Initially,
Chiswick issued
Wait for the Blackout instead of
The History of the World (Part 1) as a single to promote
The Black Album (1980) in Spain, with "Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde" as the B-side. In 1982, their Big Beat budget imprint reissued the track as a single in the UK, despite
The Damned having left the label two years previously. The B-side was provided by Damned guitarist
Captain Sensible's spin-off project, Captain Sensible and the Softies, in the form of "Jet Boy Jet Girl". This was a cover version of the 1977
recording by
Elton Motello, which shared its backing track with
Plastic Bertrand's "
Ça plane pour moi". The writing credit for Ward refers to Motello, real name Alan Ward, not ex-Damned
bass player
Algy Ward. "Wait for the Blackout" was covered by
The Goo Goo Dolls for the
Tommy Boy soundtrack. It finally saw release on The Goo Goo Dolls'
Greatest Hits Volume 2, released on August 19, 2008. It was covered by
Alkaline Trio on
BYO Split Series, Vol. 5 as well as on the 2007 release
Remains.
Reissues The Damned's Chiswick back catalogue was acquired by Big Beat in 1981, and
The Black Album was reissued in August 1982 as a single album that omitted "Curtain Call" and the live tracks. The artwork for the reissue parodied the sleeve of
the Beatles'
The White Album, rendered in black with no details other than the group's name embossed in capitals. "It was said that the Beatles had their
White Album, we had our
Black Album", said Vanian. "The sleeve isn't related to the Beatles in any way". However, Scabies said: "Of course it was to do with the Beatles, I was so sick about the debates of what we should have on the front of it. I said: 'Put the thing in a plain black sleeve and we'll have a go at the Beatles and
The White Album". The live tracks were reissued in their own right, with four extra tracks, as
Live Shepperton 1980. The first subsequent reissue of
The Black Album on
CD reinstated "Curtain Call" and the original artwork, and the 2005 double-CD reissue also reinstated the live tracks. ==Tour==