The Darkness have HURDEHURHURHUR 'Grown On Me'

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Either I've entirely lost all critical faculties or... no, that's exactly what's happened, and I don't give two fucks. Contrary to something I posted earlier about East London twathats, this album is golden.

Some may wince at the class implications of 'Friday Night', but it rocks like a motherfucker, and I can't face another winter of Belle n Seb. I'm cured of my indieness, I hope.

Share?

― Enrique (Enrique), Tuesday, 28 October 2003 09:48 (twenty-two years ago)

I thought the same for a while. Then I got bored. I hope to god they release an incredible techno album next time. They can't keep this up.

― neil, Tuesday, 28 October 2003 09:50 (twenty-two years ago)

I can't face another winter of Belle n Seb. I'm cured of my indieness, I hope.

If the Darkness are, for you, the cure, then something like Def Leppard will be a combination health regimen/nutritional supply for the next three hundred years.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 28 October 2003 13:56 (twenty-two years ago)

the Darkness have completely justified their existance to me if it means one less person is listening to B & S.

― jed (jed_e_3), Tuesday, 28 October 2003 14:15 (twenty-two years ago)

OTM

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 28 October 2003 14:16 (twenty-two years ago)

If The Darkness are the cure to the B & S disease, why do B & S keep coming up on my Soulseek "Things I Like" thingo?

― edward o (edwardo), Tuesday, 28 October 2003 14:26 (twenty-two years ago)

YES! Also check out the b-side Out of My Hands.

― calstars (calstars), Tuesday, 28 October 2003 14:39 (twenty-two years ago)

But... but... the latest B&S album is grebt!

― person#0 (person#0), Tuesday, 28 October 2003 17:11 (twenty-two years ago)

Belle and Sebastian are funnier than The Darkness.

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Tuesday, 28 October 2003 17:42 (twenty-two years ago)

Yes, but the Darkness are more intelligent than Belle and Sebastian.

― Tico Tico (Tico Tico), Tuesday, 28 October 2003 17:44 (twenty-two years ago)

Also, Belle and Sebastian suck diseased ass.

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 28 October 2003 17:56 (twenty-two years ago)

I wish you'd stop understating your divine truths, Dan.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 28 October 2003 17:56 (twenty-two years ago)

i still find them...bleh, nothing.
*pretty* tuneless, *reasonably* boring, *marginally*
rock-, *quite* dull, it's all just ...bleh.
don't get it. nothin there. dead boring aren't they ?
i don't see the fuss at all.

― piscesboy, Tuesday, 28 October 2003 18:00 (twenty-two years ago)

I think ned and dan must have something I don't and don't want to have.

like, each other's cocks in each other's mouths.

― RJG (RJG), Tuesday, 28 October 2003 18:08 (twenty-two years ago)

Just the shared umbilical cord, really. IN OUR MOUTHS.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 28 October 2003 18:09 (twenty-two years ago)

oh, good one, cocksucker.

― RJG (RJG), Tuesday, 28 October 2003 18:11 (twenty-two years ago)

Dude, I'm not that flexible!

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 28 October 2003 18:13 (twenty-two years ago)

But bless you, you are bendable.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 28 October 2003 18:19 (twenty-two years ago)

I just made a mix CD with The Darkness & B&S on it!

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Tuesday, 28 October 2003 19:02 (twenty-two years ago)

The Darkness are the Kill Bill of music.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Tuesday, 28 October 2003 19:14 (twenty-two years ago)

belle and sebastian are the please kill me of music.

― jed (jed_e_3), Tuesday, 28 October 2003 22:43 (twenty-two years ago)

arguing about belle and sebastien and someone else is the please kill me of everything

― Ronan (Ronan), Tuesday, 28 October 2003 22:57 (twenty-two years ago)

Ned's first post totally OTM. I'd be way more impressed with the Darkness if I already didn't know the band they're aping (music that is funnier, smarter, more genuine and surpising).

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Wednesday, 29 October 2003 00:12 (twenty-two years ago)

Well, Maura (who enjoys the Darkness more than I, I should note) and I were talking about this in chat a bit and we'd concluded that this is really a case of sheer context prevailing -- in otherwards, it's precisely *because* it isn't 1986 or whatever that the Darkness have any attention there or here. As it is we're both noting the various OTT positive reactions to the Darkness in general (not just on the board) and thinking, "Uh, wasn't this what we've been saying all along?" JtN made an interesting case for their album as being an equivalent of Lexicon of Love but I find that an astonishing stretch that -- I have a bit of a hunch, though I can't speak for JtN's own listening experiences, of course! -- is being made due to a lack of familiarity with the obvious tropes the band uses from eight million metal/glam/hard rock bands that have been forgotten by history. Where ABC were using their own familiar tropes with an intentionally knowing eye that was explicitly part critique, I don't sense any of that with the Darkness beyond a fairly unfascinating 'x=x' reduction of their inspirations. I mean, really, the Wildhearts did all this better (hell, they still do!) and they were doing it throughout the nineties when theoretically nobody was supposed to care! Though thinking of them, as you can read right here, Ginger mentioned getting a line at a Darkness party the other day so clearly the money being spent is done for good purposes. ;-)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 29 October 2003 01:49 (twenty-two years ago)

I think the Darkness speak in code mode to people who hated the Wildhearts. It's a tough trick, cos they aren't saying they hate all that baggage, but they're gesticulating that they are. Hmm.

― Enrique (Enrique), Wednesday, 29 October 2003 09:35 (twenty-two years ago)

i've heard them several more times since last time, and i still think they = sux0r.

b&s are okay, i guess, but not as good as anekdoten.

― Pashmina (Pashmina), Wednesday, 29 October 2003 13:31 (twenty-two years ago)

The Wildhearts were much grubbier than the Darkness. This is, I think, a crucial difference.

― Ricardo (RickyT), Wednesday, 29 October 2003 13:37 (twenty-two years ago)

Exactly. Naice young men like me wouldn't like that!

― Enrique (Enrique), Wednesday, 29 October 2003 13:39 (twenty-two years ago)

Scuzzy, drunken messiness vs pomp and theatricality. The Faces vs Queen. Etc, etc.

― Ricardo (RickyT), Wednesday, 29 October 2003 13:50 (twenty-two years ago)

Queen so win!

― Tico Tico (Tico Tico), Wednesday, 29 October 2003 13:51 (twenty-two years ago)

Queen definitely win! Their pretenders to the throne, a different matter.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 29 October 2003 13:51 (twenty-two years ago)

You get the distinction then?

― Ricardo (RickyT), Wednesday, 29 October 2003 13:53 (twenty-two years ago)

Oh yeah, even I can see that Queen win, and I have zero taste. Over on ILE Pete Baran will know my opinion of film history and the problem of influence by the trail of mewling posters.

But hoping he doesn't read this: Oh fuck it if it *is* ripped off. Sometimes. One day I'll get round to Stockhausen perhaps, but until then...

― Enrique (Enrique), Wednesday, 29 October 2003 13:55 (twenty-two years ago)

Heh, just wait 'til Mark S gets going on influence. He hates the word almost as much as the so-called number 5.

― Ricardo (RickyT), Wednesday, 29 October 2003 14:03 (twenty-two years ago)

I've swung back the other way now. They're The Wonder Stuff.

― Michael Jones (MichaelJ), Wednesday, 29 October 2003 14:04 (twenty-two years ago)

The 'so-called number 5'?

I can see his point, which was what Pete's trying to poke me with, but not the whole way. The word is unwieldy, but...

Actually, I don't think the Darkness are 'influenced' exactly. More that they use the same language.

― Enrique (Enrique), Wednesday, 29 October 2003 14:09 (twenty-two years ago)

queen are piss, too.

― RJG (RJG), Wednesday, 29 October 2003 18:34 (twenty-two years ago)

I actually heard the darkness again to-day. I was in the record shop that I used to work in, and they were playing a live boot - there was a cover of radiohead's "street spirit" and one of their better-known numbers, i forget the title (and the tune haha) ~~it was actualy suprisingly good~~ it was piss though, and I was apalled to hear myself utter the following words:

"why are all those people cheering? they must have never heard a good metal band.

I actually said that. I'm a bit ashamed. the boss agreed w/me, but the store clerk, whose tape it was said nowt.

― Pashmina (Pashmina), Wednesday, 29 October 2003 19:52 (twenty-two years ago)

"appalled", close inverted commas after 'good metal band'.

― Pashmina (Pashmina), Wednesday, 29 October 2003 19:54 (twenty-two years ago)

>"why are all those people cheering? they must have never heard a good metal band."

Exactly. The Darkness would have been third-tier (on a level with Tuff, say) if they'd been around in 1986.

― Phil Freeman (Phil Freeman), Wednesday, 29 October 2003 20:03 (twenty-two years ago)

The irritation old metallers feel re: The Darkness = classic!

― Tico Tico (Tico Tico), Wednesday, 29 October 2003 20:23 (twenty-two years ago)

That reminds me of the joke about the punk who bought the Crass album and just kept the sleeve, for some reason.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 29 October 2003 20:24 (twenty-two years ago)

>The irritation old metallers feel re: The Darkness = classic!

Exactly what I thought. The Darkness are a deliberate insult to metal, and by extension, metalheads. This is viewed as a bad thing by metalheads (me included), but it's precisely what their fans like about them. But that's cool—it means there'll be an audience for blackface hip-hop one day!

― Phil Freeman (Phil Freeman), Wednesday, 29 October 2003 20:38 (twenty-two years ago)

>>The Darkness are a deliberate insult to metal, and by extension, metalheads.<<

Of course, this doesn't explain at all why anyone should like them for what they bring in terms of music. I mean, why not just listen to Spinal Tap if the whole point is to piss old ancient Def Leppard fans?

-
Alan

― Alan Conceicao, Wednesday, 29 October 2003 20:45 (twenty-two years ago)

I think there was more affection in Spinal Tap than there is in the Darkness. First piece of evidence: on the Tap soundtrack album, metal is one style parodied among a few. Second piece: Tap's songs were (are) much better. Darkness are one-joke, where Tap were subtle. Plus, Tap laughed with their subject matter (something Christopher Guest, in particular, has lost the ability to do, BTW).

― Phil Freeman (Phil Freeman), Wednesday, 29 October 2003 20:47 (twenty-two years ago)

Alan: it's not the whole point, duh. It's an interesting and amusing side-effect, like the hand-wringing over the Strokes' lack of novelty became fun after I'd started liking them.

Anyway, because I *do* want to hear more records I'd like as much as the Darkness:

C90: 80s Metal Songs To School A Darkness Fan

― Tico Tico (Tico Tico), Wednesday, 29 October 2003 20:49 (twenty-two years ago)

um. i know how rockist this might sound. but don't you dunderheads claiming the darkness are a joke against heavy metal understand that the darkness *love* heavy rock/metal? isn't that, like, completely obvious?

would *you* learn to play guitar like the Hawkins brothers just so you could mock a musical genre that's beyond a joke anyway??

― stevie (stevie), Wednesday, 29 October 2003 21:41 (twenty-two years ago)

Intentions do not always triumph over perceptions.

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 29 October 2003 21:43 (twenty-two years ago)

1/ i'm not claiming that the darkness are a joke against metal, i'm just claiming that they are shit.

2/ the guitar playing on the darkness boot was piss weak.

― Pashmina (Pashmina), Wednesday, 29 October 2003 21:51 (twenty-two years ago)

Man fuck that Lexicon Of Love comparison. Fry's shtick is campy yes but ALSO useful - Elvis Costello pretending to be Bryan Ferry. The Darkness are mere camp - Jack Shit pretending to be Ann Wilson.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Thursday, 30 October 2003 00:32 (twenty-two years ago)

I like to think that the New York Dolls provoked a similar reaction when they started out.

(BTW: are Americans rock critics have to bring Elvis Costello into EVERYTHING?!)

― Jerry the Nipper (Jerrynipper), Thursday, 30 October 2003 00:39 (twenty-two years ago)

dude isn't he yer poet laureate or something?

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Thursday, 30 October 2003 00:40 (twenty-two years ago)

Yeah, I thought you were all legally required to doff your cap and pull your forelock whenever his name was mentioned. That is what you people do, yes?

I like to think that the New York Dolls provoked a similar reaction when they started out.

You'll have to play that one out some more.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 30 October 2003 01:14 (twenty-two years ago)

yeah. wtf I didn't even realize what you just said with that bullshit. Play "Personality Crisis" against any little weak-shriek turd the Darkness have dropped, hell play ANY song off the New York Dolls recorded against the Darkness...YEARGH.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Thursday, 30 October 2003 01:15 (twenty-two years ago)

JtN's not talking about that, Anthony, he's talking about the critical dumps on the NY Dolls at the time for not being the Stones/being too trashy/whatever (I'm assuming). Problem is that I see the New York Dolls as explicitly ramping up an attitude/means of performing to a comparatively unknown and ridiculous level, whereas the Darkness can't but fail there (or at the least fall short) because it already happened. So on that level JtN's comparison doesn't work for me, being I think the annoyance applied to one and the annoyance applied to the other aren't directly comparable.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 30 October 2003 01:20 (twenty-two years ago)

ok, I understand. and yer OTM, Ned. The Darkness are MERELY ridiculous.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Thursday, 30 October 2003 01:29 (twenty-two years ago)

Though the whole problem is really just the (intentionally or not) amateurish singer. Haha, these guys should be David Johansen's new back-up band!

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Thursday, 30 October 2003 01:29 (twenty-two years ago)

The singer is the best part of the band! Listening to him is like watching an old man anally violate a teddy bear.

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Thursday, 30 October 2003 01:31 (twenty-two years ago)

What's the direct sound comparison, the old man, the teddy bear or the violation?

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 30 October 2003 01:32 (twenty-two years ago)

The comparison is for the feeling of bewildered "Oh my, is that really happening?" amazement that both engender.

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Thursday, 30 October 2003 01:36 (twenty-two years ago)

Shock and awe!

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 30 October 2003 01:38 (twenty-two years ago)

Hey Wesley Willis was funny but I get pissed off when people say he's better than Dylan, sorry. I just mean that the rest of the band COULD be more than just a sick joke. They totally have that pop-metal/"Jessie's Girl" thing locked down.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Thursday, 30 October 2003 01:38 (twenty-two years ago)

The Darkness are a deliberate insult to metal is what i was replying to, Pash...

Problem is that I see the New York Dolls as explicitly ramping up an attitude/means of performing to a comparatively unknown and ridiculous level, whereas the Darkness can't but fail there (or at the least fall short) because it already happened.

but if the Dolls were simply amplifying and exagerrating the sleaze and sexual playfulness of bands like the Stones in an era whenrock had become all the more pompous and asexual (or, at least, removed further from the crotch and favouring the brain instead), couldn't what the Darkness have done - exagerrated the details of hair metal (the costumes, the histrionics, the guitar solos in an era when, in the UK at least, these traits are all but invisible upon a pop landscape populated by Strokes Indie shag haircuts and Coldplay dressing down) to the instant revulsion of the NME and the industry at least (let it be noted that an actual metal magazine, Kerrang! (and also i believe Metal Hammer) has had nothing but love for The Darkness since day one) - be seen as similar, if not equivalent?

― stevie (stevie), Thursday, 30 October 2003 09:09 (twenty-two years ago)

The reason there's miscommunication on the subject of the Darkness is...well, it's a US vs. UK thing, again. The US reception for the Darkness is always gonna be "they're a bad joke, fuck 'em." But in the UK, where 60% of the music scene is and always has been bad jokes and novelties hyped to the heavens, they're accepted. Kim Gordon said something once in some interview about everybody in England acting like rock was something you were supposed to have evolved out of by now, and the Darkness are born out of that POV. "Ha, look how atavistic and wild we are with our 'rocking'!"

― Phil Freeman (Phil Freeman), Thursday, 30 October 2003 12:07 (twenty-two years ago)

But in the UK, where 60% of the music scene is and always has been bad jokes and novelties hyped to the heavens

As I've said before... The Darkness = The Cheeky Girls for people who like guitars/don't like Europop.

― The Lex (The Lex), Thursday, 30 October 2003 12:11 (twenty-two years ago)

Yes, because it is silly being into rawk at Kim's age, especially when, like Kim, you've got a good decade and a half separating you from your best work. Nick's right: all music is comedy. US music not being a bad joke: ERM!? YEAH?! You have serious mofos like Public Enemy (Flav = classic comedy) and GNMFR. How frivolous we Brits are with our Joy Divisions...

― Enrique (Enrique), Thursday, 30 October 2003 12:12 (twenty-two years ago)

Phil's probably right - whether or not something 'rocks' never comes into whether I like it or not.

― Tico Tico (Tico Tico), Thursday, 30 October 2003 12:14 (twenty-two years ago)

"in the UK, where 60% of the music scene is and always has been bad jokes and novelties hyped to the heavens,"

What are you basing this on exactly? It strikes me as particularly meaningless bollocks.

― DJ Mencap (DJ Mencap), Thursday, 30 October 2003 12:53 (twenty-two years ago)

I also turned full circle on these, I was in a kind of happy daze one morning on the way to college after a great night out and California Love came on the radio followed by No Diggety, at which point I had a big wide grin on my face. Then I Believe In A Thing Called Love came on and despite myself I was like "YES".

It sounds amazing in a club setting, or anywhere with people dancing too. I was so wrong on that other thread, I am so sorry Tom/Matt DC, never listen to me again.

― Ronan (Ronan), Thursday, 30 October 2003 12:57 (twenty-two years ago)

My experience was much like R's only I was at college when No Diggety and California Love were current (btw - what are 'satsumes'?). And 'No Diggety' made me love rnb.

― Enrique (Enrique), Thursday, 30 October 2003 12:59 (twenty-two years ago)

Ian Curtis' versh of "It's Not Easy Being Green" was funnier than the original, true, but still not as good.

― dave q, Thursday, 30 October 2003 13:00 (twenty-two years ago)

Ah I always liked No Diggety and California Love, it was perhaps them that left me susceptible to the Darkness though, oddly.

― Ronan (Ronan), Thursday, 30 October 2003 13:03 (twenty-two years ago)

The Darkness are a deliberate insult to metal is what i was replying to, Pash...

OK sorry, i was pissed up last night and posted arse to other bbs as well. Gah.

― Pashmina (Pashmina), Thursday, 30 October 2003 14:34 (twenty-two years ago)

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