Song · The Damned
“Love Song” by The Damned
From the album Machine Gun Etiquette (1979)
“Love Song” by The Damned appears on 3 radio countdowns from 1 station between 1979 and 1982. It was first released in 1979 on the album Machine Gun Etiquette. Its best result is #22 on the John Peel's All-Time Festive Fifty (1979). In the combined RockLists rankings it is #4,028 alternative song of all time.
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"Love Song" was the Damned's comeback shot in April 1979, the first single from the reformed band's deal with Chiswick Records, and it's a blast of punk-pop with its tongue jammed firmly in its cheek. Dave Vanian sings, Captain Sensible plays guitar, Algy Ward bass and Rat Scabies drums, all four share the writing credit, and they produced it with Roger Armstrong.
Chiswick sold it hard, with four picture sleeves, one per band member, and 20,000 extra copies on red vinyl split evenly between them. It worked: "Love Song" climbed to number 20 in the UK, their first top 40 hit, and got them onto Top of the Pops for the first time. It later turned up on their third album, Machine Gun Etiquette, and when it was reissued in 1982, Ward's sleeve was dropped because he'd left the band.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
RockLists rankings
Alternative & Modern Rock
All Rock Formats
All-time and decade countdowns
| Year | # | Station | Countdown | of |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1979 | 22 | John Peel (BBC Radio 1) | John Peel's All-Time Festive Fifty (1979) | 50 |
| 1980 | 29 | John Peel (BBC Radio 1) | John Peel's All-Time Festive Fifty (1980) | 50 |
| 1982 | 49 (tie) | John Peel (BBC Radio 1) | John Peel's All-Time Festive Fifty (1982) | 50 |
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