The Worst Lyrics of 2008: NCAA-Style Showdown

• From MTV News: Whether he was slagging the Bravery or praising the Boss, Killers frontman Brandon Flowers used to create a sensation pretty much every time he opened his mouth. So it's sort of odd that these days, it's what he's not saying that's making people talk. Namely, the "s" in "dancers." Ever since "Human," the first single from the Killers' Day & Age album, debuted last month, fans have been debating just why Flowers has decided to drop the letter and make the song's chorus ("Are we human/ Or are we dancer?") a singular affair. It seems like the whole thing didn't make much sense, and some fans even wondered if he was singing something else, like, say "denser." So when MTV News caught up with Flowers last week at the Killers' NYC show, we decided to ask him about the chorus controversy. "It's taken from a quote by [author Hunter S.] Thompson. ... 'We're raising a generation of dancers,' and I took it and ran. I guess it bothers people that it's not grammatically correct, but I think I'm allowed to do whatever I want," he laughed. " 'Denser'? I hadn't heard that one. I don't like 'denser.' " So, there you go. It's "dancer," and don't you forget it. And though Flowers cops to nicking the line from Thompson, does he share any of the author's sentiments about the growing softness of America's youth? "I think that I do, and I don't want to be too much of a preacher," he said. "I say that it's a mild social statement, and that's all I'm gonna say. We're still trying to write the best pop songs we can write." ___ Now, my personal theory is that he chose to make "dancer" singular to parallel the universal singular of the word "human". After all, he doesn't ask "Are we humans?", does he? Essentially, he elevates the term "dancer" to the status of a species classification, probably to further tie in Thompson's suggestion that the species is evolving with this "new generation of dancers". Pretentious, yes, but in that usage, it can't really be considered "grammatically incorrect", since he's simply making shit up.

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