A New Music Documentary Says You Don’t Know The Damned

 

DamnedDoc-622x559This is a pure music post, my apologies. I don’t know what to think of what’s happening at the debate on Thursday. I was just informed that Kinky Friedman didn’t make the cut.

I went to see a documentary on one of my favorite bands, The Damned, this week. It’s called “The Damned: Don’t You Wish We Were Dead.” They were 1977 birth-of-punk U.K. contemporaries of the Sex Pistols and the Clash. The point of the doc was that most people know the Sex Pistols and the Clash, but your average music fan has just never heard of the Damned, and they suffered from that fact. It explained a lot of their woes.

The Damned are much cooler than those other two bands for aficionados, but for the casual observer of punk rock, I was wondering if the director’s premise was true. I’d say there is no better place on earth to test his theory than right here on Ricochet, so here goes: How many people out there who are familiar with the Sex Pistols and the Clash, are completely unfamiliar with The Damned?

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  1. danys Thatcher
    danys
    @danys

    Never heard of them & didn’t realize that the Clash are punk.

    • #1
  2. The King Prawn Inactive
    The King Prawn
    @TheKingPrawn

    Count me among the uniformed. Have to hit some youtube and find out what I missed.

    • #2
  3. Percival Thatcher
    Percival
    @Percival

    Punk started up just as I was hitting high school. I didn’t feel comfortable with the genre, being a musician and all.

    (A friend of mine at the time: “‘Punk’ is shorthand for ‘you really don’t know how to play that thing, do ya Sparky?'”)

    At least it wasn’t disco.

    • #3
  4. Quinn the Eskimo Member
    Quinn the Eskimo
    @

    I know the name.  Bob Marley name checks them in “Punky Reggae Party” on the CD version of “Legend.”  No familiarity with their music.

    • #4
  5. Whiskey Sam Inactive
    Whiskey Sam
    @WhiskeySam

    Heard of them, not sure I’ve ever heard them.

    • #5
  6. Percival Thatcher
    Percival
    @Percival

    I was snobbier about music then. Yes, Gentle Giant, Genesis, Return to Forever, Romantic Warrior…

    • #6
  7. Joseph Stanko Coolidge
    Joseph Stanko
    @JosephStanko

    His premise is spot on for me:

    1. I enjoy the Clash, though frankly I prefer Big Audio Dynamite.
    2. I can’t stand the Sex Pistols — vastly overrated no-talent band.
    3. I’ve never heard of the Damned.
    • #7
  8. RightTurn Inactive
    RightTurn
    @user_503489

    I’d like to see that. I know The Damned from the Phantasmagoria era when they were played constantly at New Wave and Goth clubs, but I haven’t heard much from earlier on. I saw the Clash open for the Who on their “farewell” tour in 1982. I know the Sex Pistols, but liked Johnny Rotten’s later band PiL a lot more.

    • #8
  9. Stonewall Inactive
    Stonewall
    @Stonewall

    Love the Clash, know the Sex Pistols but never heard of The Damned.  Oh, funniest line I heard about Punk: “at least it beats Disco.  Then it takes Disco into the alley and beats it some more.”

    • #9
  10. Umbra Fractus Inactive
    Umbra Fractus
    @UmbraFractus

    Percival: (A friend of mine at the time: “‘Punk’ is shorthand for ‘you really don’t know how to play that thing, do ya Sparky?’”)

    At the time? I still think that’s true. Punk was based on the idea that attitude was an acceptable substitute for talent, and the only punk bands who were worth anything (The Clash, The Offspring, Siouxie and the Banshees, The Cure, and a handful of others) were the ones who were able to break out of that mindset.

    And to answer the original question: I know of The Damned mainly because The Offspring covered “Smash It Up” on a soundtrack

    • #10
  11. Percival Thatcher
    Percival
    @Percival

    I didn’t hate punk. I just was somewhere else.

    • #11
  12. skipsul Inactive
    skipsul
    @skipsul

    danys:Never heard of them & didn’t realize that the Clash are punk.

    They started out that way, though they went more reggae and pop as time went on.  Rock the Casbah is definitely high on the corny factor, though the video is endearingly awful:

    • #12
  13. Joseph Stanko Coolidge
    Joseph Stanko
    @JosephStanko

    Percival: At least it wasn’t disco.

    Why’s everyone always gotta’ bash disco?  Barry Gibb has more talent in his pinky than all the Sex Pistols put together.

    • #13
  14. N.M. Wiedemer Inactive
    N.M. Wiedemer
    @NMWiedemer

    The Damned is a band who I dig when I hear them, but never got around to actually picking up their albums. As strange as it sounds, I think the main reason I never got more into them was their name. Not as viscerally graphic as say, The Sex Pistols, or The Stranglers,  but so dismal, final, and rather humorless. I could never become fully enthusiastic about getting into them. Which is a shame because many of their songs are actually pretty funny.

    I have to say though, from my novice perspective, as fun and adrenalin inducing as their early stuff is, I do gravitate to their 80’s work a bit more. A bit too much polish at times, but like The Clash or The Jam, it’s fun to hear them grow and change.

    This is one of my favorite periods of music. The cross section of late 70’s punk, glam, rock, goth and new wave create a fascinating collage of the times and makes for a hell of playlist.

    There are few other good documentaries about the same period too.

    Check out The Filth And The Fury- A great picture of the late 70’s London via The Sex Pistols. It really solidified my fondness for Johnny Rotten and shows how necessary the later Thatcher government was.)

    A Band Called Death- a smaller documentary about an even lesser known black punk band.

    I’m looking forward to checking out this one, thanks for the heads up!

    • #14
  15. Tommy De Seno Member
    Tommy De Seno
    @TommyDeSeno

    Joe Escalante:This is a pure music post, my apologies.

    You grace us with a look on the inside of an industry, and a very important one in pop culture at that.  Sociological issues are intertwined with politics so please post more!

    I am unfamiliar with the band.

    • #15
  16. Umbra Fractus Inactive
    Umbra Fractus
    @UmbraFractus

    Joseph Stanko: Why’s everyone always gotta’ bash disco? Barry Gibb has more talent in his pinky than all the Sex Pistols put together.

    The Bee Gees made some good songs before and after the disco era. Too bad nobody’s ever heard them.

    Disco, I think, has the same problem that most pop/dance music has, namely that the beat is what drives the song. If one deviates too much from the basic 1-2-3-4-1-2-3-4 beat then the song becomes undanceable and thus it won’t sell. It’s hard to be creative when you’re married to something so basic. I remember thinking that when techno started to take over pop radio in the early 90’s, and I’d imagine it was the same for disco (although, being born in ’78, I’m admittedly too young to remember disco first hand.)

    As for the Sex Pistols, while the band as a whole was pretty rotten (pun intended) honesty compels me to put in a good word for for Steve Jones, who’s proven himself quite capable in other venues. In the mid-90’s he put together a supergroup with Duff McKagen and Matt Sorum from Guns n Roses and John Taylor from Duran Duran, and it turns out that when Steve Jones plays with actual talented musicians, the result is pretty good.

    • #16
  17. Joe Escalante Member
    Joe Escalante
    @JoeEscalante

    Fascinating to me. Thanks for all the comments. I knew this was a good place to test this theory. Check out “Smash It Up” as a gateway song to dozens of great songs by the Damned.

    But for a better and truly riveting music documentary released recently check out Filmage: The Story of the Descendents. Even if you’ve never heard of the Hermosa Beach, CA band, it’s a great film.

    • #17
  18. Percival Thatcher
    Percival
    @Percival

    Umbra Fractus: Disco, I think, has the same problem that most pop/dance music has, namely that the beat is what drives the song. If one deviates too much from the basic 1-2-3-4-1-2-3-4 beat then the song becomes undanceable and thus it won’t sell. It’s hard to be creative when you’re married to something so basic. I remember thinking that when techno started to take over pop radio in the early 90′s, and I’d imagine it was the same for disco (although, being born in ’78, I’m admittedly too young to remember disco first hand.)

    It didn’t hold Bach back, but yeah, that, simplistic melodies, and mindless lyrics were big drawbacks.

    • #18
  19. Joseph Stanko Coolidge
    Joseph Stanko
    @JosephStanko

    Percival:

    Umbra Fractus: Disco, I think, has the same problem that most pop/dance music has, namely that the beat is what drives the song. If one deviates too much from the basic 1-2-3-4-1-2-3-4 beat then the song becomes undanceable and thus it won’t sell. It’s hard to be creative when you’re married to something so basic.

    It didn’t hold Bach back, but yeah, that, simplistic melodies, and mindless lyrics were big drawbacks.

    “Basic” and “simplistic” compared to what?  If you’re comparing disco to Bach, or jazz, or even prog rock than sure, I’ll concede the point, but we’re talking about punk rock here.  Aren’t all Ramones songs basically the same song?  And I’m not trying to bash the Ramones, in fact I happen to like the Ramones, but punk bands are not exactly known for their use of unusual time signatures and exotic chord progressions.

    • #19
  20. kylez Member
    kylez
    @kylez

    I’ve known their name for years, and was recently listening to a few songs from one of their albums on Rhapsody.

    • #20
  21. kylez Member
    kylez
    @kylez

    I just recently learned about The Gun Club, and heard a couple of their songs, including their cover of “Run Through the Jungle”.

    Apparently The Damned never made even the album chart in America.

    • #21
  22. N.M. Wiedemer Inactive
    N.M. Wiedemer
    @NMWiedemer

    The Bee Gee’s were undeniable craftsmen, but check them out at the peak of their popularity. 77′ gives us Saturday Night Fever, a solid work, propelled to the top of the charts by the appeal of the new, shinny, materialistic, debauch-chic. Then as the highest selling artists of the time, they gave us the fascinating exercise in self-indulgence vanity project, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart Club Band.

    The Top of the Pops and network shows were pushing much the same at the time.

    It’s really no wonder that at the same time a bunch of poor kids, marinated in a crumbling, malaise induced culture and stripped of pride, idealism, innocence and hope would run to the guttural siren call of Johnny Rotten and his Bizzaro version of a rock band. Yeah, they weren’t real musicians but neither were many of the pretty boys pushed to teens at the time. At least at a Sex Pistol’s concert the no talent hacks on stage were one of their own.

    Now, why did they get bigger than other more talented bands like The Damned?

    Maybe their pimp/pornographer/confidence-man of manger Malcolm McLaren actually did earn his keep after all?

    Regardless, by the time The Pistols got to the states only their reputation was relevant. Little more than a sideshow act, like disco and the 70’s themselves, they imploded in violence and self destruction. The 80’s was a much needed cultural enema.

    • #22
  23. kylez Member
    kylez
    @kylez

    Joseph Stanko:

    Percival: At least it wasn’t disco.

    Why’s everyone always gotta’ bash disco? Barry Gibb has more talent in his pinky than all the Sex Pistols put together.

    Sure, and The Sex  Pistols were basically a joke and a way to shock people. The fact that they are considered important says more about the music press than it does them.

    • #23
  24. kylez Member
    kylez
    @kylez

    Listening to the Damned’s first album on Youtube right now. Apparently Joe Jackson (elsewhere on ricochet today) took his title “is she really going out with him?” from the intro to “New Rose.”

    • #24
  25. kylez Member
    kylez
    @kylez

    Now that I think of it Wiedemer reminds me that it was the Stranglers I recently listened to. I bought a rock discography book in 1998, flipping through which made me aware of bands, especially British ones like Damned and Stranglers I hadn’t heard of yet at only 17.

    • #25
  26. Cat III Member
    Cat III
    @CatIII

    Been lurking on Ricochet for months now and there have been many a post that made me think, “That’s it, I’m signing up. I have to comment on this.” Yet, it was never true until now.

    The Clash were self-important bores. The Sex Pistols had their appeal and produced one good album, but the Damned were the real torchbearers for all that is great about punk. I think no less than John Peel said the same. (Have to admit their friendship with rock ‘n rollers Motörhead biases them in my favor.) Though, the very best of British punk remains The Slits and X Ray Spex.

    Also, thanks for the doc recommendation. Will see it after I get around to watching the Decline of Western Civilization trilogy.

    • #26
  27. E. Kent Golding Moderator
    E. Kent Golding
    @EKentGolding

    I have  Combat Rock and a Singles collection by the Clash.   I have heard of the Sex Pistols.   Never heard of “The Damned”  — were they ruled by Obama?

    • #27
  28. Michael Brehm Lincoln
    Michael Brehm
    @MichaelBrehm

    Joe Escalante

    But for a better and truly riveting music documentary released recently check out Filmage: The Story of the Descendents. Even if you’ve never heard of the Hermosa Beach, CA band, it’s a great film.

    Okay, it’s early in the morning and I haven’t had my coffee yet, so when I read “the Descendents” my brain interpreted it as “the Residents” which is a very different band indeed:Residents

    • #28
  29. Vance Richards Inactive
    Vance Richards
    @VanceRichards

    Off the top off my head, I do not remember The Damned. However, after doing a quick search on YouTube, I definitely remember their song “Neat Neat Neat” (but geesh, that was a long time ago).

    • #29
  30. kmtanner Inactive
    kmtanner
    @kmtanner

    I know them all.

    • #30
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