The Damned

everydayslikesunday

Junior Member
Just fallen in love again with The Damned. I discovered them many, many years ago when they played 'There Ain't No Santa Claus' on the British sitcom(?) The young Ones. At The time I needed a band who sang with anger but clever lyrics backed by fast paced guitar and drums and The damned fitted the bill nicely.

Despite releasing the first official punk single (New Rose), the first official punk album (Damned, Damned, Damned) and the first punk band to tour the US, they have never really been respected as other punk icons, The Sex Pistols, The clash etc.

The first two albums are a bit rough and ready for my ears but by the time 'Machine Gun Etiquette' was released they had honed their song writing skills and followed it up with three also excellent albums (The black Album, Strawberries and Phantasmagoria). By the time 'Anything' was released, I had lost interest in them. But re-visiting those four albums now, I have a new appreciation of the skill they had as song writers.

Captain Sensible is even a passionate vegetarian and occasionally wrote songs about it, such as 'Torture Me'



Have a listen of any of the above mentioned albums, I think you will be pleasantly surprised?
 
Anything has some of their best songs on it (IMHO)
Title track, Gigolo Aunt and the one with a Latin title.

Neat Neat Neat is one of the very best punk tracks.
 
I just discovered them for the first time and listened to nothing else for 2 weeks. Their newest album is very addicting, and they such a range of stuff depending on what mood you're in. Grimly Fiendish was stuck in my head for at least a month.
 
Thanks for the replies, I have been toying with the idea of purchases the Anything album all week and you have given me the shove I needed WhalleyRange. :) I have the vinyl here but have no means of listening to it, however the deluxe 2cd version is labout £8 off Amazon, so I shall buy that.

Personally, I think New Rose is an iconic punk anthem. But what I love the most about The Damned is how their music has included other styles as well as raw punk as the years passed. There can't be many punk bands with the writing talent to come up with songs like Curtain Call or Plan 9, Channel 7?
 
Anything is decent, but a definite quality drop from the previous 4. Avoid Not Of The Earth: its a bunch of shitty demos Dave Vanian sang on as a favor to Rat Scabies, who then put it out as a "real" album.

The 3 albums since Captain came back and they got rid of Rat are all very good, with Grave Disorder being my favorite
 
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