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The Darkness Information
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'The Darkness' are a British glam-rock band. Their highly retro style of music seems to be influenced by 1970s rock bands like AC/DC, Elton John, Def Leppard, Judas Priest, Thin Lizzy, Van Halen, Queen, T. Rex and Led Zeppelin. Hawkins' soaring falsetto makes them immediately distinguishable from other present-day rock bands.
History
Brothers, 'Justin Hawkins' (Vocals and Guitar) and 'Dan Hawkins' (Guitar) found themselves in London where they met up with childhood friends, 'Frankie Poullain' (Bass) and 'Ed Graham' (Drums), and thus 'The Darkness' was born. Playing at first only in pubs, their catsuits, pyrotechnic guitar solos, and over the top attitude soon brought them fame. They have always insisted that they take their music seriously, despite popular opinion that the whole getup is a joke.
Achieving major success in the U.K. in 2003, The Darkness received considerable radio airplay of their singles, including "I Believe in a Thing Called Love" and the Chistmas hit "Christmas Time (Don't Let the Bells End)". Their debut album, 'Permission to Land', reached number one in the UK charts and went on to sell one and a half million copies in the U.K. alone.
The success of this album led to heavy touring for the band, which included headlining the Carling Festivals in 2004. The band won three Brit Awards in 2004, including Best Group, Best Rock Group and Best Album. They also won two Kerrang! awards in 2004 for Best Live Act and Best British Band.
By late 2004 the band's huge success had led to a public backlash, and people claiming that the band was a novelty band became common. The band responded to this criticism by touring the U.K.'s top arenas on the '"Winter-National"' tour. One part of the show included Justin climbing upon a life-sized tiger during "Love on the Rocks with No Ice" and being elevated around the audience whilst still playing guitar. The majority of the shows on the tour sold out.
On May 23 2005 original bass player Frankie Poullain left the band during recording of their second album, apparently due to "musical differences". Frankie has disputed this version of events, claiming he was "frozen out" and forced to leave the band. On June 13 2005, The Darkness announced that Richie Edwards, formerly Dan's guitar technician, had replaced Frankie as bass player.
The Darkness released their second album 'One Way Ticket to Hell...And Back' on November 28th 2005 to mostly favourable reviews. However, early sales figures in the UK were very disappointing: the album entered the charts at a relatively lowly no.11, and fell to no.34 in its second week of release. The album was produced by rock producer Roy Thomas Baker, best known for his work with Queen. The first single, "One Way Ticket", was released on 14 November. It has been rumoured that up to 6 tracks from the 10 track album may be released as singles.
In October 2005, Hawkins won an Ebay auction for a copy of One Way Ticket to Hell...And Back for £350 under the username 'turbogunhawk'. He has claimed he did this so that he could track down whoever sold the digitally-marked album and try to prevent it from happening again.
Justin Hawkins has also recorded a solo album under the pseudonym British Whale.
Discography
All chart positions are based in the UK.
Albums
Image:TheDarkness-albums-PermissionToLand.jpg|'Permission to Land'
(2003)
'#1'
Image:TheDarkness-OneWayTicket.jpg|'One Way Ticket to Hell...And Back'
(November 28, 2005)
'#11'
EPs
*"I Believe in a Thing Called Love" (2002)
Singles
| Month/Year | Song | UK Singles Chart | Album |
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| February 2003 | 'Get Your Hands Off My Woman' | 42 | Permission to Land | | June 2003 | 'Growing On Me' | 11 | Permission to Land | | September 2003 | 'I Believe in a Thing Called Love' | 2 | Permission to Land | | December 2003 | 'Christmas Time (Don't Let the Bells End)' | 2 | - | | March 2004 | 'Love is Only a Feeling' | 5 | Permission to Land | | November 2005 | 'One Way Ticket' | 8 | One Way Ticket to Hell...And Back | |
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