Then we started shouting “I’m Rick James, bitch” at each other in an effort to win the argument and we never reached a satisfying conclusion…
sniff…what a beautiful relationship 
the video cracks me up! I don’t know if its wise as a first video to hit stateside, but I was dying. takes me back to the 80s.
I bought the CD this weekend and am having a hard time getting into it. I love the single but that singers falsetto voice is just cheeseball sometimes. I could barely make it through the first couple of songs. Sometimes the music is really rocking and then all the sudden I’m listening to Jordan Knight sing over the tracks.
He’s ugly/sexy much like Freddie Mercury was.
…and Mick Jagger, and Steven Tyler, and to a lesser extent Robert Plant and David Bowie. I don’t see what the big deal is.
Turbonegro from Norway pulled of the 70’s glam rock revival thing perfectly seven years before The Darkness came to light, but they actually managed to make excellent songs and be hilarious at the same time, a feat that is neigh impossible to pull of successfully in a genre that is taken so seriously by it’s fans as rock and roll.
The Darkness, which is a pale imitation, manages neither. To top it off, Turbonegro weren’t necessarily ironic, despite their moustaches and pretend gay sailor image – unlike the Darkness, who are so contrived and shallow it’s painful to watch – because Norway, and to a degree the rest of Scandinavia, has for the most part always lagged twenty years behind the US and UK, when it comes to rock music. I personally know twenty-year-old dudes in garage bands who – in the year 2004 – sincerely want to sound like Iron Maiden and AC/DC, without a shred of irony.
The Darkness on the other hand, is a carefully planned novelty act.
Mainly because articles and reviews have come out where they are serious about it. Unlike Tenacious D and Spinal Tap.
We grasp irony just fine, BTW.(1) Can you give us the link to Mr. Hawkins admission, I would like to read it.
(1) Moe: Call this an unfair generalization if you must, but old people are no good at everything.
feel free to review a few more of my cites:
Ahh, if they admitted it would take the fun out of it. Not all parodies need to be spelled out for you. The admittance I am referring to is Justin’s recent appearance on ‘The Frank Skinner Show’, now he didn’t come out and directly admit that it was a piss take but when Frank asked him if he was taking the piss he smiled and raised an eyebrow in a knowing manner. I stand by my opinion that it is a piss take, Justin knows that and he also knows that if he directly admitted it he would ruin the joke, alienate all the people who genuinely like it as serious rock (children and the gullible) and would also possibly damage sales. Now I am certain there is a definite serious side to it after all it is well-made, well-crafted music but I still maintain that it is mostly humorous. I think you would be surprised at the amount of people who believe that ‘Spinal Tap’ was a serious film.
Oh and BTW my Americans not getting irony ‘joke’ wasn’t meant to be serious but it was Bill Bryson (an American) who said that so I’m just paraphrasing
One other brief addition:
Have you seen the outfits?
Have you read the lyrics?
Have you seen the Videos?
Have you heard their music?
It is soooo obviousley a joke that i’m amazed anyone wouldn’t ‘get’ it.
That’s what we hoped about Jewel.
Back on topic, I’m not a fan simply because they seem to be too Spinal Tap-esque to be believable and too Spinal Tap-esque to be funny in an original sense. My hipster friends love them though.
I thought that the Giant Squid attacking their ship in space was sheer brilliance.
Its actually having sex with the ship. It also believes in a thing called love.
I’m glad they are finally catching on here. I first started listening to them months ago, back when ‘I Believe in aThing Called Love’ was their latest single. I also like their songs ‘Growing on Me’ and ‘Get Your Hands off my Woman’.
Their videos are available here.
But this is the point: if you truly get irony, as you claim you do, you shouldn’t *need[/]i to be told that it’s ironic. It should hit you right between the eyes.
BTW, I absolutely love this song, and Justin’s solos knock '70s Brian May into a cocked hat, IMO. Their Christmas song (which will be around for years and years and years) was also superb: “Don’t let the bells end” - supremely rude title (do you use the phrase “bell end” in the US?).
Do they even have the tradition of Christmas songs and the race for the xmas #1??
I saw an interview about the zmas single and they said they made it because “We’ve had so much good vibes this year from our fans we want to give something back” 
They’re serious musicians played pretty good rock but taking the piss while doing it. Fair play. It’s a nice break from boy bands and pop idol bastards.
In other words he is playing both sides of the street, just as I stated in my original post.
No, someone said he had admitted he was “taking a piss”. I didn’t believe they ever would do that because they wanted to have it both ways, which to me is more commercial and crass then clever. The quoted material, in my opinion, shows that.
Quality wise, they are only a decent hair metal knock-off band. If they came out in the late 80’s they would have barely made a ripple. But, given the novelty of the act and their studiously maintained coyness, they have taken advantage of the work Tenancious D has done paving the way for this sort thing. That and all the VH1 “I love the 80’s” stuff.
In any event, 10 minutes of their 15 minutes of fame have elapsed, so this issue will be moot in a month and a half.
It bothers me that with so much worthwhile rock out there these days, these unfunny, crappy song slinging jokers come in and are all the rage.
Rock is making a comeback and crap like this does not help.
Bands with novelty singles and videos do not have staying power in the US. Especially bands with tounge and cheek novelty songs and videos.
This is not popular because people “get it” and think it is funny. The Darkness is popular because the 13 year olds who mainly watch MTV (remember that The Darkness video is sandwiched between Beyonce and Sum 41) don’t remember the '80s bands like older people do. They don’t think it is a joke. Just like I didn’t think Twisted Sister was a joke in 1985. I thought it rocked. Because I was 13 and didn’t know any better.
In 5 years you’ll see The Darkness on compiliation CDs with Nickleback and Staind.
Hey now, don’t be busting on Dee Snyder and the boys!
Were not goin’ take it------- annnnnnnyyyy more!
[Goes to his 80’s happy place]
Especially when the coup de grace is the lightning bolt shooting out of his tiara. I am Rick James, Squid-Bitch!
He has definately got the ugly/sexy thing down. The world will be perfect when he knocks up Omahyra Mota.
As did I, as did I.
I made the mistake of telling Mr. Amanita about this, and I’ve been hearing, “I’m Rick James, bitch!” all day long. I had to threaten to burn him with my crack pipe to get him to shut up. (This was after he threatened to fling Jheri-juice on me.)