The Damned

Standing shoulder-to-shoulder with The Sex Pistols, The Clash, and Siouxsie and the Banshees at the birth of the UK punk rock scene, The Damned helped usher in a new wave of DIY, anti-establishment rock & roll that shook Britain to its core. Fronted by the gothic, Dracula-like splendour of former gravedigger Dave Vanian, the band formed in London, England, in 1976. The Damned signed with the legendary independent label Stiff Records and released the first ever UK punk single, "New Rose," followed by the album Damned Damned Damned in 1977. The Damned was also the punk genre's first British band to play in America. As the punk scene quickly burnt itself out, The Damned regrouped and achieved more mainstream success with the albums Strawberries (1982) and Phantasmagoria (1985), then scored a UK Number 3 hit with the single "Eloise" in 1986. The group went silent in 1988 after a number of line-up changes but, encouraged by bands like Guns N' Roses and The Offspring covering their songs, later reformed in the 1990s. Albums like 1995's Not of This Earth, 2008's So, Who's Paranoid?, and 2017's Evil Spirits followed. In 2022, the band reunited its classic lineup of Dave Vanian, Captain Sensible, Brian James and Rat Scabies for a series of shows, then returned the following year with a new album, Darkadelic. Founding member and guitarist Brian James, also in The Lords of the New Church in the 1980s and subsequent reformations, died on March 6, 2025, at the age of 70.