They Liked You Better When You Were Dead is the debut EP by English rock band Fightstar, released on 28 February 2005 through Sandwich Leg Records. The release proved a critical success, in spite of the cynics' initial expectations of the band. It has been said that the EP helped "present Fightstar as a British rival to the East Coast alternative rock scene". Alex Westaway, the band's lead guitarist and co-lyricist drew the artwork based on Edward Norton for the inlay of the booklet, as the record was inspired by author Chuck Palahniuk and the film adaptation Fight Club. The UK version contained 5 tracks (including a sixth hidden track), meaning the EP was ineligible for the UK Singles Chart. However, the release proved popular enough to warrant a reprinting on 23 March 2005. The music video for "Palahniuk's Laughter" enjoyed heavy rotation on music channels and spent many weeks in charts based on video and radio requests. The EP was released in April 2006 in North America through Deep Elm Records as an extended mini-album. Background, writing and recording During 2003, when Charlie Simpson was still an active member of successful pop trio Busted, he met fellow songwriter-guitarist Alex Westaway and drummer Omar Abidi at a party. He was by this stage becoming increasingly frustrated by the music he was performing in Busted and stated he had "all of this creativity pent up inside and I just needed to vent it somewhere, and I was writing a lot of songs but I couldn’t play them, because I didn’t have anyone to play them with". Westaway subsequently moved into Simpson's spare room after dropping out of university and the pair began writing together. Over the next six months, the EP had been written. Alex later invited school friend, bassist Dan Haigh, to practise with the band and the foursome soon began booking regular rehearsal sessions together. Later, after Simpson had decided to focus on Fightstar full-time, the band entered Criterion Studios in London with producer Mark Williams to begin tracking. Recording sessions were often interrupted as during this period Simpson was in the middle of a sold-out stint of Wembley shows with Busted. Commenting on recording period, Simpson later stated: The song "Mono", named in honor of the Japanese band of the same name, was recorded during a thunderstorm. Shortly before the track's heavy finale, it's possible to hear the