I think you forgot to deduct songwriting ability from the right hand side that equation Charlie.
― Stewart Osborne (Stewart Osborne), Thursday, 7 August 2003 08:12 (twenty years ago) link
― CharlieNo4 (Charlie), Thursday, 7 August 2003 08:27 (twenty years ago) link
― Stewart Osborne (Stewart Osborne), Thursday, 7 August 2003 08:33 (twenty years ago) link
― CharlieNo4 (Charlie), Thursday, 7 August 2003 08:38 (twenty years ago) link
― RickyT (RickyT), Thursday, 7 August 2003 09:04 (twenty years ago) link
― person#0 (person#0), Thursday, 7 August 2003 09:08 (twenty years ago) link
― Stewart Osborne (Stewart Osborne), Thursday, 7 August 2003 09:09 (twenty years ago) link
― Tom (Groke), Thursday, 7 August 2003 09:09 (twenty years ago) link
― person#0 (person#0), Thursday, 7 August 2003 09:16 (twenty years ago) link
"We are the Four Horsemen of the Rock Apocalypse!"
― Stewart Osborne (Stewart Osborne), Thursday, 7 August 2003 09:25 (twenty years ago) link
Yes, completely otm Stewart. Their first single, and that cover they did of Street Spirit, both made me giggle when I first heard them, but that was under the assumption that they were a novelty joke band I'd never have to hear again. Now I find that a) they take themselves seriously and b) other people take themselves seriously, and I'd far rather just not have the joke in the first place because it wasn't really that funny anyway.
― The Lex (The Lex), Thursday, 7 August 2003 09:30 (twenty years ago) link
― Tom (Groke), Thursday, 7 August 2003 09:36 (twenty years ago) link
Contrary to what The Lex says, I think this joke was funny in the first place (Spinal Tap); it was even a good enough joke to be funny in the second place (Bad News).
Of course you could argue that the fact that the band and most of the people who are buying their records don't seem to realise it's a joke is a novel twist - but actually that's the oldest and most tired joke of all.
― Stewart Osborne (Stewart Osborne), Thursday, 7 August 2003 09:40 (twenty years ago) link
― Tom (Groke), Thursday, 7 August 2003 09:43 (twenty years ago) link
― Stewart Osborne (Stewart Osborne), Thursday, 7 August 2003 09:43 (twenty years ago) link
― Tom (Groke), Thursday, 7 August 2003 09:44 (twenty years ago) link
― Stewart Osborne (Stewart Osborne), Thursday, 7 August 2003 09:46 (twenty years ago) link
― Stewart Osborne (Stewart Osborne), Thursday, 7 August 2003 09:48 (twenty years ago) link
From first principles then - what is bad about the kind of music The Darkness play?
― Tom (Groke), Thursday, 7 August 2003 09:50 (twenty years ago) link
If 'I believe in a thing called love' doesn't go to #1 when it's re-released in a couple of weeks I will sulk.
― Jerry the Nipper (Jerrynipper), Thursday, 7 August 2003 09:58 (twenty years ago) link
― David. (Cozen), Thursday, 7 August 2003 10:01 (twenty years ago) link
― dave q, Thursday, 7 August 2003 10:02 (twenty years ago) link
Do you seriously think The Darkness stand / would have stood up to comparison with the original bands whose style they're aping or; given a historically level playing field; would they (as I believe) have ended up at best as 4th Division no-hopers playing for beer money on the local pub circuit?
― Stewart Osborne (Stewart Osborne), Thursday, 7 August 2003 10:02 (twenty years ago) link
― dave q, Thursday, 7 August 2003 10:06 (twenty years ago) link
― Tom (Groke), Thursday, 7 August 2003 10:06 (twenty years ago) link
hee hee!
― person#0 (person#0), Thursday, 7 August 2003 10:10 (twenty years ago) link
Unfortunately they keep dragging the rest of us with them!
― Stewart Osborne (Stewart Osborne), Thursday, 7 August 2003 10:11 (twenty years ago) link
Those who know too much history are also doomed to repeat it at the rest of us.
― Tom (Groke), Thursday, 7 August 2003 10:15 (twenty years ago) link
― Tom (Groke), Thursday, 7 August 2003 10:18 (twenty years ago) link
Scorpions - minor-key vocal harmonies - a gtr god = Darkness.
Talk about damning with faint praise!
― Stewart Osborne (Stewart Osborne), Thursday, 7 August 2003 10:18 (twenty years ago) link
Ignorance is bliss.
― Stewart Osborne (Stewart Osborne), Thursday, 7 August 2003 10:19 (twenty years ago) link
― Tom (Groke), Thursday, 7 August 2003 10:21 (twenty years ago) link
JtN on the money.
― Dr. C (Dr. C), Thursday, 7 August 2003 10:25 (twenty years ago) link
― Stewart Osborne (Stewart Osborne), Thursday, 7 August 2003 10:25 (twenty years ago) link
― dave q, Thursday, 7 August 2003 10:26 (twenty years ago) link
I never heard the original bands much either, and am certainly not familiar with them, but the whole poodle-haired cock-rock thing is tired anyway. I always took the 'joke' to be that The Darkness were so bad and so overblown with it that it was mildly funny, and that it was such a caricature that it had to be tongue-in-cheek. Even if it was tongue-in-cheek it would have palled after two songs anyway, because the thing with so-bad-it's-good is that it swiftly just becomes bad.
― The Lex (The Lex), Thursday, 7 August 2003 11:08 (twenty years ago) link
― dave q, Thursday, 7 August 2003 11:23 (twenty years ago) link
― doom-e cool kid of death, Thursday, 7 August 2003 11:24 (twenty years ago) link
― David. (Cozen), Thursday, 7 August 2003 11:26 (twenty years ago) link
― doom-e cool kid of death, Thursday, 7 August 2003 11:29 (twenty years ago) link
The joke has long worn thin. They are still here. Bah.
― The Lex (The Lex), Thursday, 7 August 2003 11:31 (twenty years ago) link
― doom-e cool kid of death, Thursday, 7 August 2003 11:33 (twenty years ago) link
― doom-e cool kid of death, Thursday, 7 August 2003 11:36 (twenty years ago) link
― dave q, Thursday, 7 August 2003 11:38 (twenty years ago) link
strokes, garage rock (the hives), ac/dc inspired rock (datsuns etc) and then the darkness (comedy robbie williams metal, full on eighties rock), where does it go from there? the pop cycle. and with the present hype, after awhile, the darkness will die.
― doom-e cool kid of death, Thursday, 7 August 2003 11:42 (twenty years ago) link
― Stewart Osborne (Stewart Osborne), Thursday, 7 August 2003 11:43 (twenty years ago) link
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 7 August 2003 12:29 (twenty years ago) link
This might be the most upsetting thing JtN has ever written *if* what I heard in Probe in Liverpool the other week was The Darkness.
I heard who someone who sounded like a not-quite-into-it Bruce Dickinson bawl their way through a set of pancake-thin pub-band demos. It was ugly and forgettable like a subsiding Maryport semi. If this isn't The Darkness, I apologise.
― Michael Jones (MichaelJ), Thursday, 7 August 2003 12:58 (twenty years ago) link
― doom-e cool kid of death, Thursday, 7 August 2003 13:03 (twenty years ago) link
― Ronan (Ronan), Thursday, 7 August 2003 13:10 (twenty years ago) link
xxp it's like Right Said Fred's 'I'm Too Sexy', in that there are very specific situations where it'll work and not sound like crap, but even then it's so specific that it won't work every time.
― Meine Damen und Herren, ein grosse sh*tstorm! (snoball), Saturday, 13 July 2013 10:48 (ten years ago) link
Wow, I pulled out some of Permission to Land after years. I feel like it might sound even better now! Really good power pop. I was inspired after hearing someone nail "I Believe..." at karaoke last night and thinking about how tricky it actually is.
― EveningStar (Sund4r), Wednesday, 12 November 2014 19:04 (nine years ago) link
Album four should be out in early 2015. They're also going to have a new drummer this time around.
― DavidLeeRoth, Wednesday, 12 November 2014 19:23 (nine years ago) link
Did the previous one explode?
― StanM, Wednesday, 12 November 2014 19:31 (nine years ago) link
Permission is awesome. Their subsequent output not so much.
― calstars, Wednesday, 12 November 2014 19:34 (nine years ago) link
I really like the Hot Leg album. I was hoping for another one from them more than I was a Darkness reunion.
― Mike Dixn, Thursday, 13 November 2014 00:25 (nine years ago) link
Love On The Rocks With No Ice is mammoth. They were so great in those early days, and such a treat to interview. They fucked it up so badly with the second album.
― you fuck one chud... (stevie), Thursday, 13 November 2014 12:41 (nine years ago) link
I only remember '1984' from the Hot Leg record. Oh, and maybe 'Cocktail.'
― calstars, Thursday, 13 November 2014 13:21 (nine years ago) link
Hot Cakes might be the best Darkness album unfortunately no one has ever heard it.
― DavidLeeRoth, Thursday, 13 November 2014 13:57 (nine years ago) link
I kinda thought the 2nd album was pretty dope. Try "Is It Just Me," "Dinner Lady Arms," "Girlfriend," "English Country Garden" and the title track. Honestly I think the 1st album is equally spotty, but the highlights are kinda incredible.
― billstevejim, Thursday, 13 November 2014 16:35 (nine years ago) link
So many great memories just thinking about that first Darkness record.
― joni mitchell jarre (dog latin), Thursday, 13 November 2014 16:37 (nine years ago) link
They were very entertaining live around the time of that first album!
― Welcome To (Turrican), Thursday, 13 November 2014 16:43 (nine years ago) link
One Way Ticket to Hell...And Back is a great album, but its nowhere near as immediate as the first Darkness album. It didn't help that the first single was garbage too.
― DavidLeeRoth, Thursday, 13 November 2014 17:57 (nine years ago) link
Yeah, I listened to Hot Cakes and really liked it.
― EveningStar (Sund4r), Sunday, 16 November 2014 21:01 (nine years ago) link
It didn't help that the first single was garbage too.
I wouldn't call it garbage, but it was a bad choice for a lead single.
― billstevejim, Sunday, 16 November 2014 21:32 (nine years ago) link
i kind of love how their new single rips off 'sex type thing'
― maura, Thursday, 2 April 2015 15:30 (nine years ago) link
at least in terms of riff
OH THE STATE OF ELATION THAT THIS UNISON OF HEARTS HAS ACHIVEVED
― calstars, Friday, 25 March 2016 17:21 (eight years ago) link
http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/660/cpsprodpb/80EE/production/_89960033_2b161983-d852-4afd-b3d0-ee112f38435b.jpg
― Mark G, Tuesday, 14 June 2016 14:15 (seven years ago) link
“Growing on Me” is still in my head 15 years later or whatever The best song about crabs ever written
― calstars, Friday, 1 December 2017 15:26 (six years ago) link
"Christmas Time" is one of the all-time great Christmas records, snow fucks given
― I Accept the Word of Santa (Noodle Vague), Saturday, 15 December 2018 12:55 (five years ago) link
it works
― gabbnebulous (darraghmac), Saturday, 15 December 2018 13:08 (five years ago) link
the lost b-side “out of my hands” is ace
― calstars, Saturday, 15 December 2018 17:41 (five years ago) link
I think 'Christmas Time' is the best Darkness song full stop!
― Le Baton Rose (Turrican), Saturday, 15 December 2018 22:34 (five years ago) link