The Darkness

would I have annoyed you less if, instead of trying to engage the argument, i just posted smug one-line replies?

haha dan p i laughed so much i fell off the couch!!

Ah! Then maybe I might actually like it! :-)

I actually agree with Stevie here, my post was my off-the-cuff reaction to waking up, switching on the radio and having to scrabble for the remote AGAIN because of that damn song, then going to watch The Box in the hopes of seeing the new Liberty X single and... guess what was on? It wasn't meant to be a reasoned opinion.

you said i mean, isn't it obvious why people love the darkness? (and they do...) and I've forgotten the context if it was ironic, but this is pretty much the same thing as what I did. If you made a good strong case FOR The Darkness I've missed it. To argue against The Darkness: this thread established a while ago that we should engage with them on a strictly pop (as opposed to rock) level, which to me suggests focusing on your gut reaction to them rather than over-analysing the music in the search for 'real' reasons for liking/disliking them. I mean, that's what this whole strand of criticism is about, isn't it? Girls Aloud make trashy disposable pop but it makes me DANCE ergo it is GREAT. The Darkness make trashy disposable pop but it makes me cringe (even more so than Madonna rapping) and turn the radio off ergo it is BAD. I don't see anyone saying that snide reactions to other pop acts (Madonna, Javine, Xtina, whoever) need more depth to them. I've just searched ILM for Tori Amos references, actually, and none of the negative comments about her are reasoned at all. NONE. They're all "Tori Amos, ugh" or "Tori Amos is annoying".

If you want a reasoned argument against The Darkness, though - I think I argued earlier here that the whole joke was that they were terminally, embarrassingly bad and uncool. I mean... they're a lot like people dressing up for a fancy dress party in the most ludicrous outfits imaginable. The first time you see them it's like "omg I can't believe they dared, ahahahaha" but if they keep doing it it's like "what complete and utter twats".

and I've forgotten the context, if it was ironic forgive me,

sometimes I could do with finishing my sentences.

Exactly, but that is, ultimately, a very personal response. I don't know if this is through age, but nowadays when I hear pop so repulsive it makes me turn it off, I'm still not surprised that people like it. Hell, Cheeky Girls made me cringe (while i admire that they've such success with a song so brazenly titled 'Touch My Bum') but it was obvious they'd be huge. Meanwhile, The Darkness actually have pretty hook-laden songs, and a strong image, and a lot of press attention (including the Sun now) so its certainly no surprise to me that they've actually been successful.

It was obvious to us at Kerrang! that they'd be HUGE when we played it in the office, and everyone was clapping their hands and singing along throughout the entire album. The mag was initially suspicious of the band because of the whole 'joke' aspect of it, but i don't think it *is* a joke, at least not completely. You don't get that good at playing the joke just to make some ironic joke, and the songs themselves stand up without the ironic subtext and context.

If you want a reasoned argument against The Darkness, though - I think I argued earlier here that the whole joke was that they were terminally, embarrassingly bad and uncool. I mean... they're a lot like people dressing up for a fancy dress party in the most ludicrous outfits imaginable. The first time you see them it's like "omg I can't believe they dared, ahahahaha" but if they keep doing it it's like "what complete and utter twats".

But the thing is, they were never actually BAD. As musicians, they're pretty fucking proficient. As for Justin's falsetto, well, my mum always HATED Soft Cell because she thought Marc Almond always sang flat... But that's exactly part of the reason 'tainted love' is such a string pop song. And as for uncool, well - cool doesn't make you rich. Some popstars are supposed to be ridiculous - have you never seen Mud? That doesn't make them any worse as popstars. But no, you're right, they would've been a lot cooler if they'd gotten stylists in to tell them what the kids in hoxton are wearing right now.

should read

You don't get that good at playing the guitar just to make some ironic joke,

similarly, 'Tainted Love' is a STRONG pop song, not a STRING pop song.

I think there're two separate things here: why Band X will be HUGE, and how to understand how anyone likes something you find repulsive no matter how big it is. Oddly I'm less surprised that The Darkness are so successful, maybe because of the tradition of bad novelty acts which Britain upholds so well (aforementioned Cheeky Girls); also there is no one else at all like them around right now. Javine is infinitely better than them, but at the same time she's just doing the pop-R&B thing which everyone is. The Darkness... well they're just the Cheeky Girls for guitar boys.

But while I can understand why people would buy the Cheeky Girls or The Darkness, I can't understand anyone really loving their music, or why anyone would take either more seriously than the other. (OK, that's disingenuous, they're boys with guitars, so obviously they get taken more seriously than anyone else.)

Re: the ironic joke thing. If it's not an ironic joke that just makes it SO MUCH WORSE! Like, you take this schtick you pull SERIOUSLY?!

But the thing is, they were never actually BAD. As musicians, they're pretty fucking proficient. As for Justin's falsetto, well, my mum always HATED Soft Cell because she thought Marc Almond always sang flat... But that's exactly part of the reason 'tainted love' is such a string pop song. And as for uncool, well - cool doesn't make you rich. Some popstars are supposed to be ridiculous - have you never seen Mud? That doesn't make them any worse as popstars. But no, you're right, they would've been a lot cooler if they'd gotten stylists in to tell them what the kids in hoxton are wearing right now.

no, I've never seen Mud. I think I'm too young. < /smug>

Bad and technically proficient can and often do go hand in hand, especially with the overblown guitar histrionics which The Darkness indulge in. Look at meeeee, I can play a guitar solo! Widdle-widdle-wank. Like The Datsuns live, ugh.

I didn't know the singer was called Justin. When you mentioned Justin's falsetto I was like "I loooove Justin's falsetto!"... why people wouldn't take Timberlake's falsetto over Darkness bloke's is beyond me (recurring argument this), Justin T's voice has all the bases won - sex appeal, technical merit, timing, vocal tics, comedy potential, versatility, everything.

I now have and, well, if they're funny it's in an 'Oh! Drama!' way rather than soggy-with-irony damp Digestive of a metal laff-in. I think of Sparks and The Associates in their melodramatic spasms. I can't quite *hear* Sparks and The Associates as they lurch into hysterics because of all that ordinaire guitar nonsense, but that's OK. More blusher, less bluster.

- Marc Almond may have sung flat at times but he doesn't on "Tainted Love".

- Justin Darkness completely wins the falsetto battle; his tone is much less pinched and forced than Justin T's; in fact, Justin T should really consider singing in his lower register from here on out because it's inifitely more pleasing to the ear.

As we can now see it was a dry run for The Darkness phenom, it must have yielded useful data. The necessity of Paul Young's take on "Love Will Tear Us Apart" is still unrevealed.

The Darkness fucking rocks. There's no way you can fake shit like this. "Get You Hands Off Of My Woman" is way better than any '80s metal (which I pretty much despised then, except for Iron Maiden and Priest, I s'pose). I wish I could figure out who they remind me of. For some really stupid reason the Mission keeps popping up into my head, but that's not right at all. Fuck it.

Two very good examples, thankyou. I don't think The Darkness take themselves any more or less seriously than The Cult in particular, and The Cult've largely been treated as a bona fide "proper" rock band from day one. The Darkness have (at least) three cracking singles, a great schtick and smiles to charm the handbags off grannies. I mean, look at the alternatives...Starsailor? Dido? Meh.

Every time I see The Darkness on telly tho, I think of Buffalo Bill from Silence Of The Lambs and...Terrorvision. I'm sorry, I can't help it.

Rock slut Harry said 'You can't fake that shit' about one of the bands at the Astoria in 'Faking It'. I laughed then.

I haven't been this confused by the over-analysis of a band since Andrew W.K.

3 times Platinum, 4 nominations for Brits.
i'm going to go out on a limb and suggest that maybe they've crossed over into "pop" now.
whereas, Do-Me is still posting on a messageboard.