Titus writes:
When Lex told me that he was going to play some punk on 15 March, I had only one band in mind for my blog – The Damned.
The
band is still going strong today and was set up in London in 1976, by
Dave Vanian (vocals), Brian James (guitar), Raymond Burns a.k.a.
Captain Sensible (bass, guitars, vocals), and Chris Millar a.k.a. Rat
Scabies (drums). They are unique in that they were the first punk band
from the United Kingdom to release a single - ‘New Rose’ - 5 weeks
ahead of the Sex Pistols’ ‘Anarchy in the UK’. Incredibly, nine of the
band’s singles made the Top 40. They released a studio album called
‘Damned Damned Damned’ in 1977 and also toured the United States of
America.
They
made a follow up album in 1977 called ‘Music for Pleasure’, produced by
Pink Floyd’s Nick Mason, but the music press didn’t take to it, and
the band then called a halt to their short career. However, they got
together again pretty quickly and released ‘Machine Gun Etiquette’ in
1979, followed in the Eighties by ‘The Black Album’ (1980),
‘Strawberries’ (1982), ‘Phantasmagoria’ (1985), plus ‘Anything’ (1986).
The band by this time were moving away gradually from pure punk into a
gothic rock style. They have often been hailed as the major influence
shaping British and American hardcore punk. Some of the more
commercial stuff that they produced in the nineties and after didn’t
really appeal to me as much as the raw 1970’s offerings, but hey, each
person to their own!
Not
a lot of people know that prior to 1976, three members of The Damned
plus Chrissie Hynde had been playing in a group called Masters of the
Backside. I’m not saying “You heard it first here”, merely that not a
lotta people know that! Similarly, there was a music critic called Ned
Raggett who commented on the ‘B’ side of ‘New Rose’ – a fast version of
a well known Beatles’ tune called ‘Help’ - saying “This is a deathless
anthem of nuclear strength romantic angst”. Many people know of
course, that The Damned also made their television debut in 1984 in
‘The Young Ones’, performing ‘Nasty’.
All
in all The Damned have released 12 albums between 1977 and 2023, and
have had quite a few changes in their line up, with various members
leaving, and then re-joining, such as Sensible and Scabies. In January
this year, they announced that for the first time in over three decades,
they would be doing a North American tour with the 1980’s line up of
Dave Vanian, Captain Sensible, Rat Scabies and Paul Gray. The tour will
comprise ten shows and is due to happen in May & June 2024.
It
will come as no surprise to you that I have requested Lex to play that
amazing first single ‘New Rose’. Enjoy, it’s a truly great record IMO.