Hot Fuss

Performer: The Killers (00s)
Producer: Jeff Saltzman; The Killers
Distributor: Universal Distribution

Notes: The Killers (00s): Brandon Flowers (vocals, synthesizer); Dave Kuening (guitar); Mark Stoermer (bass instrument); Ronnie Vannucci (drums). Recording information: The Hearse, Berkeley, California (2004); Cornerstone Studios, Los Angeles, California (2004). Although they are Las Vegas, Nevada natives, the Killers have more in common with the retro-New Wave sounds of New York City than with the casino crooners most often associated with Sin City. On HOT FUSS, the shaggy-haired quartet matches 1960s garage attitude and Strokes-like vocal swagger with a danceable, bass guitar-driven sound that pays lavish tribute to '80s pop heroes Duran Duran and Simple Minds. With "On Top," the combo adds the soaring, delay-laden guitars of U2 and the Fixx, while "Somebody Told Me" features a bouncy disco beat that recalls the Pet Shop Boys. Not content to be pegged as a retro-revival act, however, the Killers imbue each song on this fierce debut with a healthy dose of new-millennium rock snarl.

Rolling Stone (p.124) - 3 1/2 stars out of 5 - "[T]his Las Vegas band has actual pop songs in spades....This album is all Killers, no filler." Rolling Stone (p.146) - Included in Rolling Stone's Top 50 Records Of 2004 - "[O]ne of the year's surprise left-field hits..." Spin (p.66) - Ranked #16 in Spin's "40 Best Albums of the Year" - "HOT FUSS is like doing a semester abroad without ever having to leave your suburb." Q (p.116) - 3 stars out of 5 - "[With] moments of exhilarating brilliance..." Uncut (p.78) - Ranked #59 in Uncut's "Best New Albums of 2004" - "The Killers sort the wheat from the chaff of '80s motifs..." CMJ (p.4) - "[A] raucous mix of electro synth-mangling and Strokes-like effortless cool that could prove just as effective on this side of the pond."

Though a batch of 1980s-New Wave-inspired bands started making noise in the early 2000s, it wasn't until the Killers' 2004 debut album HOT FUSS (and its crossover hits "Somebody Told Me" and "Mr. Brightside") that the style really broke through to the mainstream. Heavily indebted to the likes of the Smiths, Psychedelic Furs, et al, the Las Vegas, NV quartet brought a contemporary sense of urgency to their retro-loving dance-rock sound and taught a new generation of kids that it doesn't have to be disco to be dance music. For follow-up SAM'S TOWN, the group obviously feasted on a gorge of Bruce Springsteen style rock, and while the sound boasted a slightly harder edge, the group retained the critics' and fans' adoration.

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