The
other day, I was listening to Fall Out Boy (because I totally love pop-punk,
according to Elliott) and got really nostalgic for 8th grade. Not
that there’s much to be nostalgic for, but it just made me really happy to hear
From Under the Cork Tree after a 4 or
5 years of not listening to it. It must be how classic rock makes old people
feel. However, I promised Steve that I wouldn’t talk about FOB. So I won’t discuss
how, while it’s really emo, it’s rather inventive and unique for the
pop/post-punk/alternative rock, and is an interesting listen in retrospect. But
rather, I’m going to talk about another nostalgic band: The Darkness.
For
those who were cool back in the day, you heard a fantastic throwback song,
before throwbacks were cool. “I Believe in a Thing Called Love” was on the
radio and MTV with a strange video about a weird guy in a spandex onesy fighting
a giant squid in space ship with the power of guitars. He had the moves like
Jagger, the hair of T. Rex, and the music of Kiss and Motley Crue. He was
singing about touching boobs while almost going into a falsetto. And it was
fantastic. Then they were promptly forgotten. Except by me, who fell in love
their ironic sound (see, I can be just as hipster-y as the rest of the blog).
But
after listening to it a bit, it’s not so much ironic as it is an homage. They
sound like they truly love the genre, and want to show it some respect. Yes,
they take the more comical parts of the music and put it on full display, but
that’s only because those are the most fun. Any hair metal or glam rock band was
mostly just about sex, getting drunk, and having fun. They may have tried to
cover it up a bit by pretending to be serious, but The Darkness embraces this and
kicks it up a notch and make objectively awesome. And it’s just a fun, fun
time.
Today’s
track is “Love on the Rocks With No Ice”, which already gives you an idea of
the fun they have. The opening guitar is reminiscent of a tough sounding
country or blues guitar, then it breaks out into some metal riff, giving a lot
of weight to the track. Then Hawkins’s unique vocals come in, powerfully mixing
in with the heavy bass line and guitar riffs. The song slowly builds until a
short breakdown, before Hawkins breaks into his falsetto for the chorus, then
an okay solo comes. But after the second chorus, another nasty solo is slipped
into the song and melts your face, before one final exaltation by Hawkins and
one final devolution into chaos. It’s a fun journey that everyone needs to take
everyone once in a while. So put on your Member’s Only jacket, dust off the
parachute pants, and go back to the days when music could be fun and heavy.
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