“When You Were Young” by The Killers

"When You Were Young" was the first single from Sam's Town, the Killers' second album, released on Island in 2006. Brandon Flowers wrote the words, all four members share the writing credit, and the band produced it with Flood and Alan Moulder, who also recorded and mixed it.

This is widescreen, heartland-sized rock: guitars that charge and chime, a rhythm section driving it like a car with no brakes, and Flowers singing like a preacher on the edge of a highway at night, all yearning, redemption and big open sky. It's melodrama, sure, but played with total conviction and not a trace of a wink.

It paid off. It became their first number one on Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks and reached number 14 on the Hot 100, and it remains their highest-charting single in the UK, where it reached number two, and in Australia, where it hit number 10.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.