Hot Fuss

This is such a weird album that shouldn't work an american band that was influenced by eurotrash electro bands. I played this album to death when it came out. and when I came out. Andy your a star has such a place in my heart. I burnt out of listening to this eventually but listening again I now know why I listened to it so much. its one great song after another. and what a well conceived album from start to finish sonically. It's a perfect album in its time and place. Everything that people don't like about the album is why it works. its just so off kilter but that's the point. of course its a five.

Catchy indie pop earworms.

I really have mixed feelings on this album. I've listened for years and thought I liked it OK but then I took it song by song:
1. Jenny Was a Friend of Mine 5
2. Mr. Brightside 4
3. Smile Like You Mean It 2
4. Somebody Told Me 4
5. All These Things That I've Done 3
6. Andy, You're a Star 1
7. On Top 2
8. Change Your Mind 2
9. Believe Me Natalie 2
10. Midnight Show 2
11. Everything Will Be Alright 2

Very front-loaded for me. That, and I'm a basic bitch and only really like the singles and hits ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I really don't enjoy Brandon Flowers' voice or that they put him so high on the mix over the music. Ah well. 2.6/5 -> 3/5

Ugh... At first I just found this to be pretty forgettable pop-rock. Not truly offensive, but very by-the-numbers and safe. Got to about the third track before I started to find it super irritating. A barrage of stolen pop-hooks with no substance. Completely insipid. This sucks.

Their first and best album. Contains the ubiquitous Mr. Brightside (last time I looked 410 weeks on UK chart). Clever sequencing by front loading the album with all the singles to get you hooked in, you can almost forgive Everything Will Be Alright by the end.

Two noticeable bangers on here, but the last songs were getting quite annoying

I will not be including the bonus track “Glamorous Indie Rock & Roll” for this review.

The Killers are a band I’m certainly familiar with through various singles, a few of their more recent albums starting with Wonderful Wonderful, and seeing them live twice. They’re one of the more well-known post-punk revival groups to come out of the early 2000s. Funny enough, for being a group out of Las Vegas, they managed to get super popular in the UK. I would not be surprised if their popularity overseas factored into Robert Dimery and company’s decision to include them on this list at one point. With that all said, how does their debut Hot Fuss hold up?

Let’s start by addressing the obvious critique this album usually gets - it’s front-loaded. The first half is defined by the run of singles from the swaggering baseline of “Jenny Was a Friend of Mine” through the gospel choir complement in “All These Things That I’ve Done”. It’s in these opening tracks that the band established their early identity - Dave Keuning’s bright-toned and percussive guitar play, Mark Stoermer’s melodic bass work, Ronald Vannucci Jr.’s fluid rhythm behind the drum kit. All these elements coalesce behind Brandon Flowers’s echo-coaxed tenor vocals and synthesizer flair, as he sang with reverence for the melodrama he penned out. The one exception was the album’s centerpiece “All These Things That I’ve Done”, which saw Brandon struggle with his faith and come to accept that he’s not perfect in the practice of belief, and won’t try to push his religion onto someone else.

I’ve talked a big deal about just the front half, but that’s not to say there weren’t any good songs in the back half. The gears change with the brooding “Andy, You’re a Star”, where Brandon reminisced about a former high school jockey he used to flirt with as the crunchy guitar riffs stomp in time with the slowed down rhythm. “On Top” is a haunting new wave track with the commanding synth melody about a one-night stand and the adrenaline of such a passionate moment. Both “Change Your Mind” and “Midnight Show” are uptempo bops that continue in the relationship drama, with the latter chronicling the murder that preludes the interrogation on “Jenny Was a Friend of Mine”. There are intriguing tracks to be found towards the end here.

Really, there’s only two tracks I didn’t quite gel with. Unfortunately, one of those tracks happens to be the closer, “Everything Will Be Alright”, which tries again for the big-swinging anthemic message that “All These Things That I’ve Done” accomplished earlier, but can’t because the pace has been slowed down to a grind as there isn’t much punch in the instrumentation while Brandon’s echo-effected vocals become warbly. Also in this tier is “Believe Me Natalie” which shares a similarly irritating vocal delivery as Brandon tries to convince this girl to come out on the dance floor, though at least Ronald switches up the percussion to focus more on the tom-toms in the verses.

Overall, this is still a solid debut from The Killers. The group would end up changing around their sound to incorporate more heartland rock that they were inspired by. Nevertheless, they broke into the scene with a style that took elements from decades prior and created a fresh take for the time.

Nikad mi neće biti jasno zašto ljudi vole ovaj više nego Sam's Town, ludnica koliko ima fillera pri kraju albuma.

Tricky one. The first half is as good as indie rock gets. It's undeniable. The second half is very forgettable. If the songs were spread evenly, would it improve the ranking? Impossible to know.

I did not enjoy this. It was completely forgettable.
Not for me.

The most British band to ever come out of Las Vegas. The front half of this album is incredible stuff. Just hit after hit. The back half is pretty great too.

Not bad. One hit at least

Much better on the whole than I always remember it being.

Tightly executed post-punk revival. A lot like The Strokes or Franz Ferdinand etc. but even hornier if that's possible. A wee bit of brit-pop and Smiths influences, perhaps. Got pretty tedious toward the end, but a couple of the early deep cuts were enjoyable, "Andy You're a Star" notably. Has a good energy, a bit dismal at times. Glad to finally hear it as my wife sings along such that I can't really hear the tunes. Good drums on this.

This is a very good album.

I was originally somewhat reticent, I like the Killers, but something you have to listen to? The entire album is good.

Spewing four massively successful singles, and 'Jenny Was a Friend of Mine,' Hot Fuss is Hot Mess at the same time that it's cultural touchstone. Primarily 'Brightside,' tho really the overall texture of the record, is etched in our subconscious whether we like it or not. I don't like it, since Brandon Flowers has got me missing Robert Smith, his voice even more gratingly loud and uninteresting. The lyrics are nowhere in particular, and misspend the potential of the best song: 'I got soul, but I'm not a soldier.' Pop music doesn't have to mean anything, but it shouldn't propose empty signifiers. So for this one, it never started out w/ a kiss, but it sure did end w/ an upset stomach. Really, it should always be on the back burner.

Yay! I have this album! (#3). Now that it's been 21 years (!) I can admit that I mainly got it because I liked the video for Mr. Brightside, and I thought the rest of their songs were just OK. (I still think "Mr. Brightside" is the best song here - it deserves its Millennial wedding crowdpleaser status.)
This is also an aesthetically pleasing album cover.

It's a pretty good album, though. A lot of hits, and the last-half relative snoozers aren't too bad. They should have kept it in the book!

Also, reading that 'Mr Brightside' was played on & therefore overlapped with The OC is like those "the pyramids were built at the same time as the telephone" kinds of facts for me. How is that possible!? D:

Highlights: 'Mr Brightside', 'All These Things That I've Done' (&"I've got soul but I'm not a soldier"), 'Andy, You're a Star'

This came out when I was in high school and it was huge. And for good reason, this is a fantastic album. Glamorous Indie Rock n Roll is a sleeper jam on here, it’s a great closer. And one of the best songs on an album full of hits.

Ich habe mir auf meiner Hochzeit 2 Lieder beim DJ gewünscht:
Brings - Kölsche Jung
The Killers - Mr. Brightside
Den kompletten Text auf meiner Hochzeit mitzugröhlen einfach toll in Erinnerung geblieben.
Aber auch einfach ein Knaller auf jeder Party und für mich ein Top 10 aller Zeiten Lied. Wer das nicht mitsingen kann, verpasst was.
Somebody told me auch 5/5.
Hab nie das ganze Album gehört, hat mir top gefallen.
Songs der Playlist hinzugefügt: Mr. Brightside, Somebody told me