"I Believe in a Thing Called Love"

The Darkness - I Believe in a Thing Called Love (2002)

Happy Valentine's Day.



A throwback song, to the days of Kiss, Def Leppard, and Poison; by way of Freddie Mercury. Lyrically the song could not be any simpler. The "verse" as it were is two lines long and there is only two of them. The pre-chorus is also only two lines long but we hear it three times. The chorus is five lines if you count the oooh. They reference cars and rocking until the sun goes down, again firmly referencing 80s hair metal. It can be hard to understand him, that's a lot of falsetto going on, and up at the very top of the chorus he's harmonizing with himself. The other three band members do sing back up, but lead singer Justin Hawkins is one of few people who could sing that high. I think he and Mika could shatter world records in shattering glass together.

The throwback actually starts with the guitar intro. The sound of the whole track is compressed for the first few seconds, giving it an "old" sound. It's an angry effects laden sound that really sounds like it could be from any of the "hair metal" bands of the past. The guitar is actually a huge part of this song. There are three separate guitar solos on this track, one after each chorus. The first is a fairly short and clean sounding solo, with a little multi-tracking at the end so that the guitar is playing harmony with itself. The second solo is actually introduced by Hawkins screaming "guitar". It's a much longer solo, without as much speed as the first and ultimately the most forgettable. The third solo is like a longer version of the first, with harmonizing and faster fretwork.