{"id":40928,"date":"2008-06-01T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2008-06-01T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/hot-fuss-2\/"},"modified":"2008-06-01T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2008-06-01T00:00:00","slug":"hot-fuss-2","status":"publish","type":"review","link":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/hot-fuss-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Hot Fuss"},"content":{"rendered":"

Not since U2 has there been coup for Island Records as important as signing The Killers. The first time I saw their video for \u201cSomebody Told Me\u201d actually being played on MTV, I knew that this band was poised to take on the world as the \u201cnext big thing.\u201d\u00a0 Indeed, they did break on through to the other side, selling six million copies of their debut album Hot Fuss <\/i>and snagging a couple of Grammy nominations in the process.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Dismissed by many critics as being too retro sounding, the Jeff Saltzman-produced Hot Fuss <\/i>was nevertheless just what I had been hungering for: rock with an electronic edge \u2013 something I didn\u2019t think would be possible in this day and age. Fans of \u201880s pop were just as bowled over by this record as the British were. Not bad for an American act that hails from Las Vegas<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> and has a Mormon named Brandon Flowers as its front man. No, he\u2019s not gay, so don\u2019t let those sly gender-bending lyrics of his fool you into believing otherwise. Sure, he\u2019s also got a slight build and has a penchant for wearing eyeliner, but that\u2019s as far as it goes. Perhaps all the personal interview questions will cease now that he\u2019s gotten married to a woman, grown a beard and released a follow-up album (Sam\u2019s Town<\/i>) that made Bruce Springsteen proud. Guess we\u2019ll just have to wait and see.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Before Flowers got all grungy on us, he was riding the first wave of fame and proving that he was up to the challenge of being a charismatic cover boy and talented musician.\u00a0 The first half of Hot Fuss <\/i>has a frenetic pace that rarely lets up. The dense feel is at times almost claustrophobic, but the intensity is certainly impressive. Forming the basis of the album, there are four hit singles and four songs named after supposedly real people. In addition to the bisexuality themed \u201cSomebody Told Me,\u201d there is the overplayed \u201cMr. Brightside\u201d and the breezy Cure sound-alike, \u201cSmile Like You Mean It.\u201d Then there is the band\u2019s anthem of monumental proportions, \u201cAll These Things That I\u2019ve Done.\u201d Yes, it does feature a catchy refrain that doesn\u2019t make a bit of sense, but it does make you think when Brandon<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> sings, \u201cI\u2019ve got soul, but I\u2019m not a soldier.\u201d When The Killers opted to perform just one song at the all-important Live8 show in London<\/st1:place><\/st1:city>, this was the one they wisely chose.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

With the opening sound of a helicopter touching down, \u201cJenny Was A Friend Of Mine\u201d kicks the album off with roaring guitars and Flowers\u2019 soaring vocal. All four band members really sound as though they mean business here, signifying that the Killers have arrived and are insatiably hungry for fame to come knocking. Despite its awkward pacing, the track \u201cAndy, You\u2019re A Star\u201d caused quite a stir when Flowers explained it was about a crush he used to have on a boy back in high school. Of course, he would later retract this story, but by then the public at large had already formulated an opinion about his sexuality. Additional songs about boys and girls in equal measure (\u201cBelieve Me, Natalie\u201d and \u201cBallad Of Michael Valentine\u201d) would only add more fuel to the fire.<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Another one of my favorites on Hot Fuss <\/i>is the muted, yet strangely haunting \u201cEverything Will Be Alright.\u201d You can\u2019t help but wonder if this title has become Brandon Flowers\u2019 personal mantra as he navigates his way along the treacherous path of celebrity. Had he not the support of his band as a buffer and a strong Mormon faith to guide him, the stress would undoubtedly been too much for this sensitive soul to handle. Now that he has supposedly found love and it seems as though The Killers are going to be here to stay, perhaps Flowers will be able to breathe a little easier and focus on being creative once again. This guy has a tremendous amount to offer the world of music, and I for one will be paying close attention to see what this curious master of illusion pulls out of his hat next.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":57,"featured_media":28440,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[7785],"rating":[5646],"class_list":["post-40928","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-the-killers","rating-rating-a"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/40928","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/57"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40928"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/40928\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28440"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40928"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40928"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=40928"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=40928"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}