As promised in day ten of the Millenium Project, here's exerpts from the article telling how to rearrange the Killers' Hot Fuss to create a story...“Hot Fuss” a story of jealousy, deception & murder?
* I did not come up with this or write it. The bulk of the text comes from an article, which you can read here. I simply formatted some of the author’s words into a more track list friendly layout. Once again, from this point forward, all information is from “Are The Killers Gayer Than Fitness Fridays!?” by Kathy Cacace… Click here to read the actual article in more detail…
Our characters:
Narrator - The voice of all of the songs, name never revealed; a high school student; gay
Andy - High school student; star athlete; object of narrator’s affections
Jenny - Girlfriend of Andy
The tracks must be rearranged (and one must be omitted - US version) to bring out the alleged story. I will now go through the tracks:
1. Smile Like You Mean It - sets the tone for the emotional environment of the relationship between our narrator and Andy. It’s all about denying what’s truly there, yet lamenting the loss of innocence as each male character accepts his true desires.
2. Change Your Mind - the beginning of the connection between the two boys. Mr. Flowers proclaimed the song “the sweetest” the Killers have done, and it’s true. It’s the most promising, most hopeful song on the album, and reeks of the possibilities of a new romance. Yet because this romance is between our narrator and Andy, the sweetness of the song is somewhat diluted with suspicion, shame, and guilt. Still, they can’t deny that they’ve “both felt like this before.”
3. Andy, You’re A Star - The most transparent of the songs on the album, our narrator pines for the seemingly untouchable (and attached) high school jock. On the field he’s incredible and he’s leaving his legacy on the school, but he’s also rolling around on the mats with the boys with more fervor than wrestling demands. The narrator says, explicitly, “in a car with a girl—promise me she’s not your world, ‘cause Andy, you’re a star.” Sure, it could be a platonic envy or admiration of a small-town boy with a too-big-for-his-britches star quality, but the town isn’t admiring him; they’re judging him—and the verdict is in. We suspect Andy likes boys. And our narrator likes Andy.
4. Somebody Told Me - the story begins to become clearer. The twisted genders of the boyfriends and girlfriends in the chorus become a coded inquiry from our narrator to Andy to see exactly whether or not he’s interested. The proverbial “somebody” told him that he had a boyfriend, who looked a lot like one of the narrator’s old “girlfriends.”
5. On Top - The narrator has had it with playing games, and, in the overtly homoerotic “On Top,” the two get together. Still, leaving each other with a cigarette and a handshake after their trysts, they can’t acknowledge to other people what’s truly going on.
6. Mr. Brightside - Our narrator’s jealousy over Jenny’s role in Andy’s life permeates the entire album, but is specifically dealt with in “Mr. Brightside,” in which the narrator is not possessive of the “she,” but rather jealous of her time with the “he.” It seems that Jenny is an acquaintance of the narrator’s; she fuels his jealousy with her presence in both his and Andy’s life.
7. Midnight Show - The murder. By the Killers’ own admittance, a murder occurs on this album. It’s Jenny, and the narrator commits the murder. This is all a given. The band, however, does not as explicitly state the gay love theme that drives the murder. It seems not only that the narrator kills Jenny, but also that Andy was there and was involved in the actual process; someone is holding Jenny down, imploring an accomplice to “drive faster.”
8. Jenny Was A Friend Of Mine - Post-murder (which takes place outside, in the rain, but doesn’t involve drowning—personally, I believe she was strangled), the narrator denies the charges, telling his interrogators that Jenny was a friend of his and he had no motive to commit such a crime. However, if we were to believe that this album depicts a heterosexual relationship, why would our narrator declare Jenny simply a friend?
9. All These Things That I’ve Done - Guilt sets in after the crime. It seems that the two men cannot stay together. The narrator attempts to console himself.
10. Everything Will Be Alright - the narrator’s attempts to not only console himself, but also the boy he is losing.
And, now that you've rearranged their debut, head over here to watch their new video for "When You Were Young."
* I did not come up with this or write it. The bulk of the text comes from an article, which you can read here. I simply formatted some of the author’s words into a more track list friendly layout. Once again, from this point forward, all information is from “Are The Killers Gayer Than Fitness Fridays!?” by Kathy Cacace… Click here to read the actual article in more detail…
Our characters:
Narrator - The voice of all of the songs, name never revealed; a high school student; gay
Andy - High school student; star athlete; object of narrator’s affections
Jenny - Girlfriend of Andy
The tracks must be rearranged (and one must be omitted - US version) to bring out the alleged story. I will now go through the tracks:
1. Smile Like You Mean It - sets the tone for the emotional environment of the relationship between our narrator and Andy. It’s all about denying what’s truly there, yet lamenting the loss of innocence as each male character accepts his true desires.
2. Change Your Mind - the beginning of the connection between the two boys. Mr. Flowers proclaimed the song “the sweetest” the Killers have done, and it’s true. It’s the most promising, most hopeful song on the album, and reeks of the possibilities of a new romance. Yet because this romance is between our narrator and Andy, the sweetness of the song is somewhat diluted with suspicion, shame, and guilt. Still, they can’t deny that they’ve “both felt like this before.”
3. Andy, You’re A Star - The most transparent of the songs on the album, our narrator pines for the seemingly untouchable (and attached) high school jock. On the field he’s incredible and he’s leaving his legacy on the school, but he’s also rolling around on the mats with the boys with more fervor than wrestling demands. The narrator says, explicitly, “in a car with a girl—promise me she’s not your world, ‘cause Andy, you’re a star.” Sure, it could be a platonic envy or admiration of a small-town boy with a too-big-for-his-britches star quality, but the town isn’t admiring him; they’re judging him—and the verdict is in. We suspect Andy likes boys. And our narrator likes Andy.
4. Somebody Told Me - the story begins to become clearer. The twisted genders of the boyfriends and girlfriends in the chorus become a coded inquiry from our narrator to Andy to see exactly whether or not he’s interested. The proverbial “somebody” told him that he had a boyfriend, who looked a lot like one of the narrator’s old “girlfriends.”
5. On Top - The narrator has had it with playing games, and, in the overtly homoerotic “On Top,” the two get together. Still, leaving each other with a cigarette and a handshake after their trysts, they can’t acknowledge to other people what’s truly going on.
6. Mr. Brightside - Our narrator’s jealousy over Jenny’s role in Andy’s life permeates the entire album, but is specifically dealt with in “Mr. Brightside,” in which the narrator is not possessive of the “she,” but rather jealous of her time with the “he.” It seems that Jenny is an acquaintance of the narrator’s; she fuels his jealousy with her presence in both his and Andy’s life.
7. Midnight Show - The murder. By the Killers’ own admittance, a murder occurs on this album. It’s Jenny, and the narrator commits the murder. This is all a given. The band, however, does not as explicitly state the gay love theme that drives the murder. It seems not only that the narrator kills Jenny, but also that Andy was there and was involved in the actual process; someone is holding Jenny down, imploring an accomplice to “drive faster.”
8. Jenny Was A Friend Of Mine - Post-murder (which takes place outside, in the rain, but doesn’t involve drowning—personally, I believe she was strangled), the narrator denies the charges, telling his interrogators that Jenny was a friend of his and he had no motive to commit such a crime. However, if we were to believe that this album depicts a heterosexual relationship, why would our narrator declare Jenny simply a friend?
9. All These Things That I’ve Done - Guilt sets in after the crime. It seems that the two men cannot stay together. The narrator attempts to console himself.
10. Everything Will Be Alright - the narrator’s attempts to not only console himself, but also the boy he is losing.
And, now that you've rearranged their debut, head over here to watch their new video for "When You Were Young."
posted by Nick at 10:05 PM
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