The Killers are, to me, like the new Smashing Pumpkins. In interviews, Brandon Flowers always high-wires that line between plain- and endearingly-pretentious, just like Our Man Corgan. Also like the Pumpkins, his band can mine a startling directness–usually in their singles, which is pretty great and kinda rare.  I always thought this one would be hard to learn, but this past weekend, by golly, I figured it out. Here it is, captured about an hour ago in a sparse, one-mike fashion.

When You Were Young [One-Mike Demo]

p.s. I’d like to send this one out to the class of ’89.