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Music for Pleasure
I’ve been listening to The Damned a lot recently, so for this week, I wanted to make a list of my favorite songs by them. Much of it will focus on the ‘79-’82 period, as they were at their absolute peak then, but I’ll include a few songs from the BRIAN JAMES and post-CAPTAIN SENSIBLE era as well. Making this list was tough. I could’ve easily included such songs as “Neat Neat Neat,” “I Fall,” “Problem Child,” “I Just Can’t Be Happy Today,” “Wait for the Blackout,” “Generals,” “Nasty” and many others.
“New Rose”
This is pretty much universally considered to be the first UK punk single ever released as well as the sixth release on Stiff. Historical importance aside, this is one of their finest songs, underscored by a wild abandon that underscored much of their first album, Damned Damned Damned. Like most of the rest of that album, it was written by future LORDS OF THE NEW CHURCH member BRIAN JAMES, who left after their second album Music for Pleasure. It’s still a staple in their live sets today. I especially like it for its opening line “is she really going out with him?”, which inspired JOE JACKSON (who was surely listening closely) to title one of his biggest hits after it.
“Plan 9 Channel 7”
Lyrically referencing the ‘50s B-movie Plan 9 from Outer Space and a highlight of their excellent 1979 album Machine Gun Etiquette, this was not only the furthest The Damned had ever strayed from straightforward punk up to that point, it was a sign of things to come from them. Furthermore, it was a precursor to early ‘80s UK post-punk acts like COMSAT ANGELS, early U2, THE SOUND and THE CHAMELEONS. In addition, it’s also a vocal tour-de-force for singer DAVE VANIAN.
“Rabid (Over You)”
A 1980 single that was later re-released on the Imago/Roadrunner reissue of Machine Gun Etiquette in the late ‘80s (an edition which featured liner notes by our own JACK RABID), it was later released on the most recent reissue of The Black Album a few years ago. For many years, I thought that Jack got his name from this song, but in fact this isn’t true.
“Lively Arts”
1980’s The Black Album, from which this song comes, is a treasure trove of riches, so it’s very difficult for me to pick favorites from it. For this occasion, however, I’ll choose this excellent song if not for the wonderful keyboard flourishes emulating the finest orchestral pop of the late ‘60s, then for the immortal line “culture’s such a poor when you’re angry, young and poor.”
“History of the World, Part 1”
Although the band hated it, even saying on the sleeve of The Black Album that this song was “overproduced by HANS ZIMMER,” it’s actually one of their finest achievements. Another keyboard-driven pop song of the highest order, it also has absolutely nothing to do with the 1983 MEL BROOKS spoof (one of my favorite comedies, actually) of the same name.
“Curtain Call”
Speaking of achievements, how odd was it in 1980 for a so-called “punk” band to put a 17-minute track on an entire side of a double album? Yet that’s what The Damned did with this song, an amazing mix of horror/goth imagery, mood music, and driving rock and roll. The BBC version shortens the length to just over 10 minutes and has a great mix, but I think both versions are essential.
“Stranger on the Town”
From 1982’s excellent Strawberries, the swan-song with CAPTAIN SENSIBLE (who wrote or co-wrote most of the band’s best material) before the numerous reunions (including their present incarnation), this has more in common with DEXY’S MIDNIGHT RUNNERS than with anything The Damned had done previously. Complete with a full horn section, this was the closest The Damned ever came to blue-eyed soul, somewhat fitting for a lyric that’s a punk outsider anthem as filtered through SAM COOKE’s “Another Saturday Night.”
“Life Goes On”
If you thought that the riff NIRVANA took for “Come As You Are” first appeared in KILLING JOKE’s “Eighties,” you were wrong. In fact, that very same riff was showcased here a full three years before the release of “Eighties.” This song is also notable for Captain Sensible’s lead vocals, one of only two songs on Strawberries on which he sang lead.
“In Dulce Decorum”
This is the finest track on the otherwise mostly weak Anything (although I’ve always liked the version of LOVE’s “Alone Again Or” on that album as well), which I know is sort of “damning” it with faint praise (sorry for the bad pun). Nevertheless, it’s an enjoyable, moody ballad not a million miles from great, earlier goth experiments like “Twisted Nerve” or “The Dog.”
“There Ain’t No Sanity Clause”
The Damned are often cited not just as a seminal “goth-rock” band, but also as an influence on US hardcore punk. It’s known that THE DICKIES (who veered closer to power-pop played really fast, though let’s not get into semantics) formed after seeing The Damned play in Los Angeles, for instance. More to the point, though, on this Christmas track, I can hear the influence of The Damned on DC hardcore stalwarts DAG NASTY and consequently on later groups like THE OFFSPRING (whose more punk moments sometimes remind me of Dag Nasty), who in recent years signed The Damned to their Nitro label.
