearly not Brandon. A mistake from someone in the record label and Vevo realm, I’m sure, but a mistake that Spin failed to realize.
Spin, a mere shell of its former print self, posted a review for the song written by Harley Brown. Fans were quick to note that the audio embedded into the article was most definitely not the voice of Brandon Flowers and started to respond on social media to Spin and Brown about the incredible fudge up that really is not excusable. Listen, Spin has been writing about and reviewing The Killers since 2004, and the band has been on the cover three times. On top of that they’re a pretty big band. Brandon has a distinctive voice, so if you completely fail to realize that, you’re going to get some criticism. I was one of those fans that tweeted at Spin with a “WTF how could you get that wrong?” message. And then I was blocked from Spin’s Twitter.
Oh no, I won’t be able to retweet their interview with a hard drive.
It should be noted that Brandon took to Twitter with some of his signature sass to address the fact Spin was incompetent.
Spin eventually fixed the review, somehow putting the blame on Brandon’s Soundcloud (that doesn’t exist, they linked to a fan account) uploading the wrong audio. Also, let’s take a look at what they used as the final review. Here is a screencap from the initial review posted on Spin with the incorrect audio.
Here’s a link to the final review. Notice anything? All the edited review did was take out the first half of the original review. Did anyone at Spin ever listen to the actual song? What we have before us is an example of how Spin has lost pretty much any standing with me as a music publication, and I am honored that they blocked me on social media. I hope Brandon appreciates my efforts for him.
