Heavens. You know you're getting old when you discover...
...that the faboo Goth-before-"Goth"-was-even-a-thing Mr Dave Vanian of seminal punk band The Damned is 65 years old!
I think some thrashing music is in order; their debut single was, after all, the first punk record to hit (the lower echelons of) the UK charts way back in 1976, 45 years ago this month:
Is she really going out with him?
I got a feeling inside of me
It's kind of strange like a stormy sea
I don't know why I don't know why
I guess these things have got to be
I gotta new rose I got it good
Guess I knew that I always would
I can't stop to mess around
I got a brand new rose in town
See the sun see the sun it shines
Don't get too close or it'll burn your eyes
Don't you run away that way
You can come back another day
I got a new rose I got it good
Guess I knew that I always would
I can't stop to mess around
I got a brand new rose in town
I never thought this could happen to me
This is strange why should it be
I don't deserve somebody this great
I'd better go or it'll be too late
I got a feeling inside of me
It's kind of strange like a stormy sea
I don't know why I don't know why
I guess these things have got to be
I got a new rose I got her good
Guess I knew that I always would
I can't stop to mess around
I got a brand new rose in town
Interesting fact about Mr Vanian - he was in fact "The Monmouth Vampire", the mysterious apparition that made the local headlines in Wales back in 1980! As he revealed in an interview in 2018:
He was recording the band’s Black Album at Rockfield Studios in Monmouth when he decided to step out for a breath of fresh air one night and take a stroll to a nearby cemetery.
“There was a full moon and Monmouth in the full moon… you can see everything, It was very bright because there’s no city there; it’s just countryside.
“So I went for a walk to the local graveyard, which was, like, a mile down the road… and I walked around and as I left and started heading back up the lane to the studio, I was caught in a Mini’s headlights as I was coming out of the cemetery, and the car veered off the road almost and then screamed round the bend.
“The local newspapers, the next few days, had a thing, where a woman claimed she had seen the ghost of a vampire coming out of the local cemetery. It became a big deal and I decided to say nothing.”
I'm sure he loved it!
Many happy returns, David Vanian (born David Lett, 12th October 1956)
What a lovely story. Haven't heard this song in AGES... they were an odd assortment, but a part of the times. Only 65? He must have been twelve when the started? Good for him. Pays to be a blood sucker? Care to weigh in? Kizzes.
ReplyDeleteI've always thought sucking kept one young. In mind, anyhow. Jx
DeleteGood Lord I refuse to be that old. I was the first 'punk' in High School that year (loved the clothes, hated the music) and I remember loving this guys look. But there's no way he's only three years older than me. No. Way.
ReplyDeleteHow time catches up on us all... Jx
DeleteOdd, for a punk band, but there was something friendly about The Damned - probably the theatrical clothes.
ReplyDelete1976 - that's fine, I wasn't yet a teenager and was still playing with my Barbie dolls - just about!
Sx
Well, Captain Sensible couldn't really have been much more cosy if he tried - especially after hitting the heights with his solo version of Happy Talk... From "offbeat Punk" to "Housewives' Choice" in one fell swoop.
DeleteI turned thirteen that year. I had my own "toy" to play with. A lot. Jx
"Happy talk" is a nightmare inducing piece of music.
DeleteI love this song and "Eloise".
Fist time I've ever heard about the Monmouth vampire!!
ReplyDeletePresumably it made the local papers, but then again you were probably not really an avid South Wales Argus or Monmouthshire Beacon reader at the age of seven! Jx
Delete