So it’s early 2003 and I’m in high school, pleasantly settled into my obsession with IRON MAIDEN and my general metalhead aesthetic, when a friend sends me a song called “Get Your Hands Off My Woman” that was quite comedically sung in a very intense falsetto. This was, of course, the voice of Justin Hawkins of THE DARKNESS, whom, frankly, we all thought was in some sort of a STEEL PANTHER-esque joke band that was making fun of hard rock. Little did we know, despite the rather campy lyrics and wailing high vocals, the band was a serious unit. Today, on July 7th, 2023, we celebrate the 20th anniversary of this classic album and see how it holds up a full 2 decades after graduating from high school.
While THE DARKNESS perhaps went off the rails after the release of their second album, “One Way Ticket (To Hell and Back),” these first two releases were quite solid across the board. “Permission to Land” boasts some of the band’s biggest hits to date, namely, “I Believe in a Thing Called Love,” which not only has those same intense falsettos, but also includes one of the wackiest music videos of its day, which has remained on my “all-time favorite music videos” list since its release. There’s just something about a British man coming out of a bath, getting rubbed dry by a giant muppet, and then battling space crabs and squids with the power of guitars and flower bandanas… it’s a work of art, truly. If you haven’t seen it, you’re missing out, no question.
But let’s rewind a little, as their biggest hit was the fourth track on the album, and skipping it would require skipping “Black Shuck,” which would be a shame. The song and album opens on rockin’ guitar riffs and features a helping dollop of J.Hawkins‘ high vocals, as they sing about some classic British folklore, the black shuck, aka a mysterious black dog said to haunt the coast of East Anglia. This is followed by the aforementioned “Get Your Hands Off My Woman,” which is really over-the-top with its falsetto and lyrics, but the driving guitar riffs and overall skill make it hard to not take the song at least a little bit seriously, despite amazing lyrics like, “Octoped, you’ve got six hands too many / and you can’t keep them to yourself.” It’s no wonder my teenaged friends all thought this was the funniest shit of all time – the song still gives me a chuckle to this day, while the skill in its craft keeps it worth listening to despite its overall silliness.
They took a slightly more serious turn with the more mid-tempo “Growing on Me,” with a softer groove and less over-the-top silly lyrics, focusing more on a simple affection that’s increasing, a bit unwillingly for the narrator. Of course, the wild high notes are still a staple and continue into the aforementioned hit, “I Believe in a Thing Called Love,” which again, is just frankly a masterpiece of hard rock, with its fantastic riffs and vocals. Let’s shout-out the others as well here, because Dan Hawkins is responsible for a great deal of the excellent guitarwork on this album, while Frankie Poullain has always kept things moving on bass, and Ed Graham (who has been replaced by Emily Dolan Davies and more recently by Rufus Tiger Taylor) had set a solid beat in many of these tracks.
They touch on a bit of a folk music sound in “Love is Only a Feeling,” which was another of the singles that stays in a more mellow zone that one could even argue makes this into a ballad, since it’s a slower track with a more dramatic riff and a strong solo. “Givin’ Up” is a more bouncy track but doesn’t hold as much interest as many of the other tracks, despite its choppy beat and heavy inclusion of strong high vocals, but suffers from a rather dull chorus. “Stuck in a Rut” is a little punchier, feeling like a nice blend of British and American rock due to the intermingling of very British-sounding vocals but the rockin’ classic American style of riffage.
“Friday Night” is, of course, a pretty common trope in music, meaning that this track has a lot of similar songs to be compared to. This one, in particular, has surprisingly hefty high school vibes, particularly unusual since the Hawkins fellows were both nearing their 30s as this album came out. Perhaps they just knew their target audience? “Love on the Rocks with No Ice” has always piqued my interest for its song title, as well as its relentless guitar sound, making it one of the highlight non-singles from the album. “Holding My Own” is absolutely a ballad, which tends to put me off, as it’s mostly just showing off how beautifully J.Hawkins can sing, but it’s not very interesting otherwise and the rest of the album does a perfectly good job of showing him off already. The album then wraps up with “Making Out,” which starts on a very AC/DC-influenced guitar line before a “YOW!” kicks off a rockin’ groove, though again, the lyrics are surprisingly teenager-y. It’s a fairly decent album closer, though I might have chosen to leave things off with a bit of a harder-hitting track to make sure people are craving more at the end.
“Permission to Land” is ultimately an extremely solid debut album, quite depictive of its time, as it was more common for albums to be a little unbalanced still in the 2000s, as streaming services weren’t quite yet a thing. The singles are collectively the best bangers on the release, with a few gems like “Black Shuck” and “Love on the Rocks with No Ice” as solid inclusions that didn’t hit the radio airwaves. The album promises a lot that the band honestly follows up on beautifully with their sophomore effort, but perhaps we’ll have to delve into that in 2025 for its 20-year anniversary as well! Whatever would plague the band’s future was surely a long way off at this point, making this a very fresh release for its time and not nearly as overall silly as its campy vocals and lyrics would suggest. Even better, it’s still a good listen to this day!
Written by Bear Wiseman
Tracklist
- Black Shuck
- Get Your Hands Off My Woman
- Growing on Me
- I Believe in a Thing Called Love
- Love is Only a Feeling
- Givin’ Up
- Stuck in a Rut
- Friday Night
- Love on the Rocks with No Ice
- Holding My Own
Lineup
Justin Hawkins – vocals, guitars, pianos
Dan Hawkins – guitars
Frankie Poullain – bass
Ed Graham – drums
