History of glam rock band The Darkness: biography and interesting facts
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The success of the British band The Darkness in the early 2000s was completely unexpected and deafening. Their success is especially impressive considering that the band did not go off the beaten track: they did not sing popular songs of the time, but decided to revive the already forgotten glam rock of the 70s.
The band's music is characterised by bright guitar solos, excellent rhythm, humour and beautiful vocals, in short, everything you need to become not a one-day band, but a band that will be listened to years later. Let's find out who and how they came up with the idea to revive a forgotten genre and how their success came to them.

Beginning
Like many successful musicians, the future members of The Darkness began their passion for music as children, and like many, started far from the very band that gained worldwide fame.
So, it was in Lowestoft and it all started with brothers Dan and Justin Hawkins. The young musicians started by recording covers of famous songs. Later, in 1997, they moved to London, where they formed a band called Empire.
Empire played prog-rock music. There were difficulties from the very beginning: Justin was not happy with the chosen style, he didn't like his brother's vocals very much. In the end, the band fell apart, but the brothers' love for music and creativity did not disappear.
One New Year's Eve, Justin went to a club where he participated in a competition and performed Queen's song "Bohemian Rhapsody". The audience was amazed: Justin's vocals were great, and everyone liked the acrobatic jumps, with which Jas diversified his performance. Of course, he won the contest, and in addition, he got the idea to create a new band.
For starters, the brothers remembered their former Empire mate Frankie Poullain. He was in Venezuela by that time, but when he heard the Hawkins' proposal, he returned to his homeland. Frankie was a guitarist, it was just a matter of finding a drummer and the band was ready. Then Dan remembered about his school mate, drummer Ed Graham. That's how the band "The Darkness" came into being, with Justin as the frontman.
Quite unexpected for the time, the musical style was inspired by bands the members of The Darkness admired, such as Aerosmith, Queen, Thin Lizzy, T. Rex, Van Halen and Def Leppard.
Success
Not many bands have been as lucky as this one: success came to them right away. Their concerts were packed with crowds, and the band got the interest of "Must Destroy Music", a subsidiary of "Atlantic Records". In 2002 The Darkness recorded their first single "I Believe In A Thing Called Love".
In 2003, The Darkness played at Def Leppard's warm-up show, and also appeared on the same stage with Mettalica and Iron Maiden. Needless to say, the band's fame grows by leaps and bounds, and their own concerts are full houses.
In the same year the band's first album "Permission To Land" was released, which sold more than 3 million copies and reached the top of the charts for four weeks.
But unfortunately, things couldn't go so smoothly. When the second album "One Way Ticket To Hell... And Back" was being recorded, Frankie left the band. He was replaced by drummer Richie Edwards, who used to be a guitar technician.
The second album The Darkness was produced by Roy Thomas Baker, who had worked with David Bowie and bands like Queen, Nazareth, Rolling Stones, Guns N'Roses... A real constellation. Everything said the band was going to be a success. But it wasn't. The album "failed", the position in the charts went down, even the concert activity went down. The band didn't want to give up, a third album was planned, but in 2006 frontman Justin Hawkins went to hospital with drug and alcohol addiction, and after returning from there he announced that he was leaving the band. So The Darkness suddenly broke up.
The remnants of the band changed their name to Stone Gods and Justin organised a band called Hot Leg, but both of these projects went under in 2010.
Renaissance
In 2011, the band members settled all misunderstandings and a happy reunion took place. The band immediately recorded a new album "Hot Cakes". The album was liked by both critics and fans and reached number 4 in the British charts.
In 2014, drummer Ed Graham left the band. The band members assured the fans that everything was fine in their relationship with Ed, and he was leaving due to poor health and his inability to continue his work. Emily Dolan, the girl who, according to Justin, revived The Darkness with her energy, was hired to replace Ed.
Emily stayed with the band until 2015, when she decided to leave The Darkness to pursue new projects. The band members gave her a very warm welcome, recognising Emily's great contribution to their fifth album "Last Of Our Kind".
Emily was replaced by drummer Rufus Tiger Taylor, son of Roger Taylor, drummer for Queen.

In 2017, the band played a warm-up show for Guns N'Roses, the same year their album "Pinewood Smile" was released. The story continues and the band does not change their retro style, reviving the traditions of hard and glam rock.