Hot Fuss

Recorded through 2003, mostly in Berkeley with Jeff Saltzman, and mixed by Mark Needham in Los Angeles and Alan Moulder in London. Many tracks are the original demos. Everything Will Be Alright was recorded in Keuning's Las Vegas apartment and produced by Flowers alone, and Flowers' voice throughout uses the default setting of the Echo Farm plug-in. The Sweet Inspirations sing on All These Things That I've Done and Andy, You're a Star. Jenny Was a Friend of Mine and Midnight Show tell a murder story whose third part, Leave the Bourbon on the Shelf, appeared on Sawdust.

Opinion was sharply divided on release: AllMusic gave it five stars, Pitchfork 5.2. It reached number one in Britain in January 2005 and seven in America, and Rolling Stone later ranked it 43rd among albums of the 2000s. The band played it in full at their 20 Years of Hot Fuss residency in Las Vegas in 2024.