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You wouldn't credit something like this with happening in 2003. The Darkness are clearly a band who long to play on the Sunset Strip in LA some time circa 1985. Watching lead singer Justin Hawkins, clad in a tigerskin catsuit, sitting on a roadie's shoulders while he plays his guitar solo in the very best Angus Young stylee is simultaneously brilliant and ridiculous. As, let's face it, all rock 'n' roll should be.
Of course, it's easy to dismiss the Darkness as all mouth no trousers so to speak but the fact is that this band have got more good tunes than you probably think. Listening to them rampaging through the likes of "Get Your Hands Off My Woman", "I Believe In A Thing Called Love", "Best Of Me" and "Love On The Rocks With No Ice" (class song titles if nothing else), you find yourself grinning and throwing your very best devil horns handsigns aloft. And that, my friend, is the mark of a good rock 'n' roll band.
Love 'em or hate 'em, the truth is that the Darkness are going to be massive. And, in a world where rock music has started to take itself way too seriously from the money-grabbing faux angst of nu-metal to the po-faced emo hordes, thank God for that.
Reviewed by Andy James
