THE YEAR IS… 2002!
- Before forming The Darkness, Justin and Dan Hawkins were in a prog-rock band called Empire, with Dan, instead of Justin, on lead vocals. Justin became lead singer after he did Queen’s ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ in a karaoke competition at a millennium eve party. He acted out every line and did lots of star-jumps.
- In October 2006 the band announced their breakup after Justin Hawkins left the band to enter rehab for drug abuse. in 2012, they dropped a comeback album and the original line-up reformed.
- The Darkness were very popular in their native UK in 2003 and 2004, but this is their only song that had much impact in America. Radio stations had a hard time with it because bereft of the visual element, it turned off listeners. But MTV was another matter. The network put the campy video into rotation, making it their most-played video of the first week of February 2004.
- Back in 2003 when this song was released as a single, you never heard a guitar solo on the radio. But this song was designed to have guitar breaks in it. It was built towards the solos as much as the chorus.The band was so unsure and debated about playing the song live. But as soon as they did, people loved it. It’s party music, and it just gets people going, says the band.
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