The Daily Spin, September 26
The Killers | Hot Fuss
Welcome back to the Daily Spin, the series in which I review 365 albums during 2023.
Each album will be given a rating on a scale from 0 to 10. You can look at the entire set here. Additionally, you can check out a list of my favorite song from each album right here.
Album: Hot Fuss (2004)
Artist: The Killers
Link:
Regardless of anything else, I think it’s worth noting that this album, which includes one of the most popular songs ever released in ‘Mr. Brightside’, was this group’s first effort. There’s getting it right the first time, and then there’s getting it right.
I think the rest of the album falls into a pit that’s all too common for any genre, but particularly within rock of the early aughts - it’s really challenging to not walk the paths already tread upon by acts a thousand times over, and much of the second half of this record winds up doing exactly that - though the 2-5 run on this album feels a bit like the Combs-Ruth-Gehrig-Lazzeri of this vaguely post-punk indie rock world, the rest feels a lot more like watching a Pecos League matchup.
The opening is strong enough to overshadow any sort of lingering struggle, but I am left feeling a little bemused - though the plaudits that ‘Mr. Brightside’ has received are in no way undeserved, it’s pretty amazing to me how one song can so violently overshadow what plays out to a pretty bog-standard album otherwise. There’s enough there in the character of the band and the style of their music to keep me engaged, and that keeps the score where it is, but I’m finding myself thinking a little differently of Hot Fuss after this.
Rating: 8.1/10
Best Tracks: All These Things That I’ve Done; Mr. Brightside
Worst Tracks: Everything Will Be Alright