'Darkness' lights up radio waves
By Jeff Renfro
The Darkness might be the most popular band in the world right now. Their debut album, "Permission to Land," is one of the best selling debuts in European history. So why has the United States been so slow to embrace this hard-rocking throwback?
The Darkness (Justin Hawkins-vocals/synthesizer/guitar, Dan Hawkins-guitar, Frankie Poullain-bass, and Ed Graham-drums) was created by the Hawkins brothers. They recruited friends Graham and Poullain to fill out the line-up and began to play a series of now legendary Saturday night shows in North London. Word of the band's extreme showmanship and arena rock sound quickly spread and The Darkness became a word of mouth sensation.
On first listen, The Darkness sounds like the most ridiculous band ever. Fashioned after such arena-ready bands as AC/DC and Kiss, the band seems to be creating an enormous practical joke. Queen is obviously a huge influence on the band (at times, Hawkins seems to be doing his best Freddie Mercury impression). The sound is heavy and the guitar solos are long and occur often. The drum tracks are simple and made to clap along to. The lyrics tend to deal with partying and the band's favorite theme: love.
The band maintains that everything they do, from their over-the-top guitar solos to their over-the-top pyrotechnics in their live shows (over-the-top could be used to describe just about everything that this bands does), is sincere. They do not present themselves as a joke band. They believe that they are just having a good time and creating music that people will enjoy. Every listener is either going to "get" The Darkness or completely hate them. The band does not take themselves very seriously, which is actually refreshing in an era where the new music coming out is great and innovative, but the artists producing it are so self-important.
The band's first single, "I Believe in a Thing Called Love," encapsulates everything that the band stands for: it features two guitar solos, a bridge that is just the bass drum and hand claps, and screeching lyrics. The song features several lyrical gems, like "my heart is in overdrive and you're behind the steering wheel." That sounds incredibly corny, and it is, but it is so fun. The chorus of the song goes, "I believe in a thing called love/ just listen to the rhythm of my heart/ there's a chance we could make it now/ we'll be rocking 'til the sun goes down." It is impossible not to smile and tap a foot while the song is playing.
The rest of the album follows the same model. The riffs are heavy and catchy. The lyrics are corny, but are guaranteed to cause a smile and to get stuck in the listener's head. The Darkness seem like a complete novelty band on first listen, and they very well might be nothing more than that, but they are incredibly fun to listen to. Listen to the album with an open mind and be willing to have good, clean fun. No one wants to like a band that sounds this corny, but it is impossible not to.
Grade: A-
û Contact Jeff Renfro at (408) 554-4546 or jrenfro@scu.edu.