Song · The Damned
“Smash It Up” by The Damned
Released 1979
“Smash It Up” by The Damned appears on 5 radio countdowns from 4 stations between 1980 and 2003. It was first released in 1979. Its best result is #42 on the John Peel's All-Time Festive Fifty (1980). In the combined RockLists rankings it is #2,930 alternative song of all time.
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"Smash It Up" is the Damned in two acts, cut for their third studio album, Machine Gun Etiquette, where it's listed as "Smash It Up (Part II)", and pulled off it as a single in October 1979 with "Burglar" on the flip. It opens with a melodic instrumental written as a tribute to the late Marc Bolan, then kicks through the door into a bright, hurtling pop-punk tune.
Captain Sensible, Rat Scabies, Dave Vanian and Algy Ward wrote it, and the band produced it with Roger Armstrong. The lyric takes the mickey out of blow-dried hairdos and Glastonbury hippies, people who'd sooner drift than start a revolution. BBC Radio 1 wouldn't play it, hearing anarchy in the words, and the single stalled at 35 in the UK. It has stuck around anyway as the band's unofficial anthem.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1980 | 42 | John Peel (BBC Radio 1) | John Peel's All-Time Festive Fifty (1980) | 50 |
| 1989 | 44 | Triple J | Triple J Hottest 100 of All-Time (1989) | 100 |
| 1996 | 417 | KROQ | KROQ Flashback 500 (Memorial Day 1996) | 500 |
| 2002 | 580 | Fred (XM 44) | Fred XM Top 2002 Songs of All-Time (July 2002) | 2002 |
| 2003 | 528 | Fred (XM 44) | Fred XM Top 2044 Songs of All-Time (July 2003) | 2044 |
Also listed as: Smash It Up (Part I); Smash it up (Part I).
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