Fun « The Listomania

9Nov/094

142. The Darkness – Growing On Me

Do you remember why you liked listening to music before you realized Radiohead was your favorite band? There are emotions that intense music fans often overlook in their appreciation of mopey indie rock and minimalist dubstep that are, in all honesty, the exact emotions that every non-intense music fan seeks out. One of those is Sexiness. The second one, well if this list was predicated on it, this song wouldn’t be Top 150, it would be Top 10. It’s fun. And it’s funny as shit.

Listen to the lyrics and tell me what this song is about. Go ahead. It shouldn’t really take that long, this isn’t Joyce. So it’s about a girl, right? Maybe loving a girl too much,so much you don’t really know what to do with yourself? Nope. It’s about STD’s.

Yeah, a British glam metal band wrote a 2003 ode to STD’s. But the song isn’t just funny as hell, and sing along fun like AC/DC after beer five (but before beer six). It’s also a well-written, melodic, trashy kick-out-the-Jam performed by four surprisingly talented musicians who, despite the endless schtick, apparently have a real love for what they’re doing. STD allegory aside, on this song The Darkness showed that they were a real creative force, not just an inside joke with flamed crotches and nasty, nasty teeth. Listen to the end of the first guitar solo, when it kicks back into the chorus for the last time. This is the best, most believable bubblegum metal since Slash stood outside a church in the desert and lamented Axl’s rained out reception. And listen to the second guitar solo in the outro and try not to look at lead singer/guitar player/halcyon Justin Hawkins playing it, and tell me that you can’t hear the intricacies of emotion layered into this song. This is a band designed not to be taken seriously, but you really have to. They're that good. Let's see TV on the Radio write a song about STD's and see how they fare, shall we? How about Radiohead? Or did they do that already with "High and Dry"?