Thursday, March 10, 2011

The Darkness Comes to Light


English hard rockers The Darkness, who reached international prominence in the early 2000s, look set to reform with their original lineup, featuring singer and cat suit-wearer Justin Hawkins.  The group won three BRIT Awards in 2004 in response to their debut album Permission to Land, with the band that year taking home awards for Best Group, Best Rock Group and Best Album.  The record charted in 16 countries, reaching the Top 10 in 4 of them including Sweden and New Zealand.  The Darkness broke up in 2006 following Hawkins' entry into rehab for alcohol and cocaine abuse.  The band have not officially announced their reformation, but an official Facebook page and a new website have cropped up recently.

While The Darkness at first glance appeared to be merely caricatures of British hard rock bands from decades earlier, if you looked past the cartoon-like aesthetic, you would have found some incredibly well- crafted and well-produced rock songs.  If you're not familiar with the band or just haven't listened to them in a while, take a listen to a couple of my favorite tracks of theirs which were in heavy rotation on my first iPod back in 2003:

Love Is Only A Feeling



Growing on Me





1 comment:

Anonymous said...

interesting to read about the coke addiction. I'm pretty sure you need to have a coke problem in order to put on cat suits.

freddy mercury/elton john/david bowie/Kieth richards/jagger in the 80s. Van Morrison's purple velore jumpsuit at the last waltz counts.

im pretty sure coke dealers give them out as part of an incentive program; one free cat suit for every kg purchased.