Search - Darkness :: Permission to Land

Hilarious, but not a joke.

C. D. White | 09/10/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Well The Darkness are sadly no more as of now. Just in case they don't reunite for a long while, It's worth noting that this album was and always will be a classic that deserves the high praise it intially got from those who understood it's intention. Sure, there have been critics all along the way criticizing them for being Spinal Tap rip offs to just being stupid in general. And how the band disintegrated only served to prove those people right as they saw it...nothing could be further from the case. To those of us that "got it" we see through those half-knowledgable attempts to criticize something these people don't really understand. Let me make a few things clear.



First off I LOVE the movie This Is Spinal Tap, it's easily in my top 3 movies of all time. As a film it was revolutionary and influential so much so that more than 25 years later the cutting edge of comedy is still directly related to this movie. One of the reasons why the movie is hilarious is that as musicians, at least in the context of heavy metal, Spinal Tap are passable at best. Their riffs are simplistic and repetitive. Their playing is very sloppy and lacks any subtlety whatsoever. If you are a musician, these things are blatantly obvious. It doesn't take away from the enjoyment of the movie in fact it adds to it. Because the characters take themselves so serously throwing names like Mozart and Bach around as it applies to their music when it's obvious that none of their music will ever be confused with such names. The only time their music approaches ever climbing out of the murky depths of idiocy is the little piano tune entitled "Lick My Love Pump"(Nigel's musical 'trilogy' in D minor, the saddest of all keys) and maybe "America" otherwise, "Big Bottom", "Sex Farm", "Rock n' Roll Creation" etc. are painfully retarded lyrically AND musically. And I love the movie for it among other things.



The Darkness on the other hand are/were expert musicians. This isn't music that was haphazardly put together. It is finely crafted. The lyrics fall more in line with "Big Bottom" etc. in the sense that they are comical, but whereas Spinal Tap solely used their lyrics to objectify women. Justin doesn't really do that. When singing sexual lyrics he makes himself the butt of the joke. And sometimes he finds a way to even make it endearing/sweet as in Friday Night with the line "The way she moves, moves me/To write bad poetry/Dancin' on a Friday night."



To those of us who came of age when hair metal was popular, The Darkness' message and intent is crystal clear. Which as I see it was: Yes, most of those 80's hair bands had ridiculous mindsets and attitudes, but the music was envigorating, and life-affirming. And furthermore, there is nothing wrong with celebrating and living life with gusto and passion. Now, I will admit as time has passed I find myself closely identifing with music like Radiohead but also Ben Folds(who himself did a cover of "Get Your Hands Off Of My Woman"). But the point of this music is to crank it up and have fun with it, not to morosely and clinically analyize it. It is not serious-minded music, but just because something isn't meant to be profound or deep doesn't mean it doesn't have great value. This is/was the realm The Darkness existed in, and I for one am glad the do/did.



As a side note in case you don't know there is a new band out there called Steel Panther. They are very much in line with The Darkness(kind of the American version if you will). They have an album called Feel The Steel coming out(Oct. 6 in America, it's already out elsewhere) with the great single Death To All But Metal"(or is it Butt Metal?). In fact, one of the tracks features none other than Justin Hawkins(The Darkness' frontman). Point is this stuff ain't going away. From what I've heard Steel Panther seem to be less subtle than The Darkness(which some of you probably think is impossible) but that same spirit is there. It's likely that the same that didn't get The Darkness won't get Steel Panther. That's too bad for them because it's good stuff just like this album is."

On my rotation list of best 20 albums in the last five years

Ammon Dorny | 01/27/2010

(4 out of 5 stars)

"A caveat. I like all music, and don't really relate to the musical purists who make a self-identity distinction between rockers, punkers, etc. For me, music is fun and mood-altering.



Permission to Land is a great album: One part Supertramp, five parts Queen, add a dash of Bowie, and a shameless appreciation for the glam metal and hair bands, and finally, a knack for song writing, and you have the Darkness' Permission To Land.



Too bad they have folded up shop, but the Hawkins brothers have moved on like any proper rockers to new things, ensuring that this album (and the other band release, One Way Ticket To Hell And Back) are something special.



Buy it now.

Ammon Dorny"