The Kings of Leon's new album featuring use somebody, notion and sex and fire is so dramatically different to their old stuff I can only assume they decided to take the pop rock route to get to number one
...To get to number one, to play massive stadiums, broaden their fanbase... Not so sure they sold out, admittedly some of their songs on that album are probably considered to be more mainstream, but then you got to ask yourself; of their early stuff, if they had carried on like that, all their songs would sound somewhat the same on every album. It was a unique sound they had, but they couldn't sustain it without the new album sounding like the previous and so on. Also, I think we can only really form a conclusion/assumptions once their new album comes out because it would have to be over a couple of records to see the direction they are heading in; in comparrisson to their older stuff