I have a photograph of the CD shelf of Cash Converters in Glasgow from last year where there were no less than 35 copies of 'Permission to Land' stacked in a row and all for sale at 50p. That picture sums up the career of The Darkness better than anything else ever could.

 

Haha that's so true, my local Gamestop has loads of copies of it as well. Real flash in the pan successes.

 

However, I'm oddly looking forward to this...they were fun, no two ways about it. And Justin Hawkins could rival Jim Gillette of Nitro in the falsetto stakes.

That's being generous mate, I'd call them more a Spinal Tap tribute band..... :lol: :lol:

:lol:

 

The lead singer just came across as a really bad Steven Tyler impersonator imo.. :P

Great news. I can wind my Dad up again. He really detests them (Justin Hawkins in particular) and I like them. They did some great songs IMO like Love is only a feeling, Christmas Time, Is It Just Me to name a few.

Edited March 18, 201114 yr by Rob Summers

I dont love or hate the darkness although i do love i believe in a thing called love, i hope they can come up with adecent lead single on return.

Great news. I can wind my Dad up again. He really detests them (Justin Hawkins in particular) and I like them. They did some great songs IMO like Love is only a feeling, Christmas Time, Is It Just Me to name a few.

 

Your dad has taste.... Tell me, is he a fan of any of the following bands that The Darkness WISH they were but fail miserably to aspire to....

 

Van Halen/Dave Lee Roth solo

Queen

Hanoi Rocks

Aerosmith

Bon Jovi

Def Leppard

Whitesnake

Magnum

Thin Lizzy

AC/DC

Motley Crue

Skid Row

 

 

 

Your dad has taste.... Tell me, is he a fan of any of the following bands that The Darkness WISH they were but fail miserably to aspire to....

 

Van Halen/Dave Lee Roth solo

Queen

Hanoi Rocks

Aerosmith

Bon Jovi

Def Leppard

Whitesnake

Magnum

Thin Lizzy

AC/DC

Motley Crue

Skid Row

 

Those are the ones he is into. I like most of those too. Your point being?

Edited March 19, 201114 yr by Rob Summers

Those are the ones he is into. I like most of those too. Your point being?

 

My point being that I don't understand how anyone who respects these bands could possibly like such a pathetic, lame, third-rate karaoke version of these bands that The Darkness clearly are... Your dad obviously sees that, as do the hundreds of thousands of 'old skool' Hard Rockers who have mercilessly ridiculed and rejected them...

My point being that I don't understand how anyone who respects these bands could possibly like such a pathetic, lame, third-rate karaoke version of these bands that The Darkness clearly are... Your dad obviously sees that, as do the hundreds of thousands of 'old skool' Hard Rockers who have mercilessly ridiculed and rejected them...

 

Well im 58 and love the Darkness.

Noone is asking YOU to understand why.

However, here's why *I* love the darkness, as well as all the classic rock bands.

Because I LIKE to a great degree the songs they do!!!!. The songs are very well wriitten and excellently performed. I like the darkness for exactly the same reasons I like the classic rock bands I grew up with when I was a teenager. ie I enjoy listening to their music.

If you dont like them fine, your opinion, I however think they are excellent.

I dont feel like arguing though, you wont change, I wont, we could have little exchanges for ages and in the end you'll still dislike them and I'll still love them.

 

 

 

 

Well im 58 and love the Darkness.

Noone is asking YOU to understand why.

However, here's why *I* love the darkness, as well as all the classic rock bands.

Because I LIKE to a great degree the songs they do!!!!. The songs are very well wriitten and excellently performed. I like the darkness for exactly the same reasons I like the classic rock bands I grew up with when I was a teenager. ie I enjoy listening to their music.

If you dont like them fine, your opinion, I however think they are excellent.

I dont feel like arguing though, you wont change, I wont, we could have little exchanges for ages and in the end you'll still dislike them and I'll still love them.

 

As far as I'm concerned The Darkness is just pastiche Hair RAWK for people who never got 80s Hair Rock.... Listen to the real thing, accept no substitutes....

As far as I'm concerned The Darkness is just pastiche Hair RAWK for people who never got 80s Hair Rock.... Listen to the real thing, accept no substitutes....

 

What if the substitute is as good as the original? Not saying The Darkness are as good as Def Leppard / AC/DC / whoever, I don't know them all well enough, but as an example.

What if the substitute is as good as the original? Not saying The Darkness are as good as Def Leppard / AC/DC / whoever, I don't know them all well enough, but as an example.

 

 

The Darkness clearly aren't though.... I perhaps wouldn't have minded them as much if Justin wasn't such a total arsehole....

The Darkness clearly aren't though.... I perhaps wouldn't have minded them as much if Justin wasn't such a total arsehole....

 

So many rock frontmen are though :lol:

So many rock frontmen are though :lol:

 

There's arseholes and there's arseholes though.... There's degrees of arsehole-ness... For example - Steve Tyler is a bit of an arsehole, but he's kinda cool with it... Axl Rose on the other hand, is a complete and utter arsehole who's not at all funny, and is an obnoxious, red-neck idiot.... Justin Hawkins is an example of an arsehole who has delusions of grandeur just because he won a Brit award.... He doesn't quite get that it doesn't actually mean anything....

There's arseholes and there's arseholes though.... There's degrees of arsehole-ness... For example - Steve Tyler is a bit of an arsehole, but he's kinda cool with it... Axl Rose on the other hand, is a complete and utter arsehole who's not at all funny, and is an obnoxious, red-neck idiot.... Justin Hawkins is an example of an arsehole who has delusions of grandeur just because he won a Brit award.... He doesn't quite get that it doesn't actually mean anything....

 

-_- Axl Rose might be a red-neck but he is the definition of a lead singer of a "heavy metal" band plus he has written some of the best songs of all time.

 

I prefer Kurt and Billy Corgan but they arent metal they are alt rock.

-_- Axl Rose might be a red-neck but he is the definition of a lead singer of a "heavy metal" band plus he has written some of the best songs of all time.

 

I prefer Kurt and Billy Corgan but they arent metal they are alt rock.

 

Billy Corgan can be a bit of a tit at times as well :lol:

 

Done some great songs though. "Bullet With Butterfly Wings" :wub:

Edited March 22, 201114 yr by MancunianGiraffe

The Darkness clearly aren't though.... I perhaps wouldn't have minded them as much if Justin wasn't such a total arsehole....

:mellow:

I personally think they are better. Who gives 2 $h!ts how much of a dick Justin is, you are stating this as if it is a fact that no-one should like The Darkness because they are like karaoke AC/DC, Def Leppard etc. But EVERYONE is entitled to their own opinion.

 

This so called "substitute" can be seen as just as good to some people and they shouldn't need to come under fire just for liking them...

We do not attack you for your views because like us who actually like the band, you ARE also titled to form your own opinions.

I've liked about 3 or 4 singles from them, and judging from that, I don't think they were that "bad" of a band. Sure they weren't my cup of tea sometimes, but they have been enjoyable enough for me.

There's arseholes and there's arseholes though.... There's degrees of arsehole-ness... For example - Steve Tyler is a bit of an arsehole, but he's kinda cool with it... Axl Rose on the other hand, is a complete and utter arsehole who's not at all funny, and is an obnoxious, red-neck idiot.... Justin Hawkins is an example of an arsehole who has delusions of grandeur just because he won a Brit award.... He doesn't quite get that it doesn't actually mean anything....

 

I know we've had debates about Axl/GNR before, but I can point you to several very active forums - more active than Buzzjack even - where Axl is reveered as an artist. The GNR forums are actually a very interesting read, between Slash-ites and Axl-ites...I personally think Axl gets a biased press, and the reasons for that date back to the early 90s, but that's another argument for another day.

 

Essentially my point is that the lines between total arsehole and rockstar are blurry and often crossed.

I don't think anyone could deny that Axl Rose hasn't written some of the best rock songs of all time, but I think the idea of being a pain in the arse is basically due to his contempt for people who pay money to go and see his band when they could have just not bothered

 

I know it seems to be in his mind that rockstars are supposed to turn up late for their gigs, like they did in the older days but when gig tickets are expensive as they are nowadays, it's just showing complete and utter contempt for the audience - probably plenty in most of the tours who could only stay to a certain time due to trains/other transport leaving at a certain time and he turns up an hour late meaning they are leaving an hour late despite paying the full price to watch the full concert. Might be a "biased press" but he doesn't really do himself much favours by actually doing what he does with the turning up late/waking up late for festivals etc

 

as for The Darkness, I quite enjoyed Permission To Land and I'd rather see them than a lot of the poor lineup that is at Download this year, although it's blown out of the water by Sonisphere if you are a rock fan

I don't think anyone could deny that Axl Rose hasn't written some of the best rock songs of all time, but I think the idea of being a pain in the arse is basically due to his contempt for people who pay money to go and see his band when they could have just not bothered

 

I know it seems to be in his mind that rockstars are supposed to turn up late for their gigs, like they did in the older days but when gig tickets are expensive as they are nowadays, it's just showing complete and utter contempt for the audience - probably plenty in most of the tours who could only stay to a certain time due to trains/other transport leaving at a certain time and he turns up an hour late meaning they are leaving an hour late despite paying the full price to watch the full concert. Might be a "biased press" but he doesn't really do himself much favours by actually doing what he does with the turning up late/waking up late for festivals etc

 

as for The Darkness, I quite enjoyed Permission To Land and I'd rather see them than a lot of the poor lineup that is at Download this year, although it's blown out of the water by Sonisphere if you are a rock fan

 

I agree, he should turn up on time when possible, especially at festivals.

 

But in many ways, you've proven my point - you, quite reasonably, believe that Axl turning up late for gigs is a given.

 

GNR played over 50 shows in 34 countries throughout 2010. The vast, vast majority of these shows went off without a hitch, and those who attended generally thought they put on a great show, lasting well over 2 hours and sometimes pushing 3 hours. The band were rarely more than half an hour late, which is well within acceptable limits - I've seen Metallica twice, they were late twice. Just last week I saw Gogol Bordello in a tiny venue, and they were 45 minutes late. When I saw Guns N' Roses, they were 15 minutes late.

 

Yet do you ever read about this side of GNR? No, instead the press gleefully parades the events at Reading Festival and Dublin, as though GNR are the touring equivalent of a headless chicken, and paying to go see them - ignoring issues of line-up, Chinese Democracy etc. - is risking your money. If I was Axl, I'd be quite understandably pissed that the media peddles such a blatantly false image of my band.

 

Don't get me wrong, Axl can be a bit of a twat, and very often he is. What happened at Reading was inexcusable, and Dublin was handled badly, but as someone who has followed the band very closely over the last five/six years or so, he gets a terribly raw deal from the media.