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Posted by: Dill Doe 4th March 2021, 01:09 AM

In the mid 2000s, indie music soared to new heights as pop music soured like old milk, with Mel C ruling the pop roost with her Latin-infused cover of, I Want Candy. As pop faded, indie music took its place. Our second retro battle is from 2007, when two indie powerhouses released their debut singles.

Two huge indie songs stood out amongst the crowd of alternative music in 2007, and these were Ruby, Ruby, Ruby, Ruby by the Kaiser Chiefs, and Can You Read My Mind? by The Killers. Both songs were huge hits. Rubyx4 got to no.1 for a week, and Read My Mind spent week after week in the top 3. Whilst Rubyx4 is more bombastic, Read My Mind? is more wistful, mellow and melodic. Both share commonalities, such as the use of guitars, harsh vocal performances in the verses with similar inflections, and the fact they both helped drive the indie hype train right through the world of pop. There was an argument at the time about which was better, and so let's settle it in a retro battle.

Rubyx4 sold 600,000 in the charts, whilst My Mind? sold a lot as well, but not as much. But what does Buzzjack have to say?

Posted by: Riser 4th March 2021, 04:19 AM

Ruby is great but Read My Mind is one of my all time faves

Posted by: Scene 4th March 2021, 08:18 AM

Read My Mind. More familiar with Ruby but not through choice.

Posted by: T Boy 4th March 2021, 08:56 AM

Read My Mind for me. I like Ruby but the overplay makes me never actively seek to listen to it anymore and the Killers are one of my favourite bands and Read My Mind is one of their greatest.

Posted by: Tawdry Hepburn 4th March 2021, 10:00 AM

I hate 'Ruby' so much.



'Read My Mind' however is decent, so that. Pretty sure it peaked at #15 and not in the top 3 though...

Posted by: Dobbo. 4th March 2021, 10:06 AM

Yeah Read My Mind wasn't a big chart hit. plus neither of those singles were debuts!

Read My Mind is much better though. Ruby is one of the Kaiser's tracks I revisit the least. The best stuff was from their debut album.

Posted by: Tawdry Hepburn 4th March 2021, 10:36 AM

I'm guessing Michael must have forgotten that both bands released an album beforehand which contained the likes of I Predict a Riot, Oh My God, Mr Brightside and Somebody Told Me...

Posted by: coi 4th March 2021, 10:39 AM

Pretty difficult choice, I think Ruby just about takes it for me.

Allow me to add Everyday I Love You Less and Less, Modern Way, Smile Like You Mean It and All These Things That I've Done to that list too!

Posted by: Chez Wombat 4th March 2021, 11:04 AM

Read My Mind reached #15 and spent six weeks in the chart...lol x I also don't recall those songs ever getting compared and you seem to have missed an era.

But just strictly comparing them, Read My Mind is very underrated, Ruby was good, but Kaisers had so much better that did way worse.

Posted by: Popchartfreak 4th March 2021, 11:52 AM

Ruby. My nephews dog is called Ruby tho TBH neither of those is either band at their very best.

Oh My God vs Somebody Told Me would be more of a toughie....

Posted by: T Boy 4th March 2021, 01:13 PM

Michael serving FACTS, as always.

Posted by: Dill Doe 4th March 2021, 01:51 PM

Oh right. I did this one all based on memory. I suppose that makes the, jealousy la la la laaa jealousy, song and album the debut. People did argue about which of these two indie songs were better, though.

I definitely prefer Read My Mind and think it's easily the Killers' best. Ruby is almost as good, but it is just a tad too overplayed.

Posted by: T Boy 4th March 2021, 03:44 PM

Michael it’s really worrying that you did all that based on memory.

Posted by: Dill Doe 4th March 2021, 04:35 PM

You try remembering chart fscts from 2007!! Some things slip!

Posted by: T Boy 4th March 2021, 04:37 PM

But you got almost all of it wrong

Posted by: Dill Doe 4th March 2021, 08:20 PM

Not all of us can carry Brer's head on our shoulders!!!

Posted by: dandy* 4th March 2021, 08:35 PM

Voted for The Killers' multi week global #1 smash to win

Posted by: Bré 5th March 2021, 01:02 AM

The people doubting your memory are FAKE NEWS Meek. You got everything correct dw. x

Posted by: Dill Doe 5th March 2021, 02:09 AM

Omg THIS!!!! Mandala Effect in full swing!

Posted by: Feel_The_Fever 6th March 2021, 09:30 PM

Love both but prefer read my mind.

Posted by: pippa 7th March 2021, 11:14 PM

Read My Mind.

Posted by: Dill Doe 8th March 2021, 04:27 PM

Alright an easy win for the Killers! 3rd battle up soon. This time, pop.

Posted by: Warwick Avenue 2nd May 2021, 09:49 AM

Read My Mind, I do enjoy quite a lot of The Killers songs.