The Darkness — “I Believe in a Thing Called Love”

The Darkness — “I Believe in a Thing Called Love”

From 60 Songs That Explain the '90s by The Ringer

March 4, 2026 · 1h 44m

About this episode

Rob Harvilla discusses The Darkness's song 'I Believe in a Thing Called Love' and its cultural impact, featuring guest Jill Hopkins.

There is a select handful of people who were never meant to step foot into an office due to their proclivity to screw around. Just like we sent Rob packing to Ohio to bother no one but himself, Lowestoft, England shipped us The Darkness. During the post-grunge era when rock was murkily defined, we were gifted front man and lead singer Justin Hawkins on a silver platter (his manager’s shoulders) to give us crude operatic hair metal ballads. This week, Rob discusses, “I Believe in a Thing Called Love,” a song that proves if you dive head first into cheesiness, it becomes ironic and cool. Later, he is joined by Jill Hopkins who talks about the experience of watching The Darkness live and then comparing that to the people who feel confident enough to sing The Darkness at karaoke. Host: Rob Harvilla Producers: Justin Sayles and Olivia Crerie Additional Video Editing: Kevin Pooler Guest: Jill Hopkins Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

People in this episode

Host: Rob Harvilla

Guest: Jill Hopkins

Topics covered

  • rock music
  • 2000s music
  • live performances
  • karaoke
  • cheesiness in music

Keywords

  • The Darkness
  • I Believe in a Thing Called Love
  • Justin Hawkins
  • karaoke
  • rock music
  • live performance
  • cheesiness

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: The Darkness

Books & works: I Believe in a Thing Called Love

Places: Lowestoft, England

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