“I was ready to fuckin’ hit ‘im”: Why The Damned were booted off the Sex Pistols tour
Punk, at its core, has always been about rebellion. Whether or not you believe it has always been successful in its mission, that has indeed, always been the crux of the genre’s ethos. It might mean something different to you than it does to others, and while some are valiantly trying to crush capitalism and destroy systematic corruption, others might just be putting safety pins through their septum and scrawling anarchist symbols on the backs of toilet doors.
While the Sex Pistols were undoubtedly a rebellious group that released songs such as ‘Anarchy in the UK’ in an attempt to help legitimise their punk credentials, there was far more evidence to support them being more style over substance, and they were more into the latrinalia and pronged haircut aspects of rebellion rather than branding themselves as genuine socialist revolutionaries.
Never Mind the Bollocks might well have been a culturally significant release that firmly placed British punk on the map, but they certainly weren’t the progenitors of the genre. Before the release of their sole seminal record, the Damned had already come out with Damned Damned Damned, and the recognition of this being the first UK punk album is something that should be noted. They arguably sounded just as urgent as the Pistols, and certainly knew how to shock just as much as their contemporaries.
However, due to the scandal that arose from their now infamous interview with Bill Grundy, the Sex Pistols were ultimately made the poster boys for punk, and the moral panic that ensued either invigorated rock fans who were searching for a reason to rebel, or sent people into a frenzy whereby they were determined to put a stop to their insurgence. Having both the Sex Pistols and the Damned on a tour together seemed as though it was a disaster waiting to happen.
The Anarchy Tour, which kicked off in December 1976 in the wake of the public outrage, would’ve seen the two bands travel around the country alongside The Clash and Johnny Thunders and the Heartbreakers, all of whom were in the punk ascendancy at the time. However, the local council in Derby, which was set to be the second night of the tour, were not willing to run the risk of having the Sex Pistols terrorise their town and corrupt their youth, and they made the sudden decision to ban the band from performing in the city.
The Clash and The Heartbreakers both opted to pull out of the show in solidarity, but the Damned were happy to carry on as planned, which Pistols manager Malcolm McClaren didn’t take kindly to. However, his version of events is dramatically different to how things panned out. Due to the press that they had been receiving, McClaren was of the opinion that they didn’t need the support of a band like the Damned, and was continually making digs at their manager throughout the early part of the tour.
According to the Damned’s guitarist, Brian James, after he stormed in to tell McClaren to stop being a bully, a full-scale argument broke out about the order of the bill for the tour. “I was ready to fuckin’ hit ‘im to tell you the truth,” claimed James, “but he had his bodyguards.” He would go on to explain how the rows over the running order were futile anyway, since many of the shows were being pulled in the wake of the scandal.
“Malcolm wants the Damned to go on first,” James explained, “then Heartbreakers, then the Clash. It turned into this big political number. Meanwhile, the gigs were being cancelled because the promoters were getting the heebie-jeebies because of all the bad press. “
McClaren might well have given the band unnecessary stick for a multitude of reasons, but all of them seemed a little weak, and if the Damned were still willing to play the shows, they didn’t deserve to be punished by being thrown off the tour entirely. Punk may well be all about rebellion, but McClaren and the Sex Pistols were perhaps a little thin-skinned on this occasion.
