The Damned released the first single to be considered as punk rock (well, at least in England), �New Rose/Help� in 1976. That followed the huge invasion of first wave of punk bands. Their first LP �Damned Damned Damned� has 7 songs, including a standard cover of The Stooges� �1970� (aka. I Feel Alright). The second LP was, and still is, very disappointing being experimental (i.e. crap). The third �Machine Gun Etiquette� was a commercial and success, and it's my favorite too. �The Black Album� was a moody, very atmospheric piece which contained the almost ecstatic �Plan 9 Channel 7�, I guess the band was influenced by Joy Division then.
Moving on the 1980's, the era of british shit popular music, The Damned went, or tried to go, mainstream, failed, and broke up. The band tried to pull a Pink Floyd and did a 17 minute rock opera �Curtain Call�, which could have easily been cut down into a decent 4 minute rock song. They did a couple of pop albums and broke up in 1987. In 2000 they got back together and released a punk album �Grave Disorder� (not included here), which I have yet to hear. This collection includes also a fairly lenghty interview about the bands' history by the band members.
Track List:
CD1
1. New Rose
2. Help
3. Neat Neat Neat
4. See Her Tonite
5. Fan Club
6. I Fall
7. I Feel Alright
8. Feel the Pain
9. Stretcher Case
10. Problem Child
11. Don't Cry Wolf
12. Your Eyes
13. Creep (You Can't Fool Me)
14. Idiot Box
15. Love Song
16. Smash It Up (Pt. 1)
17. Smash It Up (Pt. 2)
18. Machine Gun Etiquette
19. Melody Lee
20. Plan 9, Channel 7
21. I Just Can't Be Happy Today
CD2
1. The History of the World (Pt. 1)
2. Wait for the Blackout
3 . Drinking About My Baby
4. Silly Kids Games
5. Curtain Call
6. Lovely Money
7. Dozen Girls
8. Life Goes On
9. Under the Floor Again
10. Generals
11. Grimly Fiendish
12. Eloise
13. Anything
14. In Dulce Decorum