“It was probably the first time I’d ever sort of listened to one and gone, ‘What is that? I want to learn how to do that!’”: How a soul and reggae legend introduced the Darkness' Justin Hawkins to diminished chords

Justin Hawkins [left] of the Darkness plays an open G on his offset electric and closes his eyes as he performs onstage; soul-reggae icon Johnny Nash [right] frets a chord on his acoustic and wears a patched denim jacket.

The Darkness have never made any secret of their influences and often wear them on their sleeves. There’s the box-office theatricality of Queen, the ribald overdrive of AC/DC, the grandeur and alpha riffs of Led Zeppelin and the precision-engineered pop melodies of Abba.

On occasion, they have even shared these influences with MusicRadar, as drummer Rufus Taylor did in 2023 – “the Lemon Song blew my mind” – and frontman/guitarist Justin Hawkins did when he shared 10 albums that changed his life in 2015.