Line #35 Music/TheDarkness


1	[[quoteright:200:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/p96993jj6rh_4724.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:200:The Darkness circa 2012. From left to right: Dan Hawkins, Justin Hawkins, Ed Graham and Frankie Poullain]]
3	->''The first flush of youth was upon you when our eyes first met,\
4	And I knew that to you and into your life I had to get.\
5	I felt light-headed at the touch of this stranger's hand...\
6	An assault my defences systematically failed to withstand.''
7	-->"Love Is Only A Feeling"
8
9	The Darkness are a British GlamRock band formed in 2000 in Lowestoft, [[UsefulNotes/EastAnglia Suffolk]]. The band consists of [[CampStraight Justin Hawkins]] (lead vocals, guitar), his brother Dan Hawkins (backing vocals, guitar), Frankie Poullain (bass, backing vocals) and Rufus Tiger Taylor (drums). Former members include drummers Ed Graham and Emily Dolan Davies, and bassist Richie Edwards.
10
11	Before The Darkness, Justin and Dan were in a band named Empire. In this case, Dan was the lead singer and Justin was on guitar. Justin managed to become lead singer after doing an amazing version of [[Music/{{Queen}} Bohemian Rhapsody]] at a karaoke party, which reportedly involved many starjumps. It's around this time they left Empire behind and began focusing on a new project: The Darkness.
12
13	They called in Ed Graham to play Drums, and they met Frankie Poullain in London. They began doing the pub circuit to moderate success; their shows were so good they had a place in a music festival lineup before they had their first album. The British press went nuts, considering The Darkness as [[ItWillNeverCatchOn no more than a mediocre joke who would burn out in a few weeks.]]
14
15	And then they released ''Permission to Land''. [[WhosLaughingNow It was a smash hit.]]
16
17	After the second album, ''One Way Ticket... To Hell And Back'', Justin checked himself into rehab for his [[SexDrugsAndRockNRoll cocaine habit]]. Despite the band announcing a third album by the end of 2007, Justin got out of rehab and chose to leave the group, effectively breaking up The Darkness. They reunited in 2011 over an Indian dinner, and since then have performed and released new music like clockwork.
18
19	Not to be confused with the comic ''ComicBook/TheDarkness'', nor [[VideoGame/TheDarkness its video game adaptation]].
20
21	!!Studio Discography
22	* ''Permission to Land'' (2003)
23	* ''One Way Ticket to Hell...And Back'' (2005)
24	* ''Hot Cakes'' (2012)
25	* ''Last of Our Kind'' (2015)
26	* ''Pinewood Smile'' (2017)
27	* ''Easter is Cancelled'' (2019)
28	* ''Motorheart'' (2021)
29	----
30	!![[AC: Trope is only a feeling :]]
31	* AudienceParticipationSong: ''All of them.''
32	* AuthorAppeal: It's safe to say that at least someone in the band really likes the movie ''Film/HawkTheSlayer'', since they've incorporated dialogue from it into two of their songs: "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us" samples an audio from it, while "Last Of Our Kind" directly works the dialogue into the lyrics.
33	* TheBandMinusTheFace: The "One Way Ticket" line up (with a new bassist, since Richie Edwards moved up to playing rhythm guitar and lead vocals) formed Stone Gods after Justin Hawkins left the band. Also inverted, since Justin formed Hot Legs during the break up. Both released one album each, ''Silver Spoons & Broken Bones'' and ''Red Light Fever'' respectively, before the reunion.
34	* BandOfRelatives: The band's key members are guitarists Justin and Dan Hawkins.
35	* BigWordShout: The solo for "I Believe in a Thing Called Love" is brought in after an enthusiastic "GUITAR!"
36	%%* {{British Rockstar}}s
37	* TheCameo: Music/ArthurBrown appears as the priest in the video for "Is It Just Me".
38	* {{Camp}}: The band feeds on camp. Bright glammy outfits, stratospheric falsettos, and a refusal to take themselves too seriously.
39	* ChangedForTheVideo: The video for "I Believe in a Thing Called Love" uses a different mix to the album version.
40	* CoverVersion: Used to do various covers during live shows, ranging from Music/{{ACDC}} to Music/{{Queen}} to Music/{{Radiohead}}. They included a cover of the latter's "[[Music/TheBends Street Spirit (Fade Out)]]" on ''Hot Cakes''.
41	* ChristmasSongs: "Christmas Time (Don't Let The Bells End)", "I am Santa".
42	* CreditsGag: In the video for "Everybody Have A Good Time".
43	* DarkerAndEdgier: ''Last of Our Kind'' is musically heavier than their first three albums, and it has darker themes including the RealLife Viking pillage of East Anglia, slavery, and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking mudslides]].
44	* DoubleEntendre:
45	** Subverted by "Growing On Me": all signs point to it being about some sort of STD, but The Darkness has said that was not the focus of the song at all - though they did say it was about genital warts in 2004 on Australian television show, Rage.
46	** "Holding My Own" is a song about masturbation.
47	** Subverted by "Mudslide", which could confuse some to be [[DoubleEntendre about a certain act]], but it is about ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin. [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] in the intro.
48	--> ''This ain't no double entendre''
49	* DrugsAreBad:
50	** "One Way Ticket" describes falling into drug addiction.
51	-->''The first line hit me like a kick in the face''\
52	''I thought "I'd better have another one just in case"''\
53	''Next thing I knew, my heart was under attack''\
54	''I bought a [[AlbumTitleDrop one way ticket to hell...and back]]''.
55	** Subverted with "Givin' Up" that takes a bizarrely cavalier look at advanced heroin addiction.
56	* ExtracurricularEnthusiast: The singer of "Friday Night" has a different activity every day until the dancing on the titular Friday Night.
57	* FakeOutFadeOut: "Hazel Eyes" does this.
58	* GenreThrowback: To the HardRock and HairMetal of the '70s and '80s.
59	* GiantEnemyCrab: Justin beams down to a planet to fight one in the "I Believe In A Thing Called Love" video.
60	* GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere: A giant squid attacks The Darkness' spaceship in the video for "I Believe In A Thing Called Love".
61	%%* GlamRock
62	* HairMetal: A throwback to the genre.
63	* HappyEndingOverride: The video for "I Believe In A Thing Called Love" ends with ship flying off after escaping the giant squid. "Friday Night" starts with them celebrating beating the squid but the ship immediately crashing into Earth.
64	* HardRock: The band are this mixed with GlamRock and HairMetal.
65	* HeavyMeta: The title song from ''Last of Our Kind'', while on the surface appears to be literally about the last humans in a post-apocalyptic scenario, is about how the band and their fans are the last followers of classic rock.
66	* HeavyMithril: Many of the songs on ''Last of Our Kind'' invoke Middle Ages imagery, with Justin describing the album as "medieval rock". The title track includes paraphrased dialogue from ''Film/HawkTheSlayer'', a SwordAndSorcery movie from TheEighties.
67	* HornyDevils: In "I Believe in a Thing Called Love", after the "GUITAR!" interlude, blue flames appear at the bottom of the screen, the camera then pans to the singer, and a female devil is seen next to him at this part.
68	* HornyVikings: "Barbarian" describes the Viking invasion of East Anglia.
69	* ImpossiblyCoolClothes: Justin once had a wardrobe rivaling [[Music/{{Aerosmith}} Steven Tyler]]'s, and Frankie always seems to dress like Music/JimiHendrix to match his afro.
70	* IncrediblyLongNote: The last notes of "Black Shuck" and "Love On The Rocks With No Ice" are ''incredible''.
71	* InTheStyleOf: "Street Spirit (Fade Out)", a dark AlternativeRock song by Music/{{Radiohead}}, turned into Music/IronMaiden-esque HeavyMetal by the guys.
72	* LadyLand: The video for "Friday Night" starts with the spaceship from "I Believe In A Thing Called Love" crash landing on an island inhabited by tribal women.
73	* LargeHam: Justin, the excitable singer with the untethered falsetto.
74	* LastOfHisKind: The title track from ''Last of Our Kind'', referring to the band and their fans as the last remaining followers of Classic Rock.
75	* LeadSingerPlaysLeadGuitar: Frontman Justin Hawkins is the one responsible for the faster and more "shredderific" guitar licks and solos, while his brother Dan plays rhythm guitar and slower more simple lead lines.
76	* LighterAndSofter:
77	** Zig-zagged with ''One Way Ticket to Hell...And Back''. The album has softer, grander compositions and focuses more on love songs than ''Permission to Land''. However it leads off with the title track, one of the few songs by the band to describe [[DrugsAreBad the hell of drug addiction]].
78	** ''Pinewood Smile'' dials the sonic heaviness back from ''Last of Our Kind'' and dips into Soul on "Why Don't the Beautiful Cry".
79	* LoudnessWar: Regrettably usual offenders, as all of their albums are [=DR5/DR6=], at least on their CD releases. ''One Way Ticket'' has the most audible digital distortion caused by compression, while ''Hot Cakes'' was recorded and edited entirely on tape and thus manages to sound the least over-compressed.
80	* MusicVideoOvershadowing: "I Believe in a Thing Called Love" is just a declaration of love. The video is a StylisticSuck recreation of old sci-fi movies.
81	* NavelDeepNeckline: A male variation. Justin wears tights that cover his legs and arms but leave his chest bare.
82	* OurCryptidsAreMoreMysterious: "Black Shuck" is about the phantom dog that's said to haunt the band's native Suffolk.
83	* {{Pastiche}}: "Open Fire" is this to Music/TheCult. The band noticed the lead riff sounded like it could be by early Cult, and them being fans decided to run with it.
84	* PinkIsErotic: Pink is used predominantly in the music video for the song "I Believe in a Thing Called Love", Justin Hawkins's hair dyed pink, there's pink lighting everywhere, pink smoke, a pink statue of two women fondling each other, and Hawkins fights a crab alien on a pink planet.
85	--> "Touching you, touching me\
86	Touching you, God, you're touching me\
87	I believe in a thing called love\
88	Just listen to the rhythm of my heart\
89	There's a chance we could make it now\
90	We'll be rocking 'til the sun goes down\
91	I believe in a thing called love"
92	* PowerBallad:
93	** "Love Is Only A Feeling" and "Holding My Own" from ''Permission To Land''.
94	** "Seemed Like A Good Idea At The Time" from ''One Way Ticket To Hell''.
95	** "Living Each Day Blind" and "Forbidden Love" from ''Hot Cakes''.
96	** "Wheels of the Machine", "Conquerors" and "Sarah O'Sarah" from ''Last of Our Kind''.
97	* ThePowerOfRock: In the last scenes of "I Believe in a Thing Called Love", the band is playing in the spaceship bridge, when the giant space octopus attacks. The band members then keep rocking on their guitars and drums and releasing pink electric beams to fend off the enemy.
98	* {{Pun}}: These guys ''love'' puns.
99	** "Love On The Rocks With No Ice" is both a drinking pun and relationship pun at the same time.
100	** There's a clever joke at the start of the "Everybody Have A Good Time" video.
101	* {{Reconstruction}}: Of 70s and 80s Hard Rock. A lot of people couldn't tell if they were joking or not and assumed they were an AffectionateParody, but their love and dedication to old-school rock is genuine.
102	%%* RuleOfCool
103	* SequelSong: The songs don't really match up but the video for "Friday Night" recaps the ending of "I Believe In A Thing Called Love" and has the spaceship from that video crash landing on a planet.
104	* SexDrugsAndRockAndRoll: Justin had to leave due to the copious amounts of drugs and alcohol he was consuming. At one point, he'd do a show before disappearing for days at a time, barely sleeping if at all. He cleaned up his addictions after the breakup, but as of the reunion there's still plenty of the sex and the Rock.
105	* ShoutOut:
106	** "Holding My Own" includes the lyric "my life is so exciting now I've got Website/{{Myspace}}."
107	** In the video of "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us" a portrait of Music/{{Queen}} can be seen.
108	** Justin sings in "Every Inch of You" that hearing "[[Music/LedZeppelin1969 Communication Breakdown]]" was the point where he wanted to go into music rather than become a doctor or vet.
109	* StepUpToTheMicrophone: Bassist Frankie Poullain sings lead on "Conquerors".
110	* StewedAlive: The video for "Friday Night" ends with cannibal natives cooking the band in a pot, though they're sitting like they're in a hot tub.
111	* SuperStrength: Justin lifts a boulder above his head and lobs it at a GiantEnemyCrab in the "I Believe In A Thing Called Love" video.
112	* TakeThat: "Southern Trains" is one to the UK train system.
113	* TentacleRope: The "I Believe in a Thing Called Love" video takes place aboard a spaceship attacked by a space squid.

Context Music / TheDarkness