The Darkness: a band Robert Smith called a “rehashed” version of Queen
Despite the dream-like essence of much of his music, The Cure leader Robert Smith can be a prickly character when he wants to be. One of the most outspoken men in rock, in his time in the limelight, Smith has been fearless in providing damning accounts of a menagerie of prominent musicians.
Smith has a tendency to surprise fans with his comments. For instance, he once described Irish rockers Thin Lizzy as “better than drinking”, despite his band emerging from the post-punk era, an age antithetical to the classic rock that Phil Lynott and his group are attached to. “Thin Lizzy, they were fabulous,” The Cure figurehead told Rolling Stone in 2004. “I saw them probably ten times in two years. The actual sound of them live was just so overpowering; it was better than drinking.”
Yet he has been most shocking in his scathing accounts of other artists. One band that he had made no bones about particularly loathing is Queen. Fronted by the colourful Freddie Mercury, the British band have always been a musical embodiment of Marmite, with their operatic and often gaudy work drawing ire from post-punks of Smith’s generation, who preferred a much more restrained and icy approach to their art. Smith unapologetically said he absolutely “hated” Queen and everything they did. “Well, I never liked Queen,” he once revealed, “I can honestly say I hated Queen and everything that they did.”
For many of us looking at their music through the contemporary lens, Smith’s assertions about Queen are relatively agreeable, as the days of spandex and radio ga-ga seem consigned to history. Following this, it also made much sense that he was also damning of a band that emerged as something of a stylistic successor to Freddie Mercury’s group. They are The Darkness, led by the wailing YouTube sensation and guitar whizz Justin Hawkins.
When asked about playing alongside the Lowestoft hard rockers at a festival, Smith likened them to Queen, decrying them as nothing more than a “rehashed” version of the ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ creators. He told Rolling Stone in 2004: “To have that rehashed and reheated for a second time around is pretty weird. So, no, I don’t like the Darkness at all. I think they’re a comedy band.”
I’m not sure if Hawkins is aware of Robert Smith’s comments. Still, when listing his favourite albums for Music Radar in 2015, he expressed respect for goth acts like The Cure and The Cult when analysing cult band Cardiacs’ 1988 debut, A Little Man And A House And The Whole World Window.
Listen to The Darkness below.
