Permission to Land

View Author

Mon Mar 27 2023

3

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.

👍

View Author

Mon Mar 20 2023

5

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!

👍

View Author

Wed Mar 22 2023

5

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.

👍

View Author

Tue Mar 28 2023

5

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.

👍

View Author

Tue Mar 14 2023

4

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.

👍

View Author

Tue Mar 14 2023

4

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

👍

View Author

Tue Mar 14 2023

4

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.

👍

View Author

Sun Mar 19 2023

4

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.

👍

View Author

Thu Mar 16 2023

2

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.

👍

View Author

Mon Mar 27 2023

5

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

👍

View Author

Mon Apr 10 2023

5

Sweet!

👍

View Author

Tue Apr 11 2023

5

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.

👍

View Author

Sat Apr 22 2023

5

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

👍

View Author

Mon Apr 24 2023

5

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

👍

View Author

Mon May 01 2023

5

Very fun, loved it Also made a banger of a Christmas song

👍

View Author

Wed May 03 2023

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

👍

View Author

Sun May 21 2023

5

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

👍

View Author

Tue May 23 2023

5

It’s awesome, sometimes comical hard rock with a lead singer who is a similar level to freddy mercury. 5/5

👍

View Author

Fri Mar 17 2023

4

- Growing on me is a great track! - I Believe in a Thing Called Love still bangs! - Love is only a feeling is great! - Friday Night is a nice song! - Love on the rocks with no ice goes hard! - Holding my own is a great rock ballad! Great guitar solos throughout the whole album worth listening to just for the fun guitar solos through the project

👍

View Author

Wed Mar 22 2023

4

good album imo

👍

View Author

Fri Mar 24 2023

4

2023/03/23 Awesome!

👍

View Author

Sat Apr 01 2023

4

2003 … wow ca sonne pas cette annee la du tout. Tant mieux, ils ont ramene le bon vieux rock l’instant d’une annee en 200. 4.25

👍

View Author

Wed Apr 05 2023

4

Despite all known laws of nature, there's no way that a music should be able to fly on account of the singer's ability to do incredible falsetto runs over some upbeat rock, yet The Darkness somehow does so every song and they are all very joyous and fun! While I don't entirely believe that the vocalist is the only thing that makes this band and album good, their skills certainly overshadow anything the band can really try to do, including guitar solos, so I would almost say that it doesn't matter

👍

View Author

Sat Apr 08 2023

4

I vibed with this way harder than I was planning to. Just some good silly rockin fun.

👍

View Author

Mon Apr 10 2023

4

A glam rock album? With a Christmas song (in some versions)? With a high register singer?! AND THE LEAD SINGER COVERED A SPARKS SONG LATER IN HIS CAREER?!? I haven't listened yet but this may line-up to be quite the hit with me. While certainly glam, we're talking Journey and some hints of Queen more than Sparks, which was obviously my hope, but I still enjoyed this a bit, even it was hard to place this album and its sound. We were going pretty hard rock one moment, to showing remnants to what was to come with the emo wave of music, and then just straight up the most steretypical 70s glam metal, thirty years late. Either way, it's enjoyable enough to be barely a 4, it definitely helps that it's a shorter album, making the parts I disliked more being swift. The highlight was most certainly the lead singer's vocals when he chose to use them in just the right way. Again, a very light 4.

👍

View Author

Wed Apr 12 2023

4

Such a fun album. The Darkness had a sound they wanted and just went for it.

👍

View Author

Mon Apr 17 2023

4

I Believe in a Thing Called Love i Love is Only a Feeling najlpesze. Ogólnie taki całkiem przyjemny wesoły pop rock.

👍

View Author

Wed Apr 19 2023

4

It has all the catchy riffs and camp vocals of a great glam rock album.

👍

View Author

Thu Apr 20 2023

4

Silly glam metal that's really well done. It's a fun experience to listen to and surprisingly good. This could easily be mistaken to be from the 80s. I've only listened to "I Believe in a Thing Called Love" before but the rest of the album is also impressive.

👍

View Author

Mon May 01 2023

4

Good fun is to be had here amongst the high pitched hard rockers!

👍

View Author

Tue May 02 2023

4

Goofy glam metal that can be a lot of fun. Falsetto singing of sophomoric lyrics over riffing guitars. The ultra-catchy "I Believe in a Thing Called Love" is the anthemic standout.

👍

View Author

Wed May 03 2023

4

Hard Rock, always a joy, sometimes AC/DC vibes but an own style, Summary: I like

👍

View Author

Thu May 11 2023

4

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

👍

View Author

Sun May 14 2023

4

This album is hilarious. But it is also extremely tiring. Better as singles. Essentially, Justin Hawkins and his chums saw the dismal state of music back in the early 2000s and thought "there is literally nothing good to say about Lowestoft, which means we'll be perfect for today's music scene". Fortunately, being from Lowestoft means that you kinda have to have a certain ability to just say "fuck it, it can't get any worse" - and that's exactly what they did. They said "fuck it" and decided to do what they wanted to do, which was hair metal. In Norfolk terms, this was about the latest, most exciting, fizzing with excitement musical genre since Cromwell banned fun in 1642, and fortunately, The Darkness carried it off spectacularly. The glittery, plunging neckline unitards of Kiss, the spectacular Def Leppard haircuts are all there. Make no mistake - The Darkness are as good as anyone at what they do. They just did it 25 years after anyone else.

👍

View Author

Thu May 18 2023

4

Het is hele foute glamrock. Die gillende aanstellerige stem van de zanger is best wel irritant. Givin' Up klinkt als Queen. Het is een grote gimmick van een foute jaren 80 periode. Oftewel het heeft alles om enorm te haten. En toch is het best wel aanstekelijk en vermakelijk. Dikke gitaren voeren de boventoon. Goeie drums en bass eronder. Die gasten zijn gewoon een paar decennia te laat geboren.

👍

View Author

Thu May 18 2023

4

Een overzicht van de meer stevige gitaarstijlen. Soms meer klassiek, soms wat moderner. De zang is afwisselend. En ook binnen de nummers gebeurt ruim voldoende om het interessant te houden.

👍

View Author

Thu May 18 2023

4

Uiteraard kende ik dit gezelschap enkel van de hit. Tja, het is even wennen aan die mallotige stem, maar het lukt ze om boven de gimmick uit te stijgen en zowaar best lekkere muziek neer te zetten. Gillende gitaren, maar lichtvoetiger dan het stampende Soundgarden.

👍

View Author

Wed May 31 2023

4

I dalje nevjerojatno zabavan album

👍

View Author

Sun Jun 04 2023

4

Just do good, in a classic way

👍

View Author

Tue Mar 14 2023

3

Yeah, I liked this more than I expected. It all felt like one big gimmick when it came out and I still can't stand dude's falsetto. Buuut... I kind of feel about this the way I feel about Steel Panther and Tenacious D. You get that it's all sort of a joke, but when the songs are good then it becomes really fun to be in on the joke with them. And some of the songs here reach that level. Would I rather just listen to AC/DC or Cheap Trick? Sure, most of the time. But I'd visit this again and I wasn't sure I was going to come out of the listening experience with that as the takeaway, so I guess you could say I am stepping out of the light and into The Darkness. There's just no chance a major publication didn't use that last line in one of their reviews at the time of the album's release. Zero chance.

👍

View Author

Tue Mar 14 2023

3

I'll always have a soft spot for this one. At the time it came out, it did a good job at what it was doing, which was threading a needle between parody of and love letter to glam/classic rock. The songs aren't half bad at all. I mean, 'Love On The Rock With No Ice' is a pretty sweaty title, but mostly it rides a fine line and comes down on the right side of it.

👍

View Author

Fri Mar 17 2023

3

Decent

👍

View Author

Wed Mar 22 2023

3

Extra star because it had solo guitars at a time no one would do them, otherwise the music is not that good...

👍

View Author

Sat Mar 25 2023

3

Album amusant, son qui fait vraiment penser au hard/glam rock des années 80 mais au goût du jour. C'est un peu over the top mais on dirait que le band est très self aware. Pas détesté mais les compositions devenaient un peu fade vers la fin de l'album. 7/10

👍

View Author

Mon Mar 27 2023

3

Ah man. "I Believe in a Thing Called Love" was a really important song for me in my guitar playing / music learning journey. Looking up some dates, I started playing guitar on Dec 8 2003. This record came out July 7 2003, and I'm assuming it didn't take too long for that single to be all over the airwaves. That summer I was hanging out with friends and talking about learning guitar so I could make a band with them on what was probably a daily basis. I absolutely adore that song and that guitar riff. It's so fun and catchy and exciting and yet it also seemed so approachable to learn. I do remember trying to learn it in my first few months of guitar playing and really failing at it as it was just too fast and too much to take on. I actually never tried again to learn that riff so I think I'm going to do that asap because it's really really great. Despite that song, I kind of question whether this album should be on this list. That's a really great song, and is such a fun throwback to classic rock but with a sweet modern feel. The rest of the album is good but not great, and while there have been other albums on this list that have had 1 real show-stopper track, I'm not sure if that's really enough to bring up the rest. "Get Your Hands off My Woman" (motherfucker) is funny as hell. "Growing on Me" was pretty good. The production and mix on "I Believe in a Thing Called Love" is really really great.

👍

View Author

Mon Mar 27 2023

3

cool ig, nothing special

👍

View Author

Sun Apr 02 2023

3

Need to listen again, was in deep focus and feel like I missed out on a great rock album

👍

View Author

Wed Apr 05 2023

3

Started off questioning why this album was on the list beyond it being UK Rock, but once I Believe in a Thing Called Love came on I understood. That song is one of the classics and met with a one two punch of Love is Only A Feeling which was another favorite of mine. Then they started growing on me but still beyond those songs there wasn't much that was unique. Also I laughed at this cover thinking this is what UK bands think is an American Style album. Get a naked lady on there and a space ship a la Boston. People will love that!

👍

View Author

Sat Apr 08 2023

3

Silly goofy glam rock. Style over substance personified.

👍

View Author

Mon Apr 10 2023

3

The vocals are a touch grating at times. Otherwise classic rock init

👍

View Author

Mon Apr 10 2023

3

fun but a whole album is a bit much

👍

View Author

Tue Apr 11 2023

3

Had some charm. Hair metal revival somewhat more enjoyable than expected

👍

View Author

Tue Apr 11 2023

3

Funny

👍

View Author

Wed Apr 12 2023

3

This one was weird and fun. Not something I’ll be coming back to often, but I was at least excited to see what each track would be as I listened.

👍

View Author

Wed Apr 12 2023

3

Didn’t do anything for me.

👍

View Author

Mon Apr 17 2023

3

Not bad - 3

👍

View Author

Tue Apr 18 2023

3

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.

👍

View Author

Mon Apr 24 2023

3

Good rock but the singer was annoying

👍

View Author

Wed Apr 26 2023

3

Glam rock is never going to be one of my favorite genres, but I do appreciate the audacity of it and the fact that it doesn't take itself too seriously (most of the time). This album seems to be from that weird era in the early 00s when bands were just trying to straight up copy 70s rock (looking at you, Wolfmother). It's overall a pretty fun album 3/5

👍

View Author

Wed Apr 26 2023

3

Okay

👍

View Author

Sun May 07 2023

3

That was a pretty weird listen. I don't think there was anything bad on here, but I feel like I should have hated it. Lots of annoying antics, but somehow they didn't make me want to stop listening. Some songs were hilarious even though I hated myself for thinking so afterwards. Glad I listened but probably won't give it another try. 3.5 stars.

👍

View Author

Tue May 09 2023

3

Interesting take to bring back classic rock, songs inspired by classic themes as well. 3/5

👍

View Author

Mon May 22 2023

3

There's some of this that I love so much but I've never been able to really get into The Darkness. The lead singer's voice is just a little too much. It's like he's shooting for opera or something. They're good but it doesn't quite hit the mark for me.

👍

View Author

Wed May 24 2023

3

One famous song that doesn't really hold the album together.

👍

View Author

Fri May 26 2023

3

I kind of get what they’re about but I don’t know if we’re beyond tribute pastiche in the world of heavy metal. Wasn’t it always thus? A band out of time with an unusual hit in a non metal era.

👍

View Author

Thu Jun 01 2023

3

I am impressed that it is a debut album, because the sound is so developed and consistent. I know "Thing Called Love" but not any of the others so I was surprised to hear that there were 5 singles. In the end, I don't really like this, it has that glam goofiness and showoffiness that turns me off. But I can't deny the skill on display here, particularly from the lead singer.

👍

View Author

Fri Jun 02 2023

3

This album is a fairly decent glam/ hard rock album that stands in stark contrast to what was a pretty awful time for mainstream rock. I’m not sure how earnest this album is, but I’d like to believe the band has some semblance of self-awareness. It is over the top, campy, and brings in a lot of rock cliches without seeming like they’re trying to imitate any one artist in particular. The worst part was the weakness of the falsetto vocals most times it was used. Other than that, the album was a nice short fun listen. Nothing too special, but enjoyable

👍

View Author

Thu Mar 16 2023

2

Kyllähän tuo hitti nyt päähän jää. Karmeat soundit, muuten. Todella karmeat.

👍

View Author

Thu Mar 16 2023

2

Vähän häiritsee kun en tiedä onko tää bändi kuinka vitsi vai ei yhtään. Vähän kaipasin rockia popin sijaan mut ok

👍

View Author

Fri Mar 17 2023

2

Yeah ok

👍

View Author

Fri Mar 17 2023

2

Okay this might be my least favourite of the 1001 albums so far. I personally find the vocals too obnoxious to bear. I've seen someone say it's worse than fingernails on a chalkboard and I completely agree. There's also no substance here lyrically (lyrics are actually bad in my opinion) which is fine when the music is good. The instrumentation is fine, nothing special, but the vocal performance is too much for me. No favourite tracks. Glad I got it out of the way. Personal Enjoyment - 3.5 Songwriting - 7 Lyrics - 4 Originality - 6 Production Value - 10 Artwork - 9 Overall - 5.8

👍

View Author

Thu Mar 23 2023

2

"Get Your Hands Off My Woman" was a rocker even though the falsetto felt a bit too much. "I Believe in a Thing Called Love" is also a really good song. The rest of the album was pretty bland. And the singer's range is impressive....at first. But after a couple of songs it's just annoying. And he hasn't got that great of a voice to begin with.

👍

View Author

Fri Mar 24 2023

2

I don't know if this was a precursor to the mock rock band Steel Panther, but this was highly forgettable.

👍

View Author

Sat Mar 25 2023

2

Meh

👍

View Author

Mon Mar 27 2023

2

Total mom-rock A bit of spicy guitar work here and there coupled with some outrageous male vocals. You can tell the songwriting is from the 2000s but the style sounds like an old glam pop rock kinda band 2

👍

View Author

Thu Mar 30 2023

2

1-2 låtar lyssningsbara. Resten är bara skit.

👍

View Author

Fri Mar 31 2023

2

Did not like- way too harsh of a sound for me. Was too hard rock. Did not like rhythm or singer’s voice.

👍

View Author

Wed Apr 05 2023

2

Interesting at the very least! Labeled "glam rock," but it's from 2003 which is pretty unusual, I would've pegged this to be late '70s, early '80s, but I guess that's what they're going for, huh? A couple tracks I liked, but overall not doing too much for me, this feels like a Greta Van Fleet for people who want that era back. Favorite tracks: Love is Only a Feeling, Friday Night. Album art: The most interesting thing about this album by far. A naked woman flagging down a plane for landing? My my my. And that's not even a plane, is it, it's some kind of alien warship maybe? It's a striking cover for sure. The font choices, both for the band name and the album written on the tarmac, are pretty bad. 2/5

👍

View Author

Wed Apr 05 2023

2

Its fun garbage eh? I have a special place in my heart for the darkness and while i prefer one way ticket this album still holds pleasant in my soul. wouldn't go out of my way to listen tho

👍

View Author

Wed Apr 05 2023

2

they probably included this on the list over a big star album or something what a load of shite

👍

View Author

Sun Apr 09 2023

2

Had not heard of them or heard their music before. Gave it a try. It’s not bad but it just didn’t do much for me.

👍

View Author

Mon Apr 10 2023

2

Thought I'd enjoy. I did not. 2 stars for taking me back to youth

👍

View Author

Sat Apr 15 2023

2

Muy de heavy ochentero,pero bien para empezar el viernes con energía (PSP) Esos falsetes... Veo su pelo al viento con moldeador... (LNB)

👍

View Author

Mon Apr 17 2023

2

It's not bad, it's just not my thing.

👍

View Author

Tue Apr 18 2023

2

Fun album and well made, but not in the top 1001.

👍

View Author

Sun May 07 2023

2

I just couldn't wait for it to end.

👍

View Author

Sat May 13 2023

2

another one song band

👍

View Author

Tue May 23 2023

2

The sad part about this album is that I love the music. The guitars shred. The drums pound energy into my soul. Unfortunately, I can’t think of a more mismatched album from the music to the vocals. I swear the vocals have to be a parody of glam, not a serious attempt. The falsetto riffing is atrocious. The primo example is the repeated title Love On The Rocks With No Ice (luh-UVVV). Just terrible. This album is unfortunately tragic. 4 for the music. 1 for vocals.

👍

View Author

Tue May 23 2023

2

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.

👍

View Author

Wed Apr 05 2023

1

Did not enjoy. The pseudo glam-rock thing was not appealing to me whatsoever, and I could not even finish the album :/

👍

View Author

Sat Apr 08 2023

1

I believe in a thing called Rubbish!

👍

View Author

Mon Apr 10 2023

1

Lmao I thought glam metal died in the 80s. Why is this unoriginal parody crap on this list? It was awful then and it's even more awful now.

👍

View Author

Sun Apr 30 2023

1

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.

👍

View Author

Tue May 23 2023

1

¡Error! Cover band adjacents don't belong on this list.

👍

View Author

Tue May 23 2023

1

This album raised two thoughts. 1. Hair band born too late. 2. Why are you screaming at me? Overall, really disliked the album, particularly the vocals which are like a cacophony. Instrumentals are not bad-- a solid rock band backing the cat in a washing machine vibe of the singing.

👍

View Author

Thu Jun 01 2023

1

The hair metal and cock rock they are emulating was garbage in the first place. So why would I go for a half ironic revival act nearly two decades later? Because they temper it with a bit of grunge? No, thankfully these guys were just lone oddballs, and this didn't spawn a whole second wave of this shit.

👍