Formation and Stiff years (1976–1978) Prior to The Damned, Dave Vanian (David Lett), Captain Sensible (Raymond Burns) and Rat Scabies (Chris Millar) had been members of the band
Masters of the Backside, which also included future
Pretenders frontwoman
Chrissie Hynde.
Brian James (Brian Robertson) had been a member of
London SS, a band that never played live but also included musicians who later found fame in
the Clash and
Generation X. Scabies knew James through a failed audition as the drummer for London SS. When they decided to start their own band, with James on guitar and Scabies on drums, they invited
Sid Vicious, later of the
Sex Pistols, and Dave Vanian to audition to be the singer. However, only Vanian appeared, and he was added to the band. Chrissie Hynde would later write: "Without me, they were probably the most musically accomplished punk outfit in town." The Damned played their first show on 6 July 1976, supporting the Sex Pistols at the
100 Club. A
lo-fi recording of the show was later released as
Live at the 100 Club (2007). As part of London's burgeoning punk scene, the Damned again played the club on 20 September for the
100 Club Punk Festival. On 22 October, five weeks before the release of the Sex Pistols' "
Anarchy in the U.K.",
Stiff Records released the Damned's first single "
New Rose", thus making them the first UK punk band to release a single. The single's
B-side was a fast-paced
cover of
the Beatles' "
Help!". "New Rose" was described by critic Ned Raggett as a "deathless anthem of nuclear-strength romantic
angst." When the Sex Pistols released their single, they took the Damned, along with the Clash and
Johnny Thunders' Heartbreakers, as openers for their December "Anarchy Tour of the UK". Many of the tour dates were cancelled by organizers or local authorities, with only seven of approximately 20 scheduled shows taking place. The Damned were expelled from the tour before its end by Sex Pistols manager
Malcolm McLaren. The Damned released their debut studio album,
Damned Damned Damned, on 18 February 1977. Produced by
Nick Lowe, it was the first studio album released by a British punk band and included a new single, "
Neat Neat Neat". The band toured to promote the album, in March opening for
T. Rex on their final tour before
Marc Bolan's death that September. Later that spring, they became the first British punk band to tour the United States. According to
Brendan Mullen, founder of the Los Angeles club
the Masque, their first tour of the U.S. found them favouring very fast tempos, helping to inspire the first wave of West Coast
hardcore punk. Author Ian Winwood wrote, "In terms of placing boots on the ground, it is The Damned who can be credited as having had the most influence on American punk rock." That August,
Lu Edmonds was added as a second guitarist. They unsuccessfully tried to recruit the reclusive
Syd Barrett to produce their second studio album. They settled for his former
Pink Floyd bandmate
Nick Mason. In November 1977, the album was released as
Music for Pleasure and was quickly dismissed by critics. Its failure precipitated the band's exit from Stiff Records. Scabies was also displeased with the album and quit the band after the recording. He was replaced by future
Culture Club drummer
Jon Moss, who played with the Damned until they dissolved in February 1978.
Re-formation and Machine Gun Etiquette (1978–1979) The former members of the band worked on a series of brief side projects and solo recordings, all making little commercial impact. Scabies formed a one-off band called "Les Punks" for a late 1978 gig. Les Punks was a quasi-reunion of the Damned (without Brian James or Edmonds) that featured Scabies, Vanian, Sensible and bassist
Lemmy of
Hawkwind and
Motörhead. The Damned tentatively re-formed with the "Les Punks" lineup in early 1979, but originally performed as "The Doomed" to avoid potential trademark problems. Sensible switched to guitar and
keyboards, and after a brief period with Lemmy on bass for studio
demos and a handful of live appearances and a slightly longer period with
Henry Badowski on bass, the bassist position was filled by
Algy Ward, formerly of
the Saints. During a December 1978 tour of Scotland,
Gary Holton substituted for Vanian. The band officially went by the Damned again, playing their first gig under that name in April 1979 and signing a recording contract with
Chiswick Records. They returned to the studio and released the charting singles "
Love Song" and "
Smash It Up", followed by 1979's
Machine Gun Etiquette and then a cover version of
Jefferson Airplane's "
White Rabbit". Vanian's vocals had by now expanded from the high
baritone of the early records to a smoother
crooning style.
Machine Gun Etiquette (1979) featured a strong 1960s
garage-rock influence with a
Farfisa organ on several songs. Recording at London's
Wessex Studios at the same time as the Clash were there to record
London Calling (1979),
Joe Strummer and
Mick Jones made an uncredited vocal appearance on the title track.
Machine Gun Etiquette (1979) received largely positive reviews; Ira Robbins and Jay Pattyn of
Trouser Press described it as "a great record by a band many had already counted out."
Shift towards gothic rock (1980–1987) Ward left the band in 1980, to be replaced by
Paul Gray, formerly of
Eddie and the Hot Rods.
The Black Album was released later that year, produced by the band themselves apart from one track produced by
Hans Zimmer, with three sides of the
double album consisting of studio tracks, including the theatrical 17-minute song "Curtain Call". Side 4 featured a selection of live tracks recorded at
Shepperton Studios. It was their last album for Chiswick. In 1981, the Damned released
Friday 13th, a four-song
EP that featured the original tracks "Disco Man", "Billy Bad Breaks", "Limit Club" and a cover version of
the Rolling Stones song "
Citadel". In 1982, the Damned released their only studio album for
Bronze Records,
Strawberries. The band had now expanded to a quintet with the addition of full-time keyboardist
Roman Jugg. At the time, Sensible was splitting his time between the Damned and his own solo career, having reached chart success in the UK with the 1982 number-one hit "
Happy Talk". The band's next album, a one-off side project recorded without Sensible, was the soundtrack to an imaginary 1960s movie called
Give Daddy the Knife, Cindy. For this limited-run album of 1960s cover songs, the band was billed as
Naz Nomad and the Nightmares. In 1984, the Damned performed on the
BBC Two sitcom
The Young Ones with their song "Nasty", featuring new bassist
Bryn Merrick (replacing Gray) and both Jugg and Sensible on guitar. Sensible played his last concert with the band at
Brockwell Park before leaving to pursue his solo career. From the earliest days of the band, Vanian had adopted a
vampire-like appearance onstage, with chalk-white makeup and formal dress. With Sensible gone, Vanian's image became more characteristic of the band as a whole. The Damned signed a recording contract with major label
MCA Records, and the
Phantasmagoria album followed in July 1985, preceded by the UK No. 21 single "
Grimly Fiendish". Other hits from the same album were "
The Shadow of Love" with a gloomy gothic sound, and the lighter "
Is It a Dream?". In January 1986, the non-album single "
Eloise", a cover version of the 1968 hit by
Barry Ryan, became a No. 3 chart success in the UK, the band's highest chart placing to date. In June 1989, James and Sensible rejoined the group for two UK appearances billed as
The Final Curtain. In July this lineup performed a farewell tour of the U.S. and in December they performed a further five UK gigs advertised as the
We Really Must Be Going Now tour.
Second and third re-formations (1990–1995) Although officially on hiatus, the Damned released "
Fun Factory", a song which was recorded in 1982 with the Sensible/Vanian/Scabies/Gray lineup and intended to be released as a single at that time. However, the bankruptcy of their record company prevented the release of the song for nine years. The year's second single, "
Prokofiev", was recorded by Scabies, Vanian and Brian James, and was sold on a 1991 reunion tour of the U.S. In 1993, the band re-formed with a new lineup featuring Scabies, Vanian, guitarists
Kris Dollimore (formerly of
the Godfathers), Alan Lee Shaw and bassist
Moose Harris (formerly of
New Model Army). Around this time, two prominent rock groups each covered a Damned song:
Guns N' Roses recorded "New Rose" for their
The Spaghetti Incident? 1993 album, while
the Offspring covered "
Smash It Up" for the
Batman Forever soundtrack (1995). Both cover versions enjoyed major-label distribution and created more exposure to the Damned's sound, sometimes to a younger audience unfamiliar with the group. The re-formed Damned toured regularly for about two years and released a new studio album,
Not of This Earth, in November 1995, which was promoted with a series of long tours prior to its release. However, by the time the album was released, the Damned had yet again split, partly as the result of legal battles; Vanian and Sensible accused Scabies of releasing
Not of This Earth (1995) without proper authorization.
Return of Captain Sensible and new lineup (1996–2003) Sensible rejoined Vanian in 1996 and yet another formation of the Damned appeared. This initially featured bassist Paul Gray, who was later replaced by
Patricia Morrison, previously of
Bags,
the Gun Club and
The Sisters of Mercy.
Lineup change, 40th anniversary, and new album (2004–2019) of the Damned performing live at the
Manchester Academy, 2018 Morrison and Vanian married and had a daughter, Emily, born on 9 February 2004. Around this time, Morrison retired from performing with the band, although she remained involved with the Damned as their manager. Her replacement on bass was Stu West. In 2006, the Damned released the single "
Little Miss Disaster" and a live
DVD MGE25 documenting a 2004
Manchester concert celebrating the 25th anniversary of
Machine Gun Etiquette (1979). On 21 October 2006,
BBC Radio 2 broadcast an hour-long
documentary titled
Is She Really Going Out with Him? concerning the recording of the Damned's first single "New Rose" and the group's place in the 1976 London punk scene. Featuring interviews with James, Sensible, Scabies,
Glen Matlock,
Don Letts and Chrissie Hynde, the programme discussed the bands and personalities around the scene, particularly the
Anarchy in the U.K. tour. On 28 October 2008, the Damned released their tenth studio album, ''
So, Who's Paranoid?, a digital release, followed by a physical release on the English Channel label on 10 November (UK) and 9 December (U.S.). To promote the album, the band appeared twice on American television, including a visit to The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson''. The band undertook a 23-date UK tour to promote their new studio album, supported by
Devilish Presley and Slicks Kitchen. In November 2009, the band supported Motörhead on the UK leg of their world tour. Continual touring occurred throughout the UK and Europe over the next few years. In 2012, the Damned played South America for the first time, with dates in
São Paulo and
Buenos Aires. They returned to the
Rhythm Festival, one of only four headline acts to return over the festival's seven-year history. In 2012, the Damned announced that they would return for 2013's
Rebellion Festival alongside
the Exploited,
the Casualties and others. On 7 November 2014, Sensible and Vanian appeared on
Ken Reid's
TV Guidance Counselor podcast. In 2015, the Damned were featured in a documentary by director Wes Orshoski titled ''
The Damned: Don't You Wish That We Were Dead''. The documentary charts the history of the band against a backdrop of archival footage, new interviews and tour footage from 2011 to 2014. After the release of the film on 12 September 2015, former bassist Bryn Merrick, who had played on
Phantasmagoria (1985) and
Anything (1986), died of throat cancer. At the time of his death, he had been playing in a
Ramones tribute band called Shamones. In May 2016, the band played a 40th anniversary show at the
Royal Albert Hall. In the summer of 2017, "Neat Neat Neat" was prominently featured in the action film
Baby Driver and its
soundtrack. On 11 September 2017, the band announced that Stu West was leaving the band and that former bassist Paul Gray would be returning for the new studio album. On 23 May 2019, the Damned started a tour performing their third studio album,
Machine Gun Etiquette (1979), which they had not played in full since its release. The tour included venues such as the
House of Blues, Punk Rock Bowling and Music Festival and
Rebellion Festival.
Departure of Pinch, final original lineup shows, Darkadelic, and Scabies' return (2019–present) On 25 October 2019, Pinch announced his departure after 20 years with the band. His last gig was the Damned's show at the
London Palladium on 27 October 2019. On 21 October 2020, the Damned announced that in 2021 the original lineup of Vanian, Sensible, James and Scabies would play a series of shows. This would mark the first time in more than two decades that James and Scabies had played with Vanian and Sensible. However, the
COVID-19 pandemic forced the postponement of the tour until 2022. In February 2022, Pinch was replaced by drummer Will Taylor. In February 2023, the band's next studio album,
Darkadelic, was announced and it was released on 28 April 2023. The album was preceded by the singles and music videos for "The Invisible Man" on 3 February 2023, "Beware of the Clown" on 10 March 2023 and "You're Gonna Realise" on 21 April 2023. All three music videos were directed by
Martin Gooch. Former bassist Algy Ward, who had played on
Machine Gun Etiquette, died on 17 May 2023. After leaving the Damned, Ward had formed the
NWOBHM band
Tank in 1980. Will Taylor announced his departure as the Damned's drummer in November 2023. Later that month, it was announced that original drummer Scabies had rejoined the band on a permanent basis. Founding member and original guitarist Brian James died on 6 March 2025. After his time with The Damned he co-founded
The Lords of the New Church, a supergroup with ex-members of
Dead Boys,
Sham 69 and
The Barracudas, before focusing on a solo career in later years. In January 2026, with Scabies, they released
Not Like Everybody Else, a covers album of songs that had inspired them and Brian James their youth, and they embarked on a tour in the UK and Europe. ==Members==