the damned aritz branton
I aritz branton During the 80's, many groups all around the world used the Sex Pistols and/or the Ramones as their template. If an artist seeks inspiration from only a single source, his or her work ends up being limited and poor. That's why many people think that punk music is simply violent, aggressive and poor. Doing a photocopy of the Sex Pistols isn't enough to be able to make interesting, energetic music: the results will never be as good as the original group's.
Dave Vanian (voice), Captain Sensible (bass ), Rat Scabies (drums ) and Brian James (guitar and songwriting) founded The Damned.
Before the Sex Pistols, before the Clash too, the Damned brought out their first single in 1976, “New Rose”; it was the very first English punk single. Punk's first album, Damned, Damned, Damned, is crammed with high energy songs: provocative, funny, innovative. The group's creativity and freedom of spirit were completely visible right from the start.
The second album wasn't up to much, to a large extent because of Pink Floyd's Nick Mason's production. The group decided to split up. The Damned were forerunners in that too: they were the first major English punk group to split up. They quickly reformed The Damned, but without Brian James. Once more, they were forerunners: the first punk group to reform.
The Captain took charge of the guitars and the keyboards, and the whole group started writing songs. The changes are easy to hear on that year's Machine Gun Etiquette album . Without losing any of their energy, the songs are more varied than on the first album: you can hear pop, psychedelic and gothic influences. “Love Song”, “Can’t be happy today” and “Smash it up” are particularly great songs.
In 1982 the Captain decided to go solo and, at first at least, he sold an awful lot of records. On his records you can hear that he had come from the Damned, but, more than anything else, he made pop music.
Meanwhile, the Damned carried on. They've spent thirty-five years playing concerts all over the world and have brought out ten albums. In 1996 Rat Scabies left the group and the Captain came back.
In many fans' opinion, 2008's "So, who’s paranoid?" is one of the group's best records. As always, as well as the group's energy and sense of humour, you can hear lots of different influences on the album. The last song on the record, “Dark Asteroid”, is a wonderful tribute to Syd Barrett, a really beautiful song.
As we said before, artists who draw their inspiration from a single source end up boring us. The Damned have spent thirty-five years offering their energetic, varied and humorous music to the world. As they drink from many fountains and are excellent song-writer and musicians, it's impossible to get bored with this group.
Punk music was never limited to sounding like you're throwing up, and The Damned are a great example of punk's width. One of punk's most important characteristics was freedom. Using templates restricts our freedom and ends up boring us. It's much more fun enjoying the Damned's freedom of spirit!
Dave Vanian (voice), Captain Sensible (bass ), Rat Scabies (drums ) and Brian James (guitar and songwriting) founded The Damned.
Before the Sex Pistols, before the Clash too, the Damned brought out their first single in 1976, “New Rose”; it was the very first English punk single. Punk's first album, Damned, Damned, Damned, is crammed with high energy songs: provocative, funny, innovative. The group's creativity and freedom of spirit were completely visible right from the start.
The second album wasn't up to much, to a large extent because of Pink Floyd's Nick Mason's production. The group decided to split up. The Damned were forerunners in that too: they were the first major English punk group to split up. They quickly reformed The Damned, but without Brian James. Once more, they were forerunners: the first punk group to reform.
The Captain took charge of the guitars and the keyboards, and the whole group started writing songs. The changes are easy to hear on that year's Machine Gun Etiquette album . Without losing any of their energy, the songs are more varied than on the first album: you can hear pop, psychedelic and gothic influences. “Love Song”, “Can’t be happy today” and “Smash it up” are particularly great songs.
In 1982 the Captain decided to go solo and, at first at least, he sold an awful lot of records. On his records you can hear that he had come from the Damned, but, more than anything else, he made pop music.
Meanwhile, the Damned carried on. They've spent thirty-five years playing concerts all over the world and have brought out ten albums. In 1996 Rat Scabies left the group and the Captain came back.
In many fans' opinion, 2008's "So, who’s paranoid?" is one of the group's best records. As always, as well as the group's energy and sense of humour, you can hear lots of different influences on the album. The last song on the record, “Dark Asteroid”, is a wonderful tribute to Syd Barrett, a really beautiful song.
As we said before, artists who draw their inspiration from a single source end up boring us. The Damned have spent thirty-five years offering their energetic, varied and humorous music to the world. As they drink from many fountains and are excellent song-writer and musicians, it's impossible to get bored with this group.
Punk music was never limited to sounding like you're throwing up, and The Damned are a great example of punk's width. One of punk's most important characteristics was freedom. Using templates restricts our freedom and ends up boring us. It's much more fun enjoying the Damned's freedom of spirit!
