Justin Hawkins of The Darkness talks about Jon's Voice

Justin Hawkins, the lead singer/guitarist of British band The Darkness, has a YouTube Channel called "Justin Hawkins Rides Again" where he makes all sorts of music-related video/podcast/discussion/reaction content. I'm a The Darkness fan and I love Justin for his comedic persona (which has always been sewn into his performing and writing style and if you are as well, you need to check his Channel out.

Anyway, he's recently made a video about the current state of Jon's voice. Now many would argue who is Justin Hawkins to criticise anyone's singing ability (which is fair, especially if you're not a fan), coupled with how much this subject has been covered by many of us here since this version of DC began. He does raise some interesting points and it's interesting to hear other artists comment on how far gone Jon's vocals are now compared to the 80's and 90's. For years I felt like we were the only ones who noticed and there have been countless threads here about the subject, but the fact that it's so bad that it has become that obvious to a wider demographic is just saddening.


Justin, being a Bon Jovi fan himself, does raise some good points, like why haven't any of the band commented on this? Anyway, see what you think.

Ehh what's the band going to say? Go to the press and say "yeah he's hurting up there". Went real well for Alec. It's such a close knit band, the only one without that connection is Shanks, Everett and Phil and all of them want to keep their gig.

Thanks for sharing. I enjoyed his thoughts. He has a unique perspective and handled the topic with respect. I find it interesting that he thinks it is (at least partly do to) a psychological issue.
Jon has been losing his range for decades now. But I have always found it interesting that he lost breathing/timing and pitch after Richie's departure.
The line, "how can I scream, I'm scared to breathe" jumps out at me.

I’ve always said that losing Richie has something to do with it.
It’s like when Richie left Jon just broke.


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I'm pretty sure they all had to sign some kind of NDA about specific details (like JBJ's voice, setlists choices etc).

What I've also been wondering is how Jon still sounded "like himself" and could mostly sing in tune - apart from some of the really high notes - until like late 2014/early 2015, but between mid-15 and early '16 his tone just went totally upside down... first got super thin and then started progressing into this current hoarse huffing and puffing

https://youtu.be/1i3sjxW4IwU (Destination Anywhere from San Diego, October 2014 - sounds "normal" and not like he's struggling too much)

https://youtu.be/1WI0bDki3IQ (same song from Nashville, March 2016 - sounds much thinner, most of the choruses are flat/off key, and even his lower register on the verses is starting to sound damaged)

https://youtu.be/81mTooIi7bM (Joey from the fan club weekend at Bahamas, May 2015 - sounds already a bit thinner than the Destination performance from the previous October, but still "healthy" and in tune)

https://youtu.be/p544IEHv3X0 (same song from the Runaway to Paradise cruise at Bahamas, April 2019 - WTF is all I can say... between 2015-16 and 2019 he seemed to age 20 years at least - visually and vocally -, in addition to the 10-15 years he already aged between 2013 and 2014; even his physical mannerisms started looking awkward)

All this scandal is being visible because that video of Wanted Dead Or Alive in Raileig went viral. In 4 days it reached more than 500 thousand visits, but the user who uploaded the video deleted it.

Sooner or later this was going to happen.


About having some psychological problem, you may be right in part, it's very curious how Richie broke at the same time as Jon. Both of them are stuck with a similar problem. They are unable to go out and give a good performance despite trying. But Jon's vocal problems aren't just psychological.

Of course now they are old, but 8 years ago they were not so old, and the problem was still there.

There was a podcast Phil did where he mentioned there is a song in the current setlist (this was back in 2018ish) he really doesn't like and when pressed he commented that he wants to keep his job. I don't know if there's an NDA or not on it though but you may be right.

If this was all based around Richie leaving, Richie is the one saying it's not forever and he'd like to come back at some point. Jon has commented he'd be hard pressed to let him back in because of how long he was gone.

I cannot see how this is psychological when you're the one shutting the door on a return.

Well, I think it's not mutually exclusive.
Generally speaking: When you get betrayed by a friend it can damage your psyche very bad. Although you wish for the good old times to return you won't open the door for that person again because the damage is too bad.