Justin Dances the Carlton

I don't know about you, but I can't get enough of The Darkness lately. You'd think after posting 5 videos from them the other day I'd be satiated but no. I kept searching to see what other gems I had missed and came across this wonder. It is a video from their first album that apparently wasn't even released in the UK. Instead it was sent out to other European nations who know a good club banger when they hear one. If this was the 70s, this would have been a smash for ABBA. Even if you hated the other videos or didn't watch them at all, as I suspect you may have, I beseech you to check out these 2. They are so bizarre and wonderful and completely unlike the other 5. Trust me - they have the Gamera seal of approval.

Friday Night


Drug use can alternately help or hurt musicians. With The Darkness it seems mostly to have hurt them. First off, they lost their Village People like bassist and his glorious moustache due to internal strife most likely brought on by drug problems. Secondly, Justin Hawkins, not a handsome man to begin with, lost some of his charisma and gained a bit of a paunch. He also looks odd in this video but I can't put my finger on exactly what it is. He looks pale and unhealthy but then again he's British.

It saddens me that Justin's substance abuse led to the dissolution of the band because no other musician has a falsetto like his and no other group made videos like this. From their second album, One Way Ticket to Hell...and Back!, this is the surprisingly disco-influenced "Girlfriend" with the equally shocking Flash Dance-inspired video featuring the greatest keytar solo I've ever seen. Laugh it up.

Girlfriend