Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	79/100
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
Blender
Entertainment Weekly	D
The Guardian
Mojo
NME	7/10
Pitchfork Media	8.4/10
Q
Rolling Stone
Uncut

Permission to Land is the debut studio album released by British hard rock band The Darkness. The album was released in the United Kingdom on 7 July 2003 and in the United States on 5 August 2003. The album topped the UK Albums Chart and reached number thirty-six on the American Billboard 200 chart. Five singles were released from Permission to Land: "Get Your Hands off My Woman", "Growing on Me", "I Believe in a Thing Called Love", "Christmas Time (Don't Let the Bells End)" (which only appears on the German Christmas edition), and "Love Is Only a Feeling". "I Believe in a Thing Called Love" was the most successful, reaching number two on the UK Singles Chart.

The band were directed by manager Sue Whitehouse, who had managed them since Justin Hawkins' time as a creator of music jingles and their original band days as Empire. The band were renowned for their live shows from very early on, and such was the popularity of the band, they had a Carling Homecoming gig booked for the London Astoria before they had even signed a record deal. The band already had music industry interest from their days as Empire through connections with Sue Whitehouse, who was based at Savage & Best in Camden. Joe Taylor, Aled Jones and Paul Scaife at The Tip Sheet first heard about the band through a post on The Tip Sheet message board, and featured Love is Only a Feeling in January 2002. They started Record of the Day, and featured the song again around the time of SXSW in March 2003. They wanted to feature Friday Night, but they were told the band was saving it for an album.

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