Ok, take or leave the Darkness, but don't be tempted to listen to this and laugh just cos its really Justin Hawkins. Maybe there was some excuse for the Darkness, maybe someone somewhere fashioned an argument that rock needed to get its spandex-covered balls back, and that there was some merit in rocking out and having a laugh. Not surprisingly, there weren't many Darkness imitators either. Because everyone agreed it was all a bit ridiculous, and that was fine, but only as a one off. I fear this may have been lost on our Justin though.
You can't argue that TTABEFTBOU isn't ridiculous. Catchy - yes, fun, maybe, but music with anything other than novelty on its side? No. If Hawkins were an unknown, this would never have seen the light of day. You could argue that by making a success of the Darkness, he had created room in the market for an idiosyncratic, personal take on an old record such as this, but I disagree. Buying into the Darkness because they deflate the pomposity of stadium rock whilst sticking to its musical values is understandable, but accepting a song which is ridiculous solely because it can ridiculous be is like saying Mr Blobby was good. In the end, nobody will remember this song.
Rating: 1/5
Words By: John Culkin
