Let’s call it right now: “Mr. Brightside” is the white “Back That Azz Up,” the white “Gasolina.” If you play “Mr. Brightside” at a sufficiently loud volume around a crowd of sufficiently drunk white people, bedlam will ensue. The song is a shared experience, a cultural staple. It’s still in the British charts after 20 years, making it the longest-running chart hit in UK history. Over there, it recently replaced “Wonderwall” as the biggest hit that never went to #1. “Mr. Brightside” will never go away. Every day, it’s a little harder to remember a world without that song. That world once existed. If you’re old enough, you might even vaguely recall a moment when “Mr. Brightside” was the flop-sweaty second single from one more fresh-faced band attempting to cash in on the return-of-the-rock hype.
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