In Hear This, A.V. Club writers sing the praises of songs they know well. This week: songs with the word “hit” somewhere in the title.
We Are Scientists, “It’s A Hit” (2005)
We Are Scientists has been a band slightly longer than The Killers, having formed in 2000. But it wasn’t until The Killers had some success with 2004’s Hot Fuss that the door peeked open for We Are Scientists, whose second album With Love And Squalor—a massive sonic change from the simple indie-rock of its first—sounded heavily influenced by its more popular peers. Which isn’t to take anything away from We Are Scientists—maybe the band was just following the same well-trod path as The Killers. But “It’s A Hit,” from With Love, still sounds awesome nearly a decade later, even if you squint your ears when hearing it to make sure it’s not a Killers song you don’t know. And this might be going out on a limb, but With Love And Squalor on the whole is a better, more consistent album than Hot Fuss, which starts remarkably strong before petering out almost completely. The video for “It’s A Hit” is worth a watch as well, with singer Keith Murray as a cocky boxer taking on all comers… and then disappointing a young, wheelchair-bound fan.