342 Hello The Damned - Love Song

Chart  entered : 5  May  1979

Chart  peak : 20

Number  of  hits : 15

It's  rather  ironic  that  the  first  punk  band  out  of  the  traps  as  far  as  making  a  record  was  concerned  only  started  having  hits  when  the  movement  was  all  but  over.

The  band's  origins  are  a  bit  murky. Three  of  their  original  members  Rat  Scabies ( aka  Chris  Millar ) , Captain  Sensible ( aka  Ray  Burns )  and  Dave  Vanian  ( aka  David  Letts )  are  said  to  have  been  in    a  rehearsal   band  called  Masters  of   the  Backside  with  Chrissie  Hynde   sometime  in  1976. However  Rat  started  the  band  with  Brian  James  who  had  been  a  guitarist  in  London  SS. They  were  torn  between  Dave  and  Sid  Vicious  for  singer  but  only  the  former  turned  up  for  the  audition. Rat  persuaded  Captain  to  fill  out  the  line  up  on  bass  while  he  played  drums. Brian  was  the  oldest  at  26, Dave  the  youngest  at  20. The  latter  had  been  a  gravedigger  and  was  a  Goth  before  the  term  had  been  invented. Rat  and  the  Captain  were  work  colleagues.

The  Damned  got  their  first  gigs  supporting  the  Pistols  in  July  1976  and  played  the  100  Club Festival  in  September. While  the  Pistols  negotiated  with  EMI  The  Damned  signed  for  Stiff . On  22  October  1976  they  released  "New  Rose"  written  by  Brian   universally  recognised  as  the  first  UK  punk  single . Produced  by  Nick  Lowe  it's  certainly  rough  around  the  edges  with  Dave's  untrained  bellow  about  his  new  girl,  Rat's  tubthumping   and  what  sounds  like  the  Something  Else  riff   speeded  up . Dave's  deadpan  introduction  "Is  she  really  going  out  with  him ?"   harks  back  to  The  Shangri-las  whose  penchant  for  melodrama  clearly  appealed  to  him. With  no  melody  whatsoever  it  wasn't  likely  to  make  the  charts  but  their  place  in  history  was  assured.

Their  debut  album  "Damned  Damned  Damned"  with  Lowe  quickly  followed  in  Februrary  1977.  With  12  tracks  clocking  in  at  just  over  thirty  one  and  a  half  minutes   it's  a  bracing  , ramshackle  rock  and  roll  record  without  much  subtlety  and  nothing  in  the  way  of  a  tune. Follow  up  single  "Neat  Neat  Neat"  is  entirely  typical. Brian  wrote  10  of  the  tracks  ( Rat's  "Stab  Your  Back"  is  laughable )  including  the  ugly  "So  Messed  Up".   It  made  number  36  in  the  charts. In  July  they  released  a  limited  edition  single  of  a  new  song  "Stretcher  Case  Baby"  recorded  with  Shel  Talmy . Most  of  the  5,000  copies  were  given  away  at  concerts  or  as  crossword  prizes  in  the  N.M.E.  Written  by  Brian  and  Rat  it's  no  move  forward  from  its  predecessors.

In  the  summer  of  1977  Dave  got  married  and  The  Damned  acquired  an  extra  guitarist  in  20  year  old  Robert  Lu  Edmonds. The  band  were  chasing  Pink  Floyd's  missing  in  action   Syd  Barrett  to  produce  their  next  album  but  reluctantly  settled  for  current  Floyd  drummer  Nick  Mason  instead. The  trailer  single  "Problem  Child " didn't  augur  well  for  the  album, two  minutes  of  bawling  yob-rock  with  a  denser  sound  than  before.  "Music  For  Pleasure"  came  out  in  December  1977  and  while  Edmonds  and  Mason  broadened  their  sound  somewhat  the  songs  were  no  better  than  before.  It   just  wasn't  good  enough  and  didn't  chart  and  the  teen  rebellion  anthem  "Don't  Cry  Wolf"  , probably  the  best  track  ,  couldn't  rescue  it  as  a  follow up  single.

Stiff  promptly  dropped  them  and  Rat  quit. He  was  briefly  replaced  by  Jon  Moss  then  the  band  split  in  February  1978. Towards  the  end  of  that  year  they  tentatively  reconvened  without  Edmonds  or  James   as  The  Doomed,  helped  out  by  Motorhead's  Lemmy  playing  bass  which  allowed  Captain  to  switch  to  guitar. A  more  permanent  bassist  was  found   in  young  Algy  Ward   who  had  been  playing  with  Aussie  punk  band  The  Saints  though  he  was  from  Croydon.

Advised  that  Brian  had  no  dibs  on  the  name  they  started  calling  themselves  The  Damned  again  in  April  1979  and  signed  for  Chiswick. "Love  Song"  was  their  first  single  for  the  label  who  really  pushed  the  boat  out  on  the   promotion. The  first  20,000  copies  were  on  red  vinyl  and  there  were  four  different  sleeves  each  featuring  an  individual   member  of  the  band. Credited  to  all  four  of  them   and  produced  by  Ed  "Brother  of  Mark"  Hollis   it's  still  something  of  a  thrash  with  the  Captain's  brief  solo  betraying  their  association  with  Motorhead  but  someone  now  understood  the  need  for  a  catchy  chorus  to  make  an  impact  and  this  just  about  delivers. It's  a  throwaway  song  with  a  deliberately  daft  lyric - "I'll  be  the  rubbish  if  you'll  be  the  bin"  - and  wouldn't  make  my  20  punk  classics  compilation  but  it's  OK.  It  turned  out  to  be  the  band's  biggest  self-written  hit.