New Rose - the Damned
- May 6
- 3 min read
Next up, Brian James, lead guitarist from the Damned, who died March 6th, 2025.
One of the bands I always thought I saw at the Squat in Manchester was the Damned, but I can't find any evidence that they ever played there, so maybe I saw them somewhere else. Or maybe I just imagined it.
Certainly their first single "New Rose" is the epitome of everything that was played in the Squat from 1976-78. It is generally regarded as the first pure "punk" single ever released by a British punk band. It also links up nicely with the New York Dolls' "Looking For A Kiss" (see five posts ago https://www.unclestylus.com/single-post/looking-for-a-kiss-the-new-york-dolls) in that both tracks reference the the Shangri-las in their intros, here with the line "Is she really going out with him?" from "Leader of the Pack" (see https://www.unclestylus.com/single-post/leader-of-the-pack-the-shangri-las) as opposed to the Dolls' "When I say I'm in love, you best believe I'm in love, l-u-v" from "Give him a Great Big Kiss" (https://www.unclestylus.com/single-post/2017/12/21/girl-groups-weeks-no-5-the-shangri-las). .
Which goes to emphasise that punk was 80% about attitude and attack, the Shangri-las being far and away the most stroppy and spunky of the sixties girl groups.
New Rose also gives the lie to the myth that members of punk bands could hardly play their instruments with track composer and guitarist James leading the way in as tight a rendition of rock music as anyone was delivering at the time.
Music journalists nowadays frequently describe punk's values as a social revolt against Thatcher's Britain as well as an oft-cited reaction against the dominant "progressive" rock music by bands such as Yes, Jethro Tull, Genesis and Pink Floyd. But punk came along three years before Margaret Thatcher became Prime Minister, "New Rose" being released on October 22nd 1976. As much as anything punk was reclaiming rock music and fashion for young people, asserting, as was the case in the sixties, that to be young was to be anti-establishment (ergo anti-parent too) per se, particularly in a country where, and at a time when, the highest levels of unemployment since the Second World War were being treated with staggering complacency by those in power.
A glance at the UK Top Ten the week "New Rose" was released reflects this and shows it wasn't only "progressive" music that punk was reacting against. Number one was "Mississippi" by Dutch country and western meets rock combo Pussycat, number two, Greek crooner Demis Roussos with "When Forever is Gone", three Rod Stewart's "Sailing", four Chicago's "If You Leave Me Now" and five "Hurt" by the Manhattans. The list is so appalling that I can't go on, but suffice to say that the back five contains Simon May with a song from the anodyne tv soap "Crossroads", Australian MOR band Sherbet, Tavares at their worst, the Manhattans and the mind-numbing Rick Dees and his Cast of Idiots with their imbecilic "Disco Duck".
Many regard "New Rose" as the very first "punk" 45rpm disc ever and, as stated, it is more than likely the first punk single released by a UK band. And although it is a love song, it's streets away from the traditional pop love song. There's an urgency about lead singer Dave Vanian's vocal, fuelled by his "surprise" at "getting the girl" in the first place, which makes him subvert the traditional tropes of romance: in that it's "strange", that their love will "burn your eyes", that he doesn't deserve it and that it won't last long anyway, anticipating the Pistols' refrain of "No future" by over six months. And all at a hectic pace that leaves the then top twenty lagging behind like snails in the night.
First or not, and Squat or not, it's right up there with the best.
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