Neat Neat Neat by The Damned
“IT’S pretty simple, really,” explains Brian James, The Damned guitarist and composer of their classic 45 “Neat Neat Neat”. “It’s a rock’n’roll song.” Kicking off with a corrupted Eddie Cochran bass twang, The Damned’s second single throws together bursts of thrilling guitar riff age over an addictively stuttering rhythm, a coolly impenetrable lyric and a chorus that lands like three swift rabbit punches. The result is a supercharged blast of punked-up garage rock.
“Neat Neat Neat” was recorded live in a room once used by British fascist Oswald Mosley, squeezed between a terraced house and a garage, fuelled by cheap cider, copious ciggies and a surfeit of hostile energy. “There’s nothing posh about it,” says Captain Sensible, who played bass on the record. “It’s rough and raw. It was made in this dingy room with four fairly aggressive people shouting at each other! That’s why it sounds the way it does.”
The Damned had formed in 1976. In October, five weeks before the Sex Pistols’ “Anarchy In The UK”, they released their debut, “New Rose”, the first British punk single. Shortly Afterwards they joined the Pistols, The Clash and Johnny Thunders & The Heartbreakers on the infamous Anarchy Tour of the UK. “Everyone wanted to be the pre-eminent punk group, especially the managers,” says Captain Sensible. “They had this dreadful rivalry. The bands got on, but
