The Darkness, with their skin-tight catsuits and love of Eighties hair rock, certainly stood out – a flock of peacocks among the grey pigeons of Noughties soft-rock. Some feathers were ruffled by the band’s endless parodying and supposed lack of sophistication; nuance was not exactly part of frontman Justin Hawkins’s vocabulary. But within months of signing a record deal they were everywhere – the charts, festivals, a No 1 debut album. They even did a Christmas song...
One of the most enduring Yuletide bops of the past 20 years, “Christmas Time (Don’t Let the Bells End)” was released in 2003. It charted at No 2, beaten only by Gary Jules and Michael Andrews’ dolorous cover of “Mad World”. While it’s got everything you could want in a Christmas song – sleigh bells, Santa, Christmas trees – it’s also a full-throttle, spandex-clad rock song that puts Hawkins’ bauble-shattering falsetto to excellent use. Double entendres abound: “bells end” and “ring in peace”? Definitely no coincidence.
