Permission to Land

Okay so The Darkness formed and they thought, “Let’s indulge in every hair metal cliche and play the hell out of them.” And somewhere around then the lead singer thought, “I should sing like Freddie Mercury after sucking a helium balloon.” And most importantly they agreed, “Let’s have fun and not overthink anything.” I completely understand why someone would fall head over heels for their shtick. I can’t get mad at music that wants to entertain me as much as this does. But I found myself rolling my eyes about as often as I was banging my head.

Fun fact for me. My buddy loved "I Believe in a Thing Called Love" so much, but he didn't have an iTunes account. Since he was my office mate, I purchased the album for him on the spot and listened to it on repeat for about a month. First iTunes album I purchased. The thing I love most about the Darkness isn't that they missed the hair band era by several decades. It's that they said Fuck It. This is the music we love and we're going to be the best damn hair band of the new millennium. Their love of the genre is obvious in their execution. Brilliant debut album.

If you let this stand alone on its music, it's ok. Vocally, it makes chalk screeching across a blackboard sound like fine opera. Listened. Check. Done. Next.

This is one of those tongue-in-cheek-cliche bands right? This album can't be serious <reads the Wiki page> "Permission to Land is the debut studio album by the British glam rock band"… Seriously. This is my 538th album on this list and probably the 700th British band that Demory put on here instead of a proper band from that genre that launched the genre. I'm about thisclose to dropping this project due to Robert fucking Demory's insanity. 2/5.

I have this album. Got it for £2 at a car boot sale. Picked up some Tupac, White Stripes and Billy Idol at the same time. Less than £10 for the haul. Anyway, it is what it is - a fun, colourful oddity, which seemed to emerge at the time from nowhere, glowing neon amidst a slurry of Creed and Nickelback. Time has been relatively kind, and the big songs still have a kick to them. A charitable four; guitars crunch, vocals soar and there's an infectious energy throughout.

Campy, tongue in cheek, but undeniably fun. An over the top auditory diary. If you can’t smile while listening to this, you are truly dead inside. Will listen again.

An album that was *everywhere* when it was out - every song was played in the pubs and clubs of Glasgow (not just the singles). Mostly very silly, but with a few more poignant moments. Reminds me of being a student in the big city, and gets am extra stars for that!

Not particularly deep by any means, but a hell of a lot of fun. Kind of like Journey on speed, but with F-bombs.

I assumed that they were a one hit wonder band and that this would be fairly meh...but I was wrong! This is a gloriously daft and superbly unself conscious album . They throw in all the metal tropes and make it work . you can feel the genuine love and affection for the music, style and genre and it is great.

It's sort of everything you want from a rock album.

Hello The Darkness, my old friends! A joke of similar quality to this joke of an album. I vaguely remember the dismal state of UK music at the time this came out, when 3rd-rate karaoke AC/DC seemed like a breath of fresh air. Can you imagine?! It's all probably genuine and heartfelt, like a college talent show Queen covers band. Doesn't mean I have to sit through it. A mean 1* for wasting my time. Looking forward to Right Said Fred next, or The Shirehorses

This album rocks. When it first came out I was in my early 20s and at first I thought I liked them ironically but they actually ended up being badass.

This is legit hair rock made by enthusiasts that is content to be nothing beyond what inspired it. The Darkness’s music doesn’t excite me, but it’s fun, well-made, and I applaud them for digging in their spurs and making passionate love to their hobby-horse. It’s not their fault that I keep expecting to hear Brasseye’s “Playground Bang Around”.

fun but a whole album is a bit much

Fuck this album is so fun. The Darkness knew what they were doing and it works. Yeah it's got that cheese to it, but they lean into it and it's fucking awesome.

Against all odds the album lives up to its ridiculous cover art. Kudos, The Darkness, you nailed it.

Parody? Loving homage? Superlative winners of "Born in the Wrong Decade?" Whatever the Darkness' inspiration, there are a lot of things that they nailed on "Permission to Land." Most notably, "I Believe in a Thing Called Love" is timeless and perfectly captures what they were going for. There are a couple other decent songs, but most of the album is marred by overindulgence. Especially vocal overindulgence. Justin Hawkins has the talent and range to pull it off, but he lacks restraint, screaming and wailing where it doesn't fit.

This album was my liberation into rock music as a teenager. Will forever love it.

I got this when it came out and played it to death. Everything about it just rules. Big songs, goofiness with ambition, catchiness. I still listen a fair bit, and it hasn't dropped an inch in quality in 20 years. If anything, it's even better now that everything else sucks so much in 2023. 5/5 and I'd give it 6 if I could.

A surprisingly heart felt album when listened to in the right context

Here's the thing this is my least favorite style of rock music. Brings back nightmare memories of the 80s and bands like Def Leppard, Whitesnake, Poison and many many others. And the singer Oh my God...the Celine Dion of Hair metal. Please no more albums like this. 1.5 stars

If Tiny Tim went metal!

More like the Dorkness, amirite folks? Still an incredible debut. Glam rock taken cranked all the way up. Still tickles me that Justin Hawkins was beefing with Lemmy and Lemmy basically had no idea who they were.

Yep. Still love this. High energy, great production, and man I would have loved to see them live.

A truly self indulgent hair metal album, but it ticks all the boxes

I initially heard this album described as satirical like Bad News or Tenacious D, but it is a legitimately hot shot of badass rock and roll.

Beyond the well known single the album is strong throughout. Any music which has fun at it's core like this I'm always going to get on with no matter the genre. It hits hard and keeps it up, when you think it may get tiring the sheer energy pushes through. They never quite lived up to this album but damn if this isn't an incredibly enjoyable listen all over again. fuck it it's a 5

Super fun. There's a self-awareness that lands on the earnest side and really elevates the whole thing. Committing to listening to this list means having to wade through a lot of New Wave Britpop, but finding albums like this one make it worth the trouble. Best track: I Believe in a Thing Called Love

Surprisingly good, I didn't rate the darkness when they came out but in retrospect this is actually a fantastic album

I've never heard of this group and I'm not sure why. This is VERY 2003 music and I dig it.the vocals are a little distracting because they're so high-pitched, but the dude can yell and that's great. The first YouTube ad that I got was one of those \"claim benefits\" ads and it was a video of a woman firing a gun with a voiceover by a dude. The wrinkle here is that the video bad been edited to give the woman a huge dumpy and the dude only said \"so in case y'all didn't know, the government is lying to us\" so that set the mood. Then a Mazda CX-90 ad. Pretty standard. Club Carwash, some local car wash place, then Temu.

Inconsequential, but fun, and with some genuine songwriting chops. And credit for the humour and leaning into the ridiculousness.

Technically, it's not bad. The drums are a bit boring, and there is generally the same pattern in nearly every song. There is way too much falsetto for my liking, but it's not as bad as Sparks.

Okay

Anglo music's two-decade peek rearward produced some 2000s artifacts which already look a little lopsided; In fairness, one is guaranteed to blindly plunge into the equivalent at least a few times. And this glam revival isn't bad at all! The stickiness seems to come from anachronism purely, but anachronism isn't all that happened in the studio.

Funny

cool ig, nothing special

Hard Rock'n' Roll - with nothing memorable. +1 star for nice album art

It's not terrible and I know it's a bit of a goof. But the schtick only lasts for so long before it gets annoying. Plus, his voice irritates me.

Throwback Cock Rock that should probably be thrown back.

This doesn't hold up at all. I saw The Darkness live about 15 years ago and I grew up listening to this album, but this is just a throwback to American hard rock/glam metal with nothing unique about it. Even other nostalgia bait bands, like Jamiroquai, at least do something interesting with their genre. The 1001 doesn't need more hard rock, and of all the hard rock, this definitely isn't one you need to listening to. I Believe In A Thing Called Love is still a bop though

Parody? Homage? Joke? Celebration? It's really hard to tell exactly where The Darkness are coming from. They present an ambitious and highly competent fusion of 70s classic rock (most heavily leaning on AC/DC and Queen), but they clearly have a degree of tongue in cheek that blurs the line between being a celebration of what is great about the genre (cf. The Cult's Electric album) and a ridiculous tribute act, mugging and winking at the audience. They certainly started out as a good, fun time, but I think they discovered that it is easy to cross the line to become the thing that you were satirizing (cf. Licensed to Ill-era Beastie Boys). They became the mega budget, million selling, coke snorting, rehab-visiting, pompous (and highly ambitious) rock stars that they had lovingly mocked. I do like that they are so keen to entertain, which many so-called serious bands seem to forget to do. I have been chided by a performer in a small venue for not listening correctly, which immediately raises the question of "for whose benefit is this performance? The audience or the performer?" It can be fine needle to thread. I recently saw Nick Cave live, and watched him expertly manage the way that the audience interacted with her performance, gently moderating behaviour (such as singing along) to help create an event that was both consistent with artistic ambition and the audience's desire to participate. But he is a master at that. I do love that The Darkness seem very concerned with the audience having a good time. But with that as a singular goal, they do risk not really delivering a listening experience that couldn't be achieved better with an old Led Zep record (or Queen or AC/DC or Aerosmith or Grand Funk Railroad or any other classic rock album from 1974). And some features of 1970s classic rock were probably best not replicated, especially after Spinal tap has already taken the piss completely (sexism, misplaced musical ambition, over-production, etc). I think I fall on this being a totally inessential album, given that it is essentially pastiche of a bunch of records from decades before, without much more to add. And the joking presentation undercuts its power as first rate rock. That being said, I would much rather listen to this than most of the heavier rock around at the time (like numetal, hock spit) or even the 90s output of bands they are aping (like Aerosmith, shudder). So, not great but not the worst either.

Eh. Feels like the novelty hasn't worn back on.

Blegh

Meh

Did the book's authors have a quota to fill for certain genres or decades? That would explain this shrill, derivative yawnfest making the cut. Wikipedia inadvertently summed up the album's mediocrity quite well: On Metacritic, "the album earned an average score of 79, based on 19 reviews." Yes 19 people reviewed it and the average score was a C+. Yet somehow this is an album we must listen to before we die. Yeah right. Like I said--quota.

Bad hair band ... with bad hair

Overplayed and overblown. Nothing they did hadn't been done before. I just think of Russell Brand when I think of this band. Appalling hair band.

It's so much fun. I tried to listen with fresh cynical ears. I tried to see if I should dismiss this as a dumb joke record. If I'm really down on it then the production is a little bit poppy with corny crunchy guitar sounds and the vocals so high in the mix.. It's just so fun though. Every track is such a well executed genre piece in this classic rock idiom. It's an really well observed tribute to all the hard rock acts in the earlier parts of this list. I love it

Setting aside Justin's unique vocals (which absolutely suit the music) I challenge anybody to give me a band of the last 20 years that are playing rock like this. Its old school, it sounds great and they are superb live. So it's tongue in cheek at times....so what.... it still rocks !!!

The audacity to put this out in 2003. FUN with a capital F and pretty much a no skips album. Love these dudes. I still believe in a thing called love.

Su disco de debut. Como me gustó este disco. Y me sigue gustando.

The Darkness are such a guilty pleasure for me, especially this album. Justin Hawkin is a sexy, camp, squealing man who makes this tongue in cheek band a really good listen. If you can't have a laugh with it and find it amusing you have the personality of a No. 2 Pencil. Super fun, good riffs, great solos and the ridiculously high pitched singing. If you don't attempt the high notes you're a huge pussy. Growing on Me, into I Believe in a Thing Called Love, then Love Is Only a Feeling is 11 and half minutes of fantastic British glam rock.

Ultimate hair rock and I love it so goddamn much.

This album unapologetically wears its influences on its sleeve, and I think that’s its strength. There are times when those influences are dialed up to 11 and it almost feels like parody of itself. But the whole thing is fun. And I Believe in a Thing Called Love is an all-time great rock song. I think there’s some room to let a fun album be fun, even if it’s not perfect.

This is unapologetically fun. In an era where this music was a deeply uncool move, they decided to do it anyway.

This album is a bunch of crazy bizarre glam rock masquerading as unapologetic decade-late hair metal, it's all bangers and I love it. Such an absurd yet earnest album. Listening to it makes me so happy. I usually reserve 5 stars for the utmost pinaccle of absolute masterpieces, but this just brings me so much joy, and really isn't that what music is all about?

I love this album. Loved it when it came out, and it still sounds pretty great to me. These guys dgaf.

I think this really is a 4 to 4.5 depending on how I look at it, but I am rounding up to 5, because the songs really are fantastic all the way through, it is fun, and it is/was really a breathe of fresh air at the time. Sure, it is a lot of classic rock mixed together, but it does it in a modern way, is consistent, and is just very, very good.

Every song is great on this album

I Believe In A Thing Called Love was a signature song of mine during my karaoke era. I could sorta hit the notes back then. I sure as hell can't hit them now. Lots of fond memories of this album. This is an easy 5 stars.

This album is camp in the best possible way. It’s tongue-in-cheek but never lazy, with riffs that punch harder than they have any right to and lyrics that wink at you while doing high kicks in platform boots. “I Believe in a Thing Called Love” is the anthem of anyone who’s ever air-guitared in the mirror with zero shame. And if you can’t smile while listening to it, you might want to check your pulse—you could be legally dead inside. Every track feels like it was written with a smirk and a raised eyebrow, but the musicianship is no joke. Dan Hawkins is no slouch on the guitar and his solos shred. The drums are thunderous and you've got the inimitable Frankie Poullain on bass. To cap it all, Justin Hawkins’ vocals soar like a glam-rock phoenix. It’s theatrical, ridiculous, and completely irresistible. It kicks down the door, struts in, and demands you have fun. And honestly? You will.

insanely good, really 80s rock ish even though its from the 2000s

Pure Hard Rock Experience!

I mean I believe in a thing called love is enough to give this a 4 but his voice and the rocking band behind him pushes it over the top!

It's been growing on me for about 22 years

These guys rule. And were ahead of their time, but also behind it.

Þessa plötu hlustaði ég alltof oft á þegar hún kom út. Það var einhver sjarmi við hana. Mér fannst ég vera að upplifa hvernig gullaldarár glamrokksins voru en samt á mínum tíma. Þetta var ákkúrat það sem ég þurfti og líka núna þegar ég hlustaði. Gef henni fimm stjörnur því húb vakti upp svo góðar tilfinningar og fíling

It is what it is with The Darkness, steady album if a bit warbley for a voice

Hell yeah. “I Believe in a Thing Called Love” has been one of my favorite songs for 20+ years but this is my first time listening through the whole album and I loved it.

brilliant

The Darkness unapologetically give a nod to 70s/80s glam rock, big-hair rock and prog-rock. Van Halen, AC DC, ZZ Top, Kiss, Status Quo, Queen, Thin Lizzy, Aerosmith, they're all there. And yet what could be an utter shit soup, especially given their influences' pull to dull cock rock, is actually one steaming fucking broth of rock genius. After shoegaze, grunge, dweeb rock and whatever else, this rock bombast hits home like a hammer to the ears. It revived what was seen as unfashionable, with total sincerity, technical brilliance and spandex-clad showmanship. You have to be dead inside not to instantly suspend all cynicism and just jolly-well think 'fuck yeah!'.

Maybe it just came out at the right time in my life, but all killer no filler either way.

One of my favorite bands of all time and this is where I fell in love with their sound. Love Is Only A Feeling and Growing on Me would make this five stars by themselves. But the rest of the album is excellent too. The perfect balance of great musicianship and not taking itself too seriously.

# Playlist Track - I Believe in a Thing Called Love # Notes - Oh boy, I'm getting old. Still remember when this album came out, 22 years ago. - I laughed *so much* to the clip for "I believe in a thing called love". Re-watched today and it still silly funny! - The whole album is a great time. It takes itself just seriously enough to believe that glam-hair-hard-rock is a real genre and they are great at it.

Let’s go

David Lee Roth, with a wink and a tickle, taught us that metal is a hell of a lot better when not taken completely seriously. (Looking back, I suspect Ozzy tried to teach the same thing but he was so perfectly ironic about it that the lesson flew by unnoticed.) The Hawkins absolutely perfected the sentiment on this album. As a *serious* music lover, I would love to hate this. But it’s just too damned perfect in everything it tries to do and WAY too much fun.

There was a time in the early 2000s where every album review was about finding the "saviour of rock." Listening to this, you know you'd be able to find a review of Permission to Land saying that exactly about The Darkness. Listening to the album was a lot of fun and only has a few moments where it doesn't still stand up today (jokes about being a junky don't land so hard _after_ you've quit the band and been to rehab). Sure with 2025 hindsight we know that ultimately The Darkness weren't going to save rock and roll, but you can see why people thought they might...

I'm closing in on album 1,001 and I was just thinking about this album and whether I had got it on the list yet. I remember when it came out and my brother was telling me I had to listen to this new band out of the UK. And I thought I don't need to bother with a new band doing classic / glam rock in 2003 - that's stupid and a few decades too late. And then I heard the opening lick to I Believe in a Thing Called Love. Yes please! Sure, the whole song sounds like a Queen ripoff but it is oh so fun. Soon after a buddy bought this album and we listened to that track and the whole album incessantly for about a week. Could not put it down. We'd call everyone from work over to our desk (or car in the parking lot) just to listen to tracks with us and head bang. This album oozes sex, drugs, and rock and roll. To steal a line from Black Shuck, this is a band "that doesn't give a f%#k" - they just want to party hard and rock hard. And they party and rock HARD. Heavy guitars and bass, pounding drums, decadent guitar solos and needless but infectious high-pitched vocals ("Guitar!!!"), and yeah, explicit sexual or drug references and F bombs for no reason, Exhibit 1 - Get Your Hands Off My Woman...mother f%#ker. Exhibit 2 - Stickin' that f%#kin' shit into my arms...Givin' Up, givin' up, givin' a f%#k. Plus some over the top power ballads for good measure (Love Is Only a Feeling, Holding My Own). Everything done to the excess but gloriously fun. I get it if others think the whole album and band is stupid. But I f'n love this album. This is what happens when you don't take yourself too seriously and just try to rock, which is what the 70s did and what the 2000s needed.

This is absolutely ridiculous, but also very fun

I got this in my other "project" last month. It was a true blessing. I had previously disliked The Darkness, but have since changed my mind. Having listened again my original review is unchanged, I actually like it more.

I guess this site is continuing the tradition of giving me a really excellent album after an absolutely terrible one with Permission To Land and man oh man this album is seriously amazing. It brings back a lot of the glam metal elements from the glam metal bands from the 80s like Bon Jovi and Def Leppard while mixing in a fair bit of power metal elements as well. The vocals here are fun even if i can see why some people would find them a bit too much but the main star of the show is obviously the musicianship. The music here is nothing but amazing guitar solos, fun, catchy melodies and everything else you need in a great glam metal album. I truly love this one and think its one great late glam metal album. Best Song: Love on the Rocks with No Ice Worst Song: Growing On Me

The first of a couple elusive 5 stars this week. This album is pure cheese rock. And I mean that in the highest regards. What the darkness did with this album was epic. I'm glad to hear they're still at it. Oh and get your hands off of my woman mother fuckkkkaaa

i love the darkness

Really nostalgic and great fun.

Slayed

You know, when they first appeared in the mainstream I hated them. I didn't like Justin's vocals. I've grown up since then, and I can respect their work. I now have massive respect for Justin Hawkins as a musician and entertainer. Still not a fan of "A Thing Called Love", but this is a great album otherwise. Big sound, hard hitting riffs and some classy solos. "Get Your Hands off My Woman" is a banger!

Permission to Land is a loud, fun, and totally over-the-top rock album. I remember when “I Believe in a Thing Called Love” was everywhere, but I never paid attention to who the band was. This was my first time hearing The Darkness — and now I’m wondering what took me so long. The hit single is great, but honestly, it’s not even the third or fourth best song here. This whole album is packed with high-energy rock that sounds like it came straight out of the ’80s — and I mean that in the best way. You can hear the Brian May and Angus Young influence in the guitars, and the singer’s voice is wild — powerful and full of range, just like the best glam rock frontmen. My favorite song is “Givin’ Up.” It’s got killer riffs, a catchy chorus, and the kind of energy that makes you want to play it on repeat. From start to finish, the album is just fun. No filler, no slow parts — just pure rock and roll.

What can I say? I love this fucker! For some reason this cheese ball affair was the coolest thing to me when I was 18. Big fat guitar riffs and generous usage of the word FUCK will have that effect on a young lad. Listening now, I wish there was maybe 20% less falsetto singing. Highlights: “Black Shuck”, “Growing On Me”, “Givin’ Up”, “Friday Night”

Always missed this album except the lead single, but it's really great - sounds more like a great rework of 80s metal, that a parody, which it seemed to be after Thing Called Love

This album is absolutely rammed full of nostalgia for me. When I was released, I think I hadn’t come across any glam rock or even hard rock before, so I didn’t understand why this catsuit-wearing fella singing falsetto was blowing everyone’s minds. But being so inescapable, I’d keep hearing it and it didn’t take long until I loved it and needed to hear more. This album is the perfect mix of hard rock, phenomenal vocals, and being tongue in cheek enough to give the essence of a band that are there for the fun. If somehow you haven’t heard this before, then you need to.

I believe in a thing called love slaps so hard

Okay college beer pong music days, hell yeah

That was great

Such a fun album. Justin Hawkins has a way to encapsulating everything that is awesome about this type of music, and has amazing musicianship to go along with it. 4.5/5

10/10 NO NOTES

Perfect vocal! Nice music. Friday Night is a masterpiece.

Funtimes.

Classic and maybe a classic case of peaking too early

Don't think just enjoy. It doesn’t break any new grounds but I still had a ton of fun with it. Rating: 4.6

While his voice takes some getting used to, the songwriting and performances are great. This album must have been a light in The Darkness at a time of alternative rock slop.