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Rating:
While The Clash were finishing the recording of London Calling, the new lineup of The Damned was mixing Machine Gun Etiquette. The lineup had regrouped after the second album, which was considered by critics as a poor effort. Sid Vicious was rejected during auditions, the original guitarist was sent to pick nettles, and Captain Sensible started playing the guitar, leaving the bass to a young twenty-year-old, Algy Ward (who would later form the Tank). With such a premise, no one expected one of the most appreciated Punk albums on the planet. The album was released at the end of 1979. And while Joe Strummer and company were eyeing the US market, The Damned, with Dave Vanian's ever-evolving voice, continued to cultivate the British roots of Punk.
Due to its anarchic themes, several tracks were censored by radio stations, including ‘Smash It Up’ which would later be covered by the Offspring and become part of the Batman Forever soundtrack, and ‘Anti-Pope’ for its verbal attack on clerical power. This track went: I'm going to church tonight, like when I was eight, but I'm not going to pray, I'm going to steal the collection plate…..
The record's pace is relentless as the genre requires, yet it seems very melodic like the opening track ‘Love Song’ or ‘Noise, Noise, Noise’ with a chorus by Joe and Topper from the Clash. Despite its softer appearance, the '77 Punk energy is there. At the same time, there is an indescribable bit of darkness present. Online reviewers say this could be among the first works in the Goth-sound style, a genre followed by Siouxsie and the Banshees, Joy Division, Bauhaus, and The Cure. Perhaps it's simply the voice of Dave Vanian, not much Punk but very “intimate.”
The cover has always fascinated me, even though it seems it was released in two different versions. I had the trippy one. A group photo in Times Square in New York with Captain Sensible dressed modestly: pink faux fur coat and pants also in fur, but yellow….!
Tracklist Lyrics Samples and Videos
01 Love Song (02:22)
(lyrics Scabies, music Captain)
I'll be the ticket if you're my collector
I've got the fare if you're my inspector
I'll be the luggage, if you'll be the porter
I'll be the parcel if you'll be my sorter
(chorus)
Just for you here's a love song
Just for you here's a love song
And it makes me glad to say
It's been a lovely day
And it's okay
I'll be the mail, you'll be the guard
I'll be the ink on your season ticket card
I'll be the rubbish, you'll be the bin
I'll be the paint on the sign if you'll be the tin
(chorus)
(chorus)
Its Okay
Its Okay
03 I Just Can't Be Happy Today (03:42)
I Just Can't Be Happy Today
I Just Can't Be Happy Today
A lot of you know
theres not a smile
thers no feeling bad
without feeling fine
thers a price on your head
nobody sighed when justice is read
I Just Can't Be Happy Today
I Just Can't Be Happy Today
They're closing the schools
They're burning the books
The church is in ruins
The priests hang on hooks
The radios been banned
The army's in power
The devil commands
Illegal to dance
Forbidden to cry
You do what you're toldYou never ask why
Ignore all those fools
They don't understand
We make our own rules
I Just Can't Be Happy Today
I Just Can't Be Happy Today
I Just Can't Be Happy
Just Can't Be Happy
Just Can't Be Happy Today
I Just Can't Be Happy
Just Can't Be Happy
Just Can't Be Happy Today
04 Melody Lee (02:07)
Melody Lee, a broken mind and a broken dream
I bust the speed to change your heart
Your life was cruel they called it art
Melody Lee, you need a mirror to set you free
It won't be kinda cheap tomorrow
If you hide any sorrow
Melody Lee, you gotta find your secret enemy
You're on the road with nowhere to go
If you die someone to know
Forget your heart, you need not stay
A second longer than today
05 Anti-Pope (03:20)
I'm going down to church tonight
Take me back to when I was eight
But I don't mean to pray
I'm gonna nick the collection plate
(chorus)
I'v got nothing against church
Or any people that go there and show that
They're ignorant, I don't understand
A congregation at weekends can change their behaviour
So many people are weak in their lives
And seek guidance from the pedlars of hope
As you know I used to go there myself
Until the day I became antipope
We're gonna have some fun tonight
Let's spread the news around the town
That the vicar's a transvestite
With a fetish for ropes and gowns
(chorus)
Religion doesn't mean a thing
Its just another way of being right wing
I think sex films are okay
I don't dig that all the way
(chorus)
06 These Hands (02:02)
These are the hands of a demented circus clown
outside I'm laughing but inside I'm really wearing a frown
I see you laughing at me
but baby in my dreams
it's quite a different scene
Chasing you through the night with my hands around your neck
funny how everything seems in technicolour, yet
I find I'm laughing at you
and you are turning blue
Ha ha ha ha ha
Ha ha ha ha ha
Ho ho ho
07 Plan 9 Channel 7 (05:08)
She plays her mouth into a smile
And offers that he stay a while
Two hearts that beat as one
And eyes that hardly ever saw the sun
Hollywood babbles on
She lays a wreath of lilies on his grave
His flame gone along with the love he never gave
Not to be seduced by those red lips
Two dimensional comic clips
Hollywood babbles on
on and on and on and on and...
Channel 7, with shades of grey
Too close but two worlds away
Plan 9, hello may
Too close but two worlds away
They say
Step into the night
She plays her mouth into a smile
And offers that he stay a while
Two hearts that beat as one
And eyes that hardly ever saw the sun
Hollywood babbles on
She lays a wreath of lilies on his grave
His flame gone along with the love he never gave
Not to be seduced by those red lips
Two dimensional comic clips
Hollywood babbles on
on and on and on and on and...
Channel 7, with shades of grey
Too close but two worlds away
Plan 9, hello may
Too close but two worlds away
They say
08 Noise, Noise, Noise (03:10)
At 7am on a brand new day
I'm gonna start it in the perfect way
Put the greatest record on
I kick the dog, I kick the cat
Insult my mum insult my dad
Sing out loud and sing along
(chorus)
We say noise is for heroes (heroes)
Leave the music for zeroes (zeroes)
Noise Noise Noise is for heroes (heroes)
Oh yeah
I'm down the pub and the time is one
Hit the jukebox for my favourite song
Gonna turn it up too loud
Have a couple of games of pool
Argue with a drunken fool
Have a beer with the usual crowd
(chorus)
Its noise that makes the world go round
I can't survive without that sound
The sound torments me
Its 8 o'clock down the church hall
I've enough amplifiers 6 feet tall
Gonna turn them up full blast
The vicar waves his arms and looks absurd
The noise drowns out his godly words
And he can't get out too fast
(chorus)
Noise Noise Noise (x7)
09 Looking at You (05:06)
When it happened, Something Snapped inside me
Made me wanna hide
All on my own, all on my own
I stood up on the stand my eyes shut tight
Didn't wanna see anybody
Feeling alright, having a good time heh
Doing alright, doing alright
Doing alright, doing alright
I saw into the dancing crowd
Felt like screaming out loud
I saw you standing there
Saw your long, your long hair yeah
Opened up my eyes baby
You made me realise what I wanna do now
I wanna do now babe, looking at you
Looking at you babe, looking at you
Looking at you, looking at you baby
You baby (x6)
Yeah yeah
(repeat verse 2) (with 9 extra "you baby" s)
10 Liar (02:44)
Theres not a word of truth in anything that I say
I don't really want to listen till they go away
I haven't finished and I never cry
If you ask me why, I just lie
(chorus)
I'm a liar, liar, I never tell the truth (x2)
I tell you how to feel and why it is
And when and or if you don't want to give
I love spending hours watching television
I saw a dance, lights, room and a fall and your bright red politician
(chorus)
I smoked your last cigarette I say that someone else did
I send your mum to the vet and find out your sisters brilliant
You ask me why, I just lie
I'm a liar, liar
I'm gonna be the biggest liar in the world
I'll be so good you'll believe every word
I could even make you believe Adolf Hitler
Send him to Azurre for the winter
(chorus)
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