The Darkness’s Dan Hawkins on the Lifelong Pull of Queen’s *A Night At The Opera*

Dan Hawkins’s relationship with Queen’s *A Night At The Opera* didn’t start with “Bohemian Rhapsody” — it started in a broken-down MG sports car. The Darkness guitarist was seven years old when his father picked up the car and a cassette of the album soon after. “The car was a wreck but it had this amazing top-of-the-range Blaupunkt stereo,” Hawkins told MusicRadar. “On the journey back home, my dad played *A Night At The Opera* and it blew my mind. At that point, even at that early age, I decided pursue a career and a life rocking.”

The connection has only thickened since. Since 2015, Hawkins has shared a rhythm section with Rufus Tiger Taylor — the son of Queen’s Roger Taylor — as The Darkness’s drummer. The band’s second album, *One Way Ticket To Hell… And Back*, was produced by Roy Thomas Baker, the studio architect behind *A Night At The Opera* and four other Queen records.

Hawkins doesn’t treat the album as a vehicle for its most famous song. “I don’t think of *A Night At The Opera* as the album with ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ on it,” he said. “I think of it as the album with ‘39’ on it, which is my favourite Queen song.” He describes Brian May’s folky science-fiction ballad — a story of deep-space time travel — as one that “grabs me emotionally.” The album’s sharp turns still hold his attention: “From ‘Death On Two Legs,’ an awesome rocking romp, to ‘Lazing On A Sunday Afternoon,’ which is like a 1930s ode to boating! You’re thrown straight into the unknown.”

That immersion had a near-perfect live echo. Hawkins was set to perform “39” with Brian May at a Hyde Park show in 2005 before the London bombings canceled the event. Years later, in 2011, May did join The Darkness on stage at Hammersmith Apollo for a three-song encore that included Queen’s “Tie Your Mother Down.” For Hawkins, the thread from a cassette in a faulty car to that moment is clear enough.