February 09, 2008

Capt. Sensible So I got a bad nosebleed tonight, which somehow reminded me of being a punk rocker, which somehow reminded me of the Damned, who I saw in some condemned rathole of a club in Southern California around 1980. Captain Sensible had fun insulting American bands until a boy I was in love with shouted out, "Oh, yeah? MC5!" Whereupon the Captain turned around and said, "Yeah, all right." I liked the Captain for that, and kept up with him.

Here's the Captain's log, a picture koko posted on Monkeyfilter in January 2006, and the Captain's MySpace page. Here's him talking on in 2001 and here he is on Flickr, with a headband that defies reason.

posted by goofyfoot 16 years ago
  • I knew Capt. Sensible and the Damned, but I had no idea he was in the Damned. Cool. Bring that show to America, I say! Thanks for the post, goofyfoot.
  • Wot!
  • The Damned played my first Whitby Goth Weekend. One of the images I treasure from that show is of a roomful of black-clad, tattooed goths bouncing around and yelling along to: "Happy talk, keep talkin' happy talk."
  • New Rose stands the test of time.
  • Ooh, and an Old Grey Whistle Test appearance doing Smash It Up and I Just Can't be Happy Today. Mint!
  • My favourite Captain Sensible story -- which I've never been able to verify as fact -- was that he took out an insurance policy against having a number one pop hit, with the understanding that getting onto the pop charts would damage his punk credibility. Once 'Happy Talk' hit number one in Britain, he was able to collect a sweet pay-out, and in the end his street-cred remained more or less intact. "I got a new rose, I got it good..."
  • O Captain, my Captain! (You all know the requisite response.)
  • For reasons that were never clear to me at the time, and have got less clear in the intervening era I say The Damned about 15 times in the early 80s ... I had the pleasure of shaking the Captain's hand once ... he was a gent
  • say = saw