Albums by this artist

Hot Fuss (2005)

Killers

Hot Fuss

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» MARK T.R. DONOHUE | STAFF WRITER

Killers Hot Fuss Island, 2005 RiYL: New Order, Morrissey, Franz Ferdinand, The Cure

What is it about being a hardcore music fan that makes commercially successful stuff anathema? Whenever Incubus comes up on shuffle on my iPod in the car, I find myself red-faced, struggling to explain myself. Morning View is a good album, OK? Let's not even get into my Zeppelin fetish. It's not as if rap fans have to apologize for Tupac selling millions of records, or Ludacris's hangdog face being omnipresent on the hip-hop countdown shows. OK, Coolio sucks, but it's not as if the Notorious B.I.G. was an "underground" artist.

That brings us to Hot Fuss, the debut record by a group from Las Vegas called the Killers. If this record was on Matador, it would be embraced as the latest sensation in the series of recently faddish late '70s/early '80s archaeologists recently unavoidable on the PA before rock shows or in Apple commercials. However it's not, it's on Island, it's on the Hot New Releases rack at Best Buy, and the videos are in heavy rotation on MTV2. It will therefore be difficult for many of us to overcome our prejudices and enjoy the album on its own merits.

Said merits are not absent. Hot Fuss, for two-thirds of its tracks, is a quite listenable reconstruction of synth-indie circa 1980, with the requisite zipping Peter Hook bass lines and elementary synth plinking. Single "Mr. Brightside" is probably the best illustration of what the Killers are on about, with its propulsive double-time drumbeat by the adept Ronnie Vannucci and an operatic vocal by singer/keyboardist Brandon Flowers. The baroque vocal theme is stretched to the breaking point on the catchy-despite-itself "All These Things That I've Done," where a gospel choir joins Flowers to chant, "I've got soul, but I'm not a soldier."

Forgive them their indulgences, for such naked overemoting is what makes Hot Fuss appealing. Attempts to sound laid back and cool, like "Andy, You're A Star" just come across like subpar Morrissey (the comma in the title is a dead giveaway). The outright synth-pop of "On Top" compares favorably to likeminded groups like the Rapture. Guitar chugger "Change Your Mind" could almost pass for early R.E.M. without the keyboard flourishes.

Sure, Hot Fuss falls a few good tracks short of a full album. For some strange reason, all of the tracks that have proper names in them are insufferable. "Midnight Show" resentfully channels Depeche Mode. The title of "Everything Will Be Alright" is an outright lie -- maybe on the next album, boys.

End to end, Hot Fuss is stronger than recent efforts by Franz Ferdinand, Jet, or the aforementioned Rapture. Don't let its aboveground exposure scare you away. Sure, the Killers are poseurs, but so was their forebear David Bowie, and his career turned out OK, Tin Machine notwithstanding. The players are solid, particularly bassist Mark Stoermer, and the album is slickly produced in the proper manner for a glam record. All this and it's cheap at Best Buy. The videos are kind of good, too.

MARK T.R. DONOHUE | Mark T.R. Donohue is a prolific freelance writer whose areas of expertise include Rockies baseball, video games, genre television, English soccer, and pub rock. He lives in Colorado, where he cultivates the largest and creepiest private collection of Alyson Hannigan memorabilia in the Mountain West.