For the first time in about four years, I bought a music CD. For a long time, I've been content to not seek out music and it hasn't been a particularly large part of my life. Then I met Amber. My beautiful girlfriend is borderline obsessed with music and after forcing me to listen to many of her CDs, she has turned me around. I thought that I just didn't like music as much as everybody else. It turns out that I just didn't like CRAPPY music. Ah-hah! However, as my thirst for good tunes grew, she was always there. She always got the CD before I did, negating my need to buy one myself. Until... THE DARKNESS !!!!! Combining everything that was right about glam rock and Queen with the fact that they are about 20 years late to the dance, The Darkness are unapologetically rockin'. If you turn on MTV, they're one of the buzzworthy videos right now. Try to catch it, as it is a wonderful return to the beginning of music videos, filled with awful special effects and some barely coherent storyline where the band fights off aliens with beams that fire out of -- OH YES! -- THEIR GUITARS!! The music literally saves the day. Clearly, the pre-production meetings for this video (and the band in much the same way) were filled with one repeated suggestion: make that bigger and more over-the-top! Hopefully, you've begun to hear "I Believe in a Thing Called Love" before, but if you haven't, visit their site for the video and song. It is Queen times two - if that's possible. I'm going to be seeing them when they come to St. Andrews Hall in a few weeks, rockin' it hard. I'd have to say the most interesting aspect of the band that I hope to investigate deeper at the concert is - I'm not particulary sure if they are approaching this with the same grasp of irony that I am. Nevertheless, the music is good and I own the CD. And Amber hates it. The Darkness - "Permission to Land"