The Damned

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This article is about the music group. For the movie, see The Damned (film).

The Damned are a punk rock group originally from Croydon, England, a suburban town outside London, who were formed in 1976. They are notable for being the first of the British punk bands to release a single, put out an album, and tour the United States.

The Damned have dissolved and reformed many times, with singer Dave Vanian remaining the sole constant. They have incorporated many styles in their music, most notably garage rock, psychedelic music, the British theatrical rock of Screaming Lord Sutch and The Sensational Alex Harvey Band, and New Romantic. The Damned are also generally regarded as one of the founders of gothic rock. In the phase of their career from roughly 1979 to 1984, they were also inspired the young bands who created hardcore punk in the US.

1 Formation
2 Mid-1970s early punk phase
3 Late 1970s
4 1980s Goth phase
5 Recent years
6 Discography
7 Members
- 7.1 Current Members
- 7.2 Other Members or Collaborators
8 External links

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Formation

Original members Dave Vanian (David Lett), Captain Sensible (Raymond Burns), and Rat Scabies (Chris Millar) were all members of the semi-legendary Masters of the Backside which included future Pretenders frontwoman Chrissie Hynde.

Original guitarist Brian James (Brian Robertson) was a member of the early punk band London SS, a unit that never played live, but whose members later found fame in bands including The Clash and Generation X. Rat Scabies was also tried as the group's drummer but was rejected.

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Mid-1970s early punk phase

Image:Damned rosef.jpg 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 on the independent record label Stiff Records.

That single, "New Rose", 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?", originally from The Shangri-Las' 1964 "Leader of the Pack" — was later borrowed by Joe Jackson for the title of arguably his best-known song.

Image:Damned.jpg Their first album, Damned, Damned, Damned featured a stomping cover of The Stooges' "1970", retitled "I Feel Alright". Scabies' powerful, Keith Moon-style drumming is prominent throughout. The Damned were not generally respected at this point, having been accused by punks of being opportunists and poseurs, and by the wider public of being one hit wonders. The album, however, 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.

In March 1977 The Damned toured with Marc Bolan 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 MC5, but also reportedly engineered by Brian James in order to keep Sensible—himself a highly talented guitarist—on bass, where he wouldn't overshadow James.

This expanded version tried to recruit the reclusive Syd Barrett to produce their second album Music For Pleasure, but were unsuccessful. They settled for Barrett's Pink Floyd bandmate, Nick Mason, who they reported was generally disinterested in the task. The album featured an appearance by free jazz sax player Lol Coxhill. Music for Pleasure flopped critically and commercially, drawing the near-universal critique that it sounded just like the first album, only toned-down and without memorable songs. It has gained partisans in retrospect, although for years the band would edit Music For Pleasure from their "official" discography, never playing any of its songs onstage.

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Late 1970s

James, until then the band's main songwriter, quit in 1978 (James would later co-found The Lords of the New Church). The band splintered, dodging derisive barbs from the music press; a complex series of brief side projects and solo recordings appeared and disappeared, making little impact.

The Damned soon tentatively reformed, blaming James for its decline and split, and performing at first 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 recording studio demos on bass, the position was filled by Algy Ward, formerly of the early Australian punk band, The Saints. The weekly music press in London still considered The Damned a spent cartridge. The band recorded more demos, gained a deal with the strictly medium-hip Chiswick Records, and went back to the studio for an album, with the somewhat desperate notion that they had one chance remaining before being flung back into the London service economy (Sensible had cleaned office buildings before "New Rose" hit).

Image:Machine gun etiquette.jpg What appeared was a brace of rapid-fire singles leading to 1979's Machine Gun Etiquette, a radically more diverse and musically polished album than anyone expected, featuring a '60s rock slant (Farfisa organ is in effect in several songs), but with surprisingly strong and flexible songwriting. On the 'heavier' songs, an even more manic, full-tilt delivery is given than on "New Rose". The Damned had often been seen as a novelty act, but Machine Gun Etiquette forced critics and the public to make a reassessment. Sensible, at this point the band's main songwriter, emerged as a notable lead guitarist, easily the equal of many mainstream 'hot guitarists' of the '70s. Scabies had justifiably been called a great drummer since the band's founding, but with the arrival of Ward, a 'real' bass player, the band was now operating with a full, tight rhythm section, remarkable in its speed and power. Likewise, Vanian's vocals had expanded from the high-baritone barks of the early records to a range including a smooth, proto-Gothic croon. The press and the public reacted with astonishment, spinning a not-untrue phoenix narrative around the band. British punk, circa 1979, was evolving into more progressive music (characterized by the Stranglers, Siouxsie & the Banshees, and many burgeoning post-punk styles), and The Damned had suddenly carved out a niche of their own: a dark, melodic style, sometimes very fast (for the time), and often with very loud guitars, but also with an ability to play relaxed, almost atmospheric music with dominant keyboards.

A 12-inch single of "Machine Gun Etiquette" was released later, featuring a version of Jefferson Airplane's "White Rabbit" and a 17-minute song on the B-side, "Curtain Call", with long passages of Prokofiev and Krautrock-influenced ambient sound. The Damned had been recording at Essex Studios at the same time The Clash were there to record London Calling. Joe Strummer and Mick Jones make an uncredited vocal appearance on the title track of The Damned album. The Damned's explicit disavowal of many of punk's "rules" came amidst the band's greatest success to date. Fans were confused.

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1980s Goth phase

Image:Vanianvampire.jpg

From nearly the beginning of The Damned, Vanian had affected a vampire-like appearance onstage, with chalk-white makeup and formal dress. With their next effort, 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 the equally stoner-thuggish Paul Grey, formerly of the UK pre-punk band, Eddie and the Hot Rods. The medium remained (mostly) super-heavy, amphetamine-speed rock, but with increasing use of silence and musical 'space,' more acoustic guitar and keyboards, and a rising, dark New Romantic ambience. The Black Album is often regarded as The Damned's musical peak.

After the subsequent (and more polished) 1982 album Strawberries and a brace of non-LP singles released by the band in absence of a record deal (in 1983–84), Sensible left to pursue a solo career. Keyboardist Roman Jugg took over the guitar slot.

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.

Though their records had sometimes sporadic availability in the U.S., The Damned had a sizable cult following in that country. Beginning with their 1977 US tour, they inspired many later-notable bands in both New York and Los Angeles. The remarkably fast tempos of many of The Damned's harder-edged songs of the period between Machine Gun Etiquette and Strawberries (including "Ignite", "There Ain't No Sanity Clause", and "Therapy") influenced many of the younger US punk bands (circa 1980) who were starting to play what would later be called hardcore. ("Therapy" was essentially a slightly faster rewrite of Machine Gun Etiquette's "Melody Lee".) This influence on hardcore would later be evidenced by The Damned's 2001 album, Grave Disorder, being released in the U.S. by hardcore label Nitro Records.

With Sensible gone, Vanian's Gothic influence took over unimpeded. A contract appeared with MCA, and the successful Phantasmagoria album followed.

The next album was a one-off side project featuring Sensible on guitar, a soundtrack to an imaginary '60s movie called Give Daddy the Knife, Cindy, with the band billed as Naz Nomad and the Nightmares. This album of 1960s cover songs was popular despite limited distribution. Phantasmagoria's official follow-up, 1986's Anything, was another critical and commercial flop which ended the band's record deal and original run.

Image:DamnedYoungOnes01.jpg

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Recent years

James rejoined temporarily for a few live appearances, some of which appear on 1988's Final Damnation.

Sensible rejoined Vanian for 2001's Grave Disorder. The Damned have remained active to the present, usually centered upon Vanian and Sensible. New releases appear every few years, while the band has spent most of the ten years between 1996 and 2005 doing periodic tours. Patricia Morrison, previously of The Bags, The Gun Club, and The Sisters of Mercy, has played bass during this period; she is married to Vanian. They have a daughter, Emily, born February 9, 2004.

Captain Sensible wrote and performed a song called "Brain's Theme" for the movie Skinned Deep in 2004.

As of 2006, The Damned are currently working on their new studio album, have released the new single "Little Miss Disaster", and also the live DVD MGE25 documenting a 2004 Manchester concert celebrating the 25th anniversary of Machine Gun Etiquette.

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