Fanatics!
Welcome to weekend three of our October Damned Fest! Tonight we warm up the pot with an hour of peerless jams and then in the second hour, we rock the third Damned album, Machine Gun Etiquette.
MGE marked a radical change for the Damned. Brian James, the band’s guitar player had gone. The band went through months of chaos as they resettled and the new line up stabilized. Captain Sensible took over on guitar, Algy Ward from the Saints joined on as bass player. Rat Scabies stayed on drums. Dave Vanian remained on vocals.
In November of 1979, the band released their third album, Machine Gun Etiquette. Make note tha this is two yers after Music For Pleasure. MGE is very different than what came before it. It becomes clear how much Brian James had dominated the previous line up. MGE is looser, wilder and more rock than the two previous Damned albums. Punters and press gave this one the thumbs up and the Damned were back in business.
This album came out a few months after the band came to Washington DC and played at a venue called The Bayou. That was one of the pivotal shows for many of us in the small DC music scene. Seeing the Damned was a big deal but it was the first time many of us ever saw the band that opened that night, The Bad Brains. That show proved to be one of the most influential in our short lives. The Damned were great as we had hoped they would be but it was the Bad Brains that melted us down and forced us to do a bit of a re-set, much like the Clash show we saw months before in February of that year.
MGE is an album that I still play very often. It is usually my Friday night opener when I go into my usual heavy rotation on the weekends when not on tour. I have also lit up many backstage areas with this album all over the world. “Ladies and gentlemen, how do?” is carved into the front of my brain pan at this point.
I hope you enjoy the show. While you are digging it, I will be in Boston, post instore appearance. I will try to listen in to be in real time with the rest of you.
This is going to be a great one! Tune in and STAY FANATIC!!! --Henry
E-mail address for me: Henryontheradio@gmail.com
Follow me on Twitter: @henryrollins
01. Magic Michael – Millionaire / single
02. The Razors – Enemy / single
03. UK Subs - Ice Age / Diminished Responsibility
04. Gen X - Ugly Rash / Kiss Me Deadly
05. The Clash - Capital Radio Two / Black Market Clash
06. Panik - Modern Politics / Punk Rock Rarities
07. Machines - Everything's Technical / single
08. The Lurkers - Hey You / Fulham Fallout
01. The Piranhas – Jilly / The Attrix Collection
10. The Buzzcocks - You Say You Don't Love Me / A Different Kind Of Tension
11. Those Naughty Lumps - Iggy Pop's Jacket / single
12. The Four Plugs - Wrong Treatment / single
13. The Ruts - Dope For Guns / The Crack
14. 999 - I'm Alive / Singles
15. Blondie - Hanging On The Telephone / single
16. The Fall - Pay Your Rates / Early Singles
17. The Damned - Love Song / Machine Gun Etiquette
18. The Damned - Machine Gun Etiquette / Machine Gun Etiquette
19. The Damned - I Just Can't Be Happy Today / Machine Gun Etiquette
20. The Damned - Melody Lee / Machine Gun Etiquette
21. The Damned - Anti-Pope / Machine Gun Etiquette
22. The Damned - These Hands / Machine Gun Etiquette
23. The Damned - Plan 9 Channel 7 / Machine Gun Etiquette
24. The Damned - Noise, Noise, Noise / Machine Gun Etiquette
25. The Damned - Looking At You / Machine Gun Etiquette
26. The Damned – Liar / Machine Gun Etiquette
27. The Damned - Smash It Up Parts 1-4 / Machine Gun Etiquette
28. The Damned – Suicide (single) / Machine Gun Etiquette
29. The Damned – I’m Bored (Peel Session) / Damned Peel Sessions