The MG Album Club #8 - Machine Gun Etiquette

[Zeeba Neighba]

For the eighth pick in our Music Gourmets album listening club (and the first in the second round of picks), I choose from the year 1979, Machine Gun Etiquette by the British punk rock group The Damned

If I had to rank my favorite three albums of 1979, it would be
#1) London Calling by The Clash
#2) Squeezing Out Sparks by Graham Parker & The Rumour
#3) Look Sharp! by Joe Jackson
So yeah, some angry music (#4 would be The Wall so some definite anger there too, but hey #5 Fleetwood Mac's Tusk - it's not all bad)
Everyone here is familiar with London Calling and probably with most of Look Sharp! too. I would have picked Squeezing Out Sparks (which I'm sure many know but haven't broken out it awhile) but I gotta say, I love that album so much, I would have probably taken it too personally if someone had been so-so or negative about it.

So I turn to an album a bit lower down my list, but still quite enjoyed (but if you don't enjoy it, I won't be crushed - still, your loss). Again, many may know it hear, but I bet many also haven't broken this one out for awhile. The Damned, while not as big a legacy outside of punk circles as their two British contemporaries The Sex Pistols and The Clash, have had great influence in both punk and goth. They were actually the first British punk group to release a single ("New Rose") and performed their first show with The Sex Pistols. Here on their third album, they branched out a great deal from the fast paced punk of their debut (sure not as much as The Clash branched out with their third album but hey). Slowing it down a bit with a few songs, they brought in more keyboards and some great percussion-work (check it out on "Anti-Pope"). The Damned had a nice sense of humor with their songs, a cheekiness to their punk ethos. "Love Song" and "I Just Can't Be Happy Today"are great singles, but the lengthier "Plan 9 Channel 7" is a bit more experimental (one can see the influence they would have on goth in this one). Wonderful listen but hey, even if British punk not you're thing, it's only 35 minutes long, not much time out of your life - give it a listen

 

[Old Uncle Toe]

I know four of your top five pretty well. I'm glad you picked something I'm not familiar with. I'm enjoying being introduced to albums I would normally pass over. Looking forward to The Damned! (Sparing you the jokes about once being married to... oops. Never mind.)

 

[Unsomnambulist]

Hey, I actually have this in my library in FLAC! No need to fire up Spotify.

I haven't heard this in awhile and not sure it made too much of an impression previously. It's excellent and the musicianship also makes it seem less like punk and more like regular rock. That's just me though. Someone with more mainstream tastes could hear this as very wild and aggressive, I guess.

I give it .

Thanks, Zeeba.

 

[lpfreak1170]

Damned fine pick!

 

[Nickyboy]

The only thing I know of the Damned is "Grimly Fiendish" from '85. From what I have heard, they were looking for a big hit at that point. And you can hear it. Let's see what they did with a machine gun.

 

[Ojai Sam]

I know four of your top five pretty well. I'm glad you picked something I'm not familiar with. I'm enjoying being introduced to albums I would normally pass over. Looking forward to The Damned! (Sparing you the jokes about once being married to... oops. Never mind.)

Despite being on the 1001 Albums list, last.fm tells me this is my flisten. I enjoyed it a lot. It's always interesting to hear the results when a group stays together long enough to expand on the genre that got them started. The challenge is to do that without losing focus and The Damned succeed very well. As Zeeb says, maybe less ambitious than The Clash but a highly enjoyable listen. At 35 minutes, they say what they have to say and get off the stage.

on the Sam-O-Meter.

 

[Ojai Sam]

For posterity, the belated Spotify link:

 

[Old Uncle Toe]

It's been a busy time. Sorry to be late.

I listened to this twice plus a few tracks. I hear some good musicianship. The problem for me is that it gets kind of buried in the model of "strum two chords real fast and shout some lyrics." I prefer music that gives the musicians some room to execute a little more. And similar to some other albums, when I'm ready to write it off I find something to enjoy in the track that's playing and continue on.

I enjoyed Plan 9 Channel 7, Noise Noise Noise and the first part of Smash It Up the best. Admittedly, these drift a bit from the above mentioned model and play with some different styles which I happened to like.

I'll be honest, this isn't going to be my next favorite band. I never much latched on to punk and still don't. But as punk goes, this is good. I'm glad to have learned about it.

 

[lpfreak1170]

Dig it!

 

[axolotl]

I could mosh to it.

I didn't come naturally to punk. I was an adult when punk pummeled the scene, and I did not see where these punks got off saying, "Rock is dead." It was only later that I came around to a similar conclusion, or at least "Rock is far from dead, but (Hello Nurse) needs its next transfusion stat."

Was going to expound further but don't see the need, and it'd be too long to read.

It's a solid in my book. It could move higher, or laterally.

I'm afraid I've confused myself, again.