Hot Fuss


Hot Fuss is the debut studio album by the American rock band The Killers. It was released on June 7, 2004, in the United Kingdom and on June 15, 2004, in the United States. The album is mostly influenced by new wave music and post-punk. Hot Fuss spawned four commercially and critically successful singles: "Mr. Brightside", "Somebody Told Me", "All These Things That I've Done" and "Smile Like You Mean It".
The album reached number seven on the Billboard 200 and number one on the UK Albums Chart., Hot Fuss had sold more than seven million copies worldwide, including more than three million in the United States and more than two million in the United Kingdom, where it has been certified seven-times platinum. It has also been certified platinum or multi-platinum in Australia, Canada, Ireland, and New Zealand. The album and its first three singles went on to garner five Grammy Award nominations.

Background

The album was recorded at various points throughout 2003 with Jeff Saltzman in Berkeley, California, with the exception of "Everything Will Be Alright", which was recorded by Corlene Byrd in guitarist Dave Keuning's apartment. Many of the tracks were originally recorded as demos, which the band decided to keep for their spontaneity. The album was mixed by Mark Needham at Cornerstone Studios in Los Angeles and Alan Moulder at Eden Studios in London. In 2012, Brandon Flowers told NME that he felt "depressed” after hearing The Strokes' album Is This It. "That record just sounded so perfect", he said. "We threw away everything and the only song that made the cut and remained was 'Mr. Brightside.'"
The songs "Midnight Show" and "Jenny Was a Friend of Mine" are two parts of the so-called "Murder Trilogy", detailing the fictional story of a woman who is murdered by her jealous boyfriend. The first part, "Leave the Bourbon on the Shelf", appears on the band's B-sides and rarities compilation, Sawdust.

Production

The album heavily features a vocal effect called Echo Farm on Flowers' voice. In 2014, Needham recounted, "There were three of us involved in the production company on that record: Braden Merrick, Jeff Saltzman and myself. Jeff and I had been partners for a few years. He was an entertainment attorney and was shopping stuff, but he actually really wanted to be a producer as well. We set Jeff up with a studio, got him started in recording and since he’s a smart guy, he picked it up really quick. At that time, Echo Farm had just come out, and that was really the only vocal effect he had. If you open up Echo Farm, the first setting that comes up is the default setting, which overdrives the vocal a bit and sets an 84 ms delay. That was basically what he put on everything and it sort of became the default vocal tone on the whole record, plus it worked really great, so we kept it. It changes a little bit on certain things, but it was a fairly consistent effect through the whole record."

Artwork

The photograph of the buildings in the album art was shot by photographer Matthias Clamer in 2000, in the southern region of the suburbs of Beijing, China. When he was initially approached by the band, the album was only projected to sell 5000 copies. The characters on top of each tower translate to "construction material development".

Release and reception

Hot Fuss was released on June 7, 2004, in the United Kingdom and on June 15, 2004, in the United States. In 2005, it was reissued as a box of eleven seven-inch vinyl discs, with an album track on each A-side and non-album tracks on the B-sides. The album reached number seven on the US Billboard 200 chart. It is estimated to have sold more than seven million copies worldwide, including more than three million in the United States and more than two million in the UK, where it has been certified seven-times platinum and sold over 2.2 million copies. It has also been certified platinum or multi-platinum in Australia, Canada, Ireland, and New Zealand. Hot Fuss produced several commercially and critically successful singles, including "Mr. Brightside". Hot Fuss was The Killers' first number-one album in the UK. It was the 26th best-selling album of the decade in the United Kingdom. It is among the top 25 longest-charting albums in the history of the UK Albums Chart, with 252 weeks, more than four-and-a-half years. It is also the longest-charting post-2000 release on the same chart.
Rolling Stone ranked Hot Fuss the 43rd of its "100 Best Albums of the Decade", and was, at one point, listed among the 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. Gigwise readers voted it the number-one "Best Debut Album of All Time" in 2013. Rolling Stone ranked Hot Fuss the 33rd of its list of "The 100 Greatest Debut Albums of All Time".

Accolades

PublicationCountryAccoladeYearRank
Drowned in SoundUKBest Albums of the Year20042
GigwiseUSBest Debut Album Ever: Readers' Poll20131
NMEUS500 Greatest Albums of All Time2013495
QUK250 Best Albums of Qs Lifetime 1986–2010201117
Rolling StoneUSTop 100 Albums of the 2000s200943
Rolling StoneUS100 Greatest Debut Albums of All Time201333
Rolling StoneUS10 Greatest Debut Albums of All Time: Readers' Poll20139
The A.V. ClubUSTop 100 Albums of the 2000s200941

Hot Fuss is listed among the 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.

Track listing

All tracks produced by Jeff Saltzman and The Killers, except "Everything Will Be Alright", produced by Brandon Flowers.

Personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of Hot Fuss.

The Killers

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Chart Position
Australian Albums 19
French Albums 79
Irish Albums 8
New Zealand Albums 21
UK Albums 12
US Billboard 20017
Worldwide Albums 28

Chart Position
UK Albums 72

Chart Position
UK Albums 93

Chart Position
UK Albums 124

Chart Position
UK Albums 115

Decade-end charts

Century-end charts (running)

Certifications

Release history