Same with “Growing on Me”, that was the first song I heard and video that I saw. I remember seeing a brief mention of them on CD:UK where Cat Deeley introduced them as a band that are going to bring stadium rock back to the mainstream (or something to that effect) whilst playing a clip of that music video.

“Growing on Me” was released around the same time as the album but of course the following single “I Believe in a Thing Called Love” was was did it for them.

The 2nd album had some good songs on there but lacked the consistency of the debut for me, and I found the album overall to be rather bloated-sounding and a little over the top (even if that was the point). Plus as I said previously, the band were a mess at that point. Justin had problems with booze and coke and the intensity from the press certainly effected the band as a whole. Frankie, the original bass player, had left by that point and Justin himself left the band within a year of the 2nd albums release so things ended up pretty stagnant sadly.

It’s unfortunate because at the time it all seemed like a zeitgeist-like fad by that point as it seemed like people were fed up with them by that point as well. Both Justin and the remaining The Darkness members later on formed new bands (Hot Leg and Stone Gods) of which neither took off.

Thankfully the original lineup reformed in 2011 and although original drummer Ed left after Hot Cakes, the band have been doing really well since and are probably the band they always wanted to be at this point. They’ve not lost their charm/personality either which is something that always drew me to them.