Haven't heard the winner's stuff - or anyone else's, for that matter, bar the Darkness. As for them, well - I personally am a huge fan of their music, because it goes against the whole grunge thingy of the 1990s. I can't stand bands like Nirvana or the Nine Inch Nails, purely because it's dreary, depressing, and simply boring to listen to. I can't stand songs that are nothing more than a miserable-sounding singer whining away over some dull chord progression. I much prefer 70s (Zep, Sabbath, Queen, Thin Lizzy, T-Rex, Kiss, Hawkwind, etc) and 80s rock/metal (Maiden, 'tallica, Motley Crue, Judas Priest, Diamondhead, Motorhead) to anything produced in the 90s.
As for seriousness, I think they do take themselves very seriously as a band, but I think they're finding the hype around them very funny indeed, and taking the piss on-camera as a result. Musically, they're very talented (the Hawkins brothers are both very competent guitarists), they write good songs, and they've got some great riffs.
The problem is that within a year, there's gonna be a big backlash against them in the popular press, because they won't be "cool" anymore. Then we'll find out who their real fans are, and who was just along for the ride. The same thing happened to the Datsuns (remember them? didn't think so...) - last year, they were the darlings of the NME ( yuck
), but now nobody cares. Their album is very good, by the way - I'd recommend it.
