If a rock n’ roll band is lucky enough to last for decades and survive the many hazards of the business, bad contracts, addictions, ego clashes, shifting trends, endless lineup changes and death, it eventually becomes what is often, somewhat crudely, called a legacy act. A legacy act is expected to live off past glories, play the familiar hits to aging fans and curious casual listeners, collect the paycheck and move on.
The Damned have endured all of the pitfalls listed above, and then some, yet have never seemed content to settle into comfortable nostalgia. With Darkadelic, they released a surprisingly vital album less than three years ago, and now they are back on the road supporting Not Like Everybody Else, an eclectic collection of cover songs.
The Damned were always more than just a punk band. And what is punk, anyway? A sound, a moment, a mindset? They outgrew their initial template early on and evolved into something uniquely their own. Gothic, certainly. New wave, at times. Pop, when it suited them. In typical Damned fashion, they are now paying tribute to the songs that shaped them.
Covers are hardly new territory for The Damned. Their take on Barry Ryan’s "Eloise" is a classic in its own right, and they reworked Jefferson Airplane’s "White Rabbit" around the time of The Black Album. And of course, their amphetamine-fueled demolition of "Help!" remains the stuff of punk rock legend. Still, building an entire set around other people’s material, “not a single Damned original,” as the poster boasted, is a bold move even by their standards. It also turned out to be slightly misleading, as "New Rose" thankfully slipped into the set. Frankly, it is hard to imagine them getting away with leaving it out.
If the idea of The Damned covering Pink Floyd or The Rolling Stones makes you question certain things you thought you understood about music and the natural order of the world, you are not alone. Captain Sensible himself admitted that it felt weird for them too. Yet these songs are part of their DNA, and they approached them with genuine respect and commitment. Punks, goths and now hippies... that was not exactly in the original contract!
But the proof was on the floor: for eighty minutes, the Bataclan crowd never stopped dancing. The Damned’s cheeky yet reverent approach to these timeless songs felt perfectly calibrated for the moment: great writing, a typically punk rock sense of mischief and a dose of unmistakably English theatrical flair. Call it punk, call it rock and roll, call it what you will but come in and join the party. It won't last forever.
