My Sunday Song – “I Believe In A Thing Called Love” by The Darkness

For My Sunday Song #432, we are going for pure fun and a love for 80’s rock with “I Believe In A Thing Called Love” by the band The Darkness. The song was the third single off this 2003 debut album ‘Permission to Land’. The song went to #1 in their home country of the UK, but in the states it didn’t fair as well. It did go to #23 on the Mainstream Rock Chart and #9 on the Alternative Chart and it did go Platinum with over 1 million copies sold. The song for me brought back the fun that songs can have and the good feelings they can bring.

The song was written by the band including Justing Hawkins, Dan Hawkins, Frankie Poullain and Ed Graham. At one Justin had stated that the bands during this time were afraid to write a song about Love…so he did. It is somewhat comical feel to the song due to Justin’s vocals, but it does have a powerful message. It simply states that love can be life changing and have a significant impact on you as a person. It can change your life, upend your world and move you in ways you have never have been before. It is the utter belief in love that matters.

What I love about the song, and the video, is its playfulness in both its music and vocals. Justin’s falsetto’s are sick. No one sings like this anymore and honestly, no one really can but Justin. His range is crazy…such a talent. The music is guitar heavy with killer riffs and a blistering solo. The bass thumps away driving the song as well as those heart pounding drums. A throwback to the 80’s in style and sound and we are all the better for it. It is pure fun like 80’s music used to be. It doesn’t take itself to seriously, but these guys are seriously great musicians and singers. A mind blowing introduction for me to this band.

Continue reading “My Sunday Song – “I Believe In A Thing Called Love” by The Darkness”

You Pick It! – Which Album to Review in October?

You, my reader, are going to pick an album for me to review each month.  It is really simple…first, I will give you 5 albums to choose from and second, you will tell me which one of those you would like to see reviewed on the site.  See…simple! Now, if you want to cast more than one vote, comment on the Twitter and Facebook post and you could get up to 3 votes on your favorite pick.

There are a few simple rules I have put in to place in my selections.  They are…

  • One has to be a new release (within the last month)
  • One has to be one I have never heard before (new releases don’t count for this one)
  • One has to be from a genre I don’t normally listen to at all or very often
  • And the last two are choices from my collection that I haven’t reviewed before

What are the 5 albums you ask?  Funny you should ask because I have those right here…

  New Release – Ozzy Osbourne – ‘Patient Number 9’

  Never Heard Before – Joy Division – ‘Unknown Pleasures’

  Not My Normal Genre – Loretta Lynn – ‘Van Lear Rose’

  From My Collection – The Darkness – ‘Permission to Land’

  From My Collection – Peter Gabriel – ‘So’

Let me know which one you would like to see and sometime in October, I will post a review of the album that gets the most votes. You have one week to decide and from there I will start listening to the album and do a review.

Thanks for participating!!

The Darkness – The Albums Ranked Worst to First

The Darkness came out of nowhere in 2003 with the song “I Believe in a Thing Called Love” and when I heard that song, I was hooked.  It was so 80’s retro and 70’s glam all rolled in to one while at the same time being a little tongue-in-cheek.  I didn’t even know if this was a parody of if these guys were for real, but I loved it.  Thankfully, it was for real.  Lead singer, Justin Hawkins, has this insane falsetto that not many people could ever think of doing and the band is loud and awesome.  After their second album, the band hit a rough spot.  Justin entered in to rehab and afterwards decided to leave the band.  On hiatus they went.

Not knowing if they were ever to return, I was sad not having them on the music scene.  Then in 2012, some 6 years later, they returned with their 3rd album “Hot Cakes” and have been on a regular basis about ever 2 years and they keep getting better.  18 years now after the release of their debut album, there is still 3 of the 4 original members in the band which is pretty impressive in today’s world.  The members are as follows:

  • Lead Singer, lead and rhythm guitar – Justin Hawkins
  • Rhythm and lead guitar – Dan Hawkins
  • Bass – Frank Poullain
  • Drums – Rufus Tiger Taylor

With the 2019 release of “Easter is Cancelled” which had my #1 song of 2019 with “Rock and Roll Deserves to Die” and was their 6th studio album, I felt it was time to do an album ranking. So sit back and enjoy The Darkness albums ranked Worst to First!

THE WORST – ‘HOT CAKES’ (2012):

Continue reading “The Darkness – The Albums Ranked Worst to First”