The Bottom Line: This is one of the more impressive young bands I've heard in a while. I hope they live up to the promise they show on this record in the future.
For years I heard the Osmond jokes. I didn’t know who the heck these people were and why people would always bring them up when talking about my home state of Utah. Eventually “Donny & Marie” had their comeback talk show and I learned the identity of this family which had come to be synonymous with my state for so long. It was still frustrating to have them be my state’s only contribution to the American modern musical canon. Certainly we could do better than that.
But how would a new pop group or rock band emerge from Utah? Musicians and celebrities come from New York and Los Angeles, everybody knows that. You don’t hear about stars from Toledo, Fargo, or Provo. It seemed fated that 500 years in the future, Utah’s sole musical legacy would be “Puppy Love.”
Then, a couple years ago, The Used had a video on MTV. They were from Orem, Utah of all places. I was excited at first, but I soon lost any local pride when I learned more about the mediocre “screamo” band and their hygiene-challenged lead singer.
Many months later “Somebody Told Me” arrived from a Las Vegas-based outfit called The Killers. The thing in my record collection that its combination of danceability and intensity recalled was U2’s “Pop” album. It was sort of like a combination of Duran Duran groove and Depeche Mode gloom. It was unusual, but I liked it. And I was rather shocked when I learned that the band’s frontman, Brandon Flowers, grew up in Nephi, Utah. This was just an hour south of where I grew up; a small Utah town not unlike the one I was raised in.
Clearly, Flowers does not publicize this fact very much. It is contrary to his somewhat contrived “glam” image. But his youthful interest in New Wave was hardly unusual someone from beyond the “Zion Curtain”. We Utahans have long had an unnatural love for the genre. Perhaps it’s the fact that we have the highest amount of British ancestry of any state in the union that we embrace this eminently English form so enthusiastically. But it’s a fact that obscure Eighties acts like Howard Jones have an unusually large fan base in the Beehive State. Up until recently we had two stations playing mostly Eighties music, until one of them got bought out by a corporate giant and turned into “Jack FM”, which is run by computers and is identical to a station in LA…talk about lame!
So, I was impressed, but no amount of local pride is going to cause me to run out and buy an album based on just one song. I’m a college student with limited financial resources, and I only buy 3 or 4 albums per year. But once a second hit, “Mr. Brightside”, arrived on the airwaves, I became convinced that The Killers definitely had a lot of promise. I bought “Hot Fuss”, and it ended up staying in my CD player for quite a while.
Brandon Flowers brings the synthesizer back to rock, which is a good thing. The typical guitar/bass/drums rock formula gets old after awhile, and keyboards, utilized correctly, can add depth to a band’s sound. That said, Flowers probably overuses them on this album. I guess when you’re the band’s leader and you want to play synth all over a song, they other members may defer to your authority. However, when Flowers allows himself to get too carried away, the music really suffers, as on “Everything Will Be Alright”, one of the album’s two truly weak links (the other is “Believe Me Natalie”).
Besides, who needs so much keyboard when you have a good young guitarist like Dave Keuning. His shimmering riff that anchors the chorus to “On Top” is brilliant. Bassist Mark Stoermer is no slouch, ably taking the driver’s seat on fast songs like “Jenny Was a Friend of Mine”. But perhaps the album’s most inspired sonic decision was the use of gospel-style background singers on “Andy, You’re a Star” and “All These Things That I Have Done.” On the latter track they create an awesome crescendo that proves the record’s most euphoric moment. In general, the “Hot Fuss” album has a mysterious mood that is slightly dark but not too dark, with a very nice overall flavor.
I must offer The Killers a warning. There’s a danger in putting too much emphasis on their retro look and sound; they risk looking like a novelty act. They need to focus on musical growth and songwriting, and eventually become less indebted to certain stylistic influences (Flowers’ vocal style is a little too obviously patterned after Morrissey’s).
There’s definite room for lyrical growth. While “Mr. Brightside” is a successful portrayal of a man’s bitter jealousy, few other songs on “Hot Fuss” show such storytelling ability. Most seem to be about mood more than message. Don’t believe me? Then explain to me exactly what “All These Things That I Have Done” or “Smile Like You Mean It” is supposed to be about. I rest my case. I’m not saying that all songs have to be “about” something, but I happen to prefer music that has some sort of message.
Despite these small criticisms, The Killers’ freshman effort demonstrates a knack for successfully crafting a good variety of songs; it isn’t a one-dimensional record. U2 gave props to The Killers not too long ago, saying their album is one of the best recent releases they’ve heard. That’s praise from a high source, but it’s deserved. As a matter of fact, “Hot Fuss” is actually better than “How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb”. Don’t get me wrong. The Killers certainly aren’t better than U2 (let’s not get crazy), but they did genuinely outdo a weak release from U2 in 2005.
Imagine that, some kid from Nephi coming up with the most exciting rock record of the year (well, the best one I’ve heard so far). It’s good to see a local boy done good. Maybe this will give hope to all those kids out there from Charleston, West Virginia and Butte, Montana that their musical dreams can come true too. Then again, Flowers had to move to Vegas first. It’s not like someone discovered him in his garage in Nephi. A guy can dream, though, of a day when record executives will wander the streets of every town in America searching for diamonds in the rough. Yeah, that’ll happen.
Finally I must point out, in explanation of my title, that I realize The Killers won't replace The Osmonds as the most famous musicians with some Utah roots. After all, stylistically they are a hell of a lot more Vegas than Utahan. And not many people know that Flowers is originally from here; I'm sure it was news to many readers of this review. But my point is, I see Utah's odd love of New Wave music as having influenced Flowers as he grew up. His love of that music spurred him to creat a globally prominent '80s revival band. In this way, the small corner of the world I grew up in actually had some impact on pop culture, which is kinda cool.
Hot Fuss features eleven nuggets of reel-you-in storytelling genius and musical nectar. These eleven tracks span from the very Vegas like Ziggy came t...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
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