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The Damned (band)

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The Damned are a rock band from the suburbs of London, England, formed in 1976 & are credited with releasing the first single marketed as "Punk".

File:DamnedMEera.jpg

[above] The Damned circa Machine Gun Ettiquite (L-R: Algy Ward, David Vanian, Rat Scabies, Captain Sensible)

The Damned initially came together in the first wave of British punk rock. They have dissolved and reformed many times, often incorporating other elements in their music, most notably garage rock, psychedelic music, the British theatrical horror-rock of Screaming Lord Sutch and the rock-Vaudeville of The Sensational Alex Harvey Band, and New Romantic. They are regarded as one of the founders of gothic rock and modern alternative punk. Fans of the band cite their exhaustive discography of B-Sides and rarities as key to the band's success in music making.

The Damned played their first gig on 6 July, 1976, supporting The Sex Pistols at the 100 Club in London. They were the first of the London punk bands to release a single -- New Rose, on the independent Stiff Records.

Original Lineup File:1line.jpg

  • David Vanian (David Lett) - vocals
  • Brian James (Brian Robertson) - guitar
  • Captain Sensible (Ray Burns) - bass guitar (although for most of his career with The Damned he played guitar-Robert Fripp cited the good captain as one of the best ever-, keyboards and performed occasional lead vocals)
  • Rat Scabies (Chris Millar) - drums

"New Rose," The Damned's first single, remains a classic of early punk rock, described by one critic as "deathless anthem of nuclear-strength romantic angst untroubled by bad vibes." [1] It is a cheaply-recorded, but catchy and well-crafted pop song, 'punk' mostly in its volume and breakneck delivery. Vanian's deadpan intro--"Is she really going out with him?"--was later borrowed by Joe Jackson for the title of arguably his best-known song.

Their first album, Damned Damned Damned was produced by Nick Lowe, and featured a stomping cover of The Stooges' "1970," retitled "I Feel Alright." was opted for though a New York Dolls cover was almost cut. Scabies' powerful, Keith Moon-style drumming is prominent throughout. James wrote much of the material. The Damned were infused witht the original scene of punk which included Buzzcocks, Ramones, Stinky Toys from France, Stranglers, Clash, Gen X, Saints, Adam and the Ants, Siouxie & the Banshees, etc. The album, provided several more minor hits, and a crucial extra dash of credibility: Like the single, it was the first album released by a British punk band. Though in the rush to be the first to release a album, the band signed the first of a long series of record deals which would haunt the band and burry them in the media blitz that blurred history towards Malcolm McLaren's point of view (that he helped "invent" punk). A creditable account of these years of punk being a natural progression of underground music and a philosophical movement is told by John Lydon in his autobiography. Even though many of these bands did not get along well (most of them in their teens at this time) they agree that punk was not one person's idea.

In March 1977 The Damned toured with Marc Bolan (who was a huge fan of The Damned and seen Punk as a movement that influenced the playing on his final album) and T Rex on Bolan's final tour.

The Damned next recruited a second guitarist, Lu Edmunds, a move inspired in part by the ferocious dual-guitar attack of The MC5, but also reportedly engineered by Brian James in order to keep Sensible--himself a talented guitarist--from switching his bass for guitar and competing with James. This expanded version recorded the second album Music For Pleasure, which was produced by Pink Floyd's Nick Mason and featured an appearance by free jazz sax player Lol Coxhill. The album flopped critically and commercially. James, the band's main songwriter, left the group in 1978 (he later cofounded The Lords of the New Church); the band splintered; Scabies attempted suicide; and a complex series of brief side projects and solo recordings appeared and disappeared, making little impact. The band, sans Lu & James whom are not acknowledged as crucial members by followers of the band because their minimal contribution to the group’s legacy overall, would edit Music For Pleasure from their "official" discography and never play anything live from it again; basically pretending it was never made. Blaming Music For Pleasure on James ego and rational for parting with James.

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above: The Damned with Lu Edmunds

The Damned soon tentatively reformed, first performing as "The Dimmed" and "The Doomed" to avoid potential trademark problems. Sensible had switched to guitar and keyboards, and after a brief interlude with Lemmy Kilmister of Hawkwind and Motörhead playing bass, the position was filled by Algy Ward, formerly of the Australian punk band The Saints.

This lineup recorded 1979's Machine Gun Ettiquite, a radically more diverse and musically polished album, with a influence from mid 1960's rock, and at times an even more manic, heavy delivery than before. The Damned were sometimes seen as a novelty act, but Machine Gun Etiquette forced critics and the public to make a reassessment. A 12-inch single was released, with a version of Jefferson Airplane's White Rabbit, and a 17-minute, classically-influenced song, Curtain Call, on the B-side. It was an explicit disavowal of many of punk's "rules", and came admidst the band's greatest success to date. This single was released after the release of their next record - just one of the many record label fights with the band due to the band always signing bad deals. The single confused fans & further complicated their publicity for charting.

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[above] Damned circa Black Album

From the beginning of The Damned, Vanian had affected a vampire-like appearance onstage, complete with chalk-white makeup and cape. With the next album, The Black Album, the band turned into a proto-Goth ensemble, emphasizing Vanian's role over Sensible's clownish persona, with the rhythm section somewhat modifying their characteristic stoner-thug appearance (Ward had left at this point, to be replaced by Paul Grey (previously with seminal UK pup rockers Eddie and the Hotrods)). The medium remained (mostly) heavy rock, but with increasing use of keyboards and a new-romantic ambiance. This album was/is much copied by American punk bands, to the point of Government Issue singer outright stating their, as well as much of the so-called OC punk scene literally copied the songs, sound and structure. This can be heard in the sound of Social Distortion from the early 80s era through the late 90s in the band The Offspring. The Offspring's record label "Nitro" signed the Damned for their Grave Disorder album as a "pay back" & openly state their love & "influence" of the Damned.

After the subsequent album, Strawberries, and a brace of non-LP singles released by the band in absence of a record deal, Sensible left to pursue a successful solo career. (Whereas with Spinal Tap, it was drummers that exploded, with The Damned, what exploded was record contracts. After the initial stint with Stiff, deals followed and collapsed with labels such as Chiswick, Bronze, and Big Beat with striking regularity).

After Sensible's departure, the Gothic influence took over unimpeded. A contract appeared with Geffen, and the successful Phantasmagoria album followed.

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[above] The Damned circa 1985

A one-off side project, Naz Nomad and the Nightmares, reunited Sensible with the band for an album of '60s covers, and another critical and commercial flop, 1986's Anything, ended the band's record deal and original run.

James rejoined temporarily for a few live appearances, some of which appear on 1989's Final Damnation.

The early 90s demonstrated a lot of giging & line-up confusion culminating in 1996 The Damned released I’m Alright, Jack & the Beanstalk also known as Not Of This Earth under a storm of a lawsuit. Tracks were written mainly by Allan Lee Shaw (from Patricia Morrison’s band) & the album was not intended for release in this form. Rat Scabies had gathered Dave Vanian, Moose (bass from New Model Army), & guitar players Kris Dollimore (The Godfathers), Allan Lee Shaw, Brian James & Glen Matlock (of the Sex Pistols). Rat made off with the master tapes of the recording that the other members thought to be unfinished & shopped them to various labels for release, at Rat's profit. This outraged the rest of this "line-up" of the Damned (which was never official) enough to gather Captain Sensible & David Vanian back together to sue Rat & subsequently play under the name the "Ex Members of the Damned", just like when the 1979 line up played under a hidden name. This was done through the late 90s until the name the Damned could be copyrighted to Vanian and Sensible.


The Damned have remained active to the present, usually centered aroud Vanian and Sensible. With only sporadic releases, the band spent most of the 10 years between 1996 and 2005 touring furiously. Patricia Morrison, previously of The Bags, The Gun Club and The Sisters of Mercy joined, and is married to Vanian.

File:2001.jpg


[above] Grave Disorder line-up

Partial discography

ALBUM DATE RELEASED REACHED NO. Damned Damned Damned February 1977 36 Machine Gun Etiquette November 1979 31 The Black Album October 1980 29 The Best Of The Damned November 1981 43 Strawberries October 1982 15 Phantasmagoria July 1985 11 Damned But Not Forgotten January 1986 42 Anything December 1986 40 SINGLE Love Song / Noise Noise Noise / Suicide April 1979 20 Smash It Up / Burglar October 1979 35 I Just Can't Be Happy Today / Ballroom Blitz / The Turkey Song November 1979 46 History of the World Part 1 / I Believe The Impossible / Sugar And Spite September 1980 51 Lovely Money / Lovely Money (Disco Mix) / I Think I'm Wonderful June 1982 42 Thanks For The Night / Nasty May 1984 42 Grimly Fiendish / Edward The Bear March 1985 21 The Shadow Of Love / Nightshift June 1985 25 Is It A Dream (Wild West End Mix) / Street of Dreams September 1985 34 Eloise / Temptation January 1986 2 Anything / Year Of the Jackal November 1986 32 Gigolo / The Portrait January 1987 29 Alone Again Or / In Dulce Decorum April 1987 28



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