The Damned in general

The Damned's 'first' come back album, 'Machine Gun Ettiquette', is a true classic of the punk genre. After losing their original guitarist Brian James, Captain Sensible takes over at the guitar helm, and along with original members Dave Vanian on vocals, Rat Scabies on drums and new bassist Algy Ward, they released this offering from 1979. If you are new to the Damned just go out and buy this record/cd, you are unlikely to here anything remotely like it again. From the opening 'Ladies and gentlemen, how do', of 'Love Song', the voice of Albert Tatlock by the way, through to the fade out of 'Smash It Up', this ...  Read the complete review

..and my first and all time love is original punk band The Damned! I've been a devotee for about 22 years and have seen them live over 30 times during that long relationship - I never tire of them. Starting back in the heady punk days of 1976 they released the first punk single (no, it wasn't the Sex Pistols!), "New Rose" in late 1976 and it has remained my all-time favourite track for many many years for it's pure burst of in-your-face energy, melody, power and style. The classic Damned line-up of Dave Vanian (vocals), Captain Sensible (guitar), Rat Scabies (drums) and Brian James (bass) has changed many times over their career ...  Read the complete review

Of course I've heard of "The Damned" even though I'm not a punk fan. I enjoy quality music from any genre, don't like to restrict myself as there's plenty of good stuff out there. I review music, computer games and product for Unity skate magazine, and recently they've started flowing me punk albums. I had a few through from The Ataris and "That Damned Punk : Soundtrack" that I enjoyed. But many of these albums I received still seemed to be stuck in the shouting / bloody loud noise style of music -maybe that's what this genre is all about? I don't know enough about punk to really say, but I didn't ...  Read the complete review