Personnel:
Lu Edmonds: guitar
Brian James: guitar
Captain Sensible: bass Guitar and vocals
Rat Scabies: drums
Dave Vanian: vocals
Additional Personnel:
Lol Coxhill: saxophone on ‘You Know’
Recorded at Britannia Row Studios, London
Record label: Stiff Records
Released: 18 November 1977 Producer: Nick Mason
Highest UK chart position: did not chart
Length: 33:50
Current edition: 2015 Sanctuary Records reissue
Following the debut album’s release, the first half of 1977 was quite a whirlwind for the band. First, they toured the UK supporting T. Rex – Marc Bolan being a rare member of pop’s older guard who was excited and energised, rather than horrified, by punk – and converted a fair few surprisingly receptive glam fans along the way. They followed this by beating their UK punk scene peers to the punch once again, becoming the first British punk band to tour the US. Punk was born in the States, with New York’s CBGB club as ground zero, and small regional scenes had tentatively begun to germinate in other areas. The Dead Boys had recently risen from the ashes of Cleveland proto-punk mavericks, Rocket From The Tombs. While on the west coast, The Germs were taking the first faltering steps of a brief, spectacularly self-destructive run, which would lay the groundwork for the L.A. hardcore scene. However, beyond these small scenes – and the writings of a few niche critics – the genre was largely unknown and had certainly made no noticeable impact on a mainstream very much in the twin thrall of disco and the radio- friendly ‘adult-oriented rock’ being churned out by a generation of ex-hippies who had traded 1960s radicalism for cynical commercialism. Against this backdrop, The Damned cut a bold, pioneering path across America, meeting with open hostility in some areas but undoubtedly inspiring a lot of the disaffected young people who came to see them.
Certainly, many of the punk acts who emerged throughout the US in 1977 and 1978 – The Misfits from New Jersey, TSOL from Long Beach and The Avengers from San Francisco etc. – betrayed the clear influence of The Damned’s aggressive, high-energy style. The Misfits in particular – who would go on to be hugely influential on the 1980s hardcore and heavy metal scenes – took The Damned’s musical template and Dave Vanian’s ghoulish image as their own, exaggerating them to cartoonish effect.
Returning from the States, The Damned embarked on another lengthy UK jaunt, this time headlining, with fellow London scenesters, The Adverts, in tow. The Damned had taken their music to the masses, succeeding in expanding their audience considerably. However, by this stage, they were no longer the only British punk band with an LP – The Clash, The Stranglers, The Jam and The Vibrators all released their debut long-players by June 1977 – and the pressure was on to come up with something new. As principal songwriter, Brian James especially felt this pressure; the songs onDamned Damned Damned had come together over a number of years, with several havi
