I want to bash the Killer's debut Hot Fuss so much. The press sets them up easily for a beating; there's enough hype to fuel the world for a month or two and they focus on singer/songwriter/synthesizer Brandon Flowers. How could someone from Sin City have the last name Flowers and be in a band named the Killers? I looked at those hype articles and saw their cheesy music video for "Somebody Told Me," and before I bought the album, I was ready to scoff, "Hot Fuss is definitely not a hot fuss." Then something happened; I gave "Somebody Told Me" an actual listen without watching the gaudy music video, and I ended up going out of my way to buy the album.
The Killers have the aloofness of the Strokes and Interpol, the personality of Hot Hot Heat, and the catchiness of Franz Ferdinand at their best. They also have the spirit of their forefathers, Duran Duran and the Psychedelic Furs. A washing of synths in many songs and great beats laced with sensuality make a rather catching album. The rest of the songs are dull wallpaper; they are just there, but they do not add to the potential of the album.
The bass line in "Jenny Was a Friend of Mine" is incredibly infectious. It can make the most uptight people run outside and start singing, "Tell me what you want to know/oh come on/come on." That one song broke apart my on-the-verge ranting and I was ready to listen to the Killers without extreme hateful bias. "Mr. Brightside" would be expected to be happy or even bright song from the title, however it's about infidelity, jealously, paranoia, and helplessness. It's almost heartbreaking when Flowers describes what he does and doesn't see his girlfriend and some guy are doing, yet he sings, "It's all in my head." For a song about such grave personal and relationship issues, it has really danceable beats and exciting riffs.
"Somebody Told Me" has probably the most mindless lyrics of all: "Well somebody told me/you had a boyfriend who looked like a girlfriend that I had in February of last year/it's not confidential/I've got potential," but the song is so catchy. The senseless lyrics are almost forgivable considering none of the lyrics on the album are extremely pensive or profound.
"All These Things That I've Done" and "Andy, You're a Star" feature a gospel choir out of all things. "All These Things That I've Done" is kind of inspirational with the organ-esque synths, light piano, and the cries for assistance, but it could never fare as a gospel song. "Andy, You're a Star" is irritating with the repetitive "hey shut up/hey shut up/yeah" after each line and it's far from moving, except the lyrics "Andy, you're a star/in nobody's eyes but mine." The cascading guitars, catchy bass line and synths take the focus away from the lyrics in "Over Top," but it's still one of the best songs on the album.
Just glancing over this review you'll notice the words "catchy" and "infectious" are prevalent throughout, because a little over half of the songs on Hot Fuss are incredibly catchy. The Killers are one of the few bands that virtually live up to their hype. If they could somehow craft each song to be as catchy as all the others, their next album would be amazing.
