1979 started a new chapter in the history of the damned. the release of the single 'love song' in april proved that they were back and better than ever! after disbanding in early 1978 it took them almost a year to wise up, put their differences aside and have a go at making music together. one difference though: brian james wasn't in the picture this time around. a wise move was made in moving captain sensible to guitar and enlisting the help of former saint's bassist algy ward. could vanian, scabies and sensible succeed minus their chief songwriter? the answer was a resounding yes! the result being the album 'machine gun etiquette'. released in november 1979, this record gave a middle finger response to all critics who had dismissed the group as a cartoonish caberet act. the opener 'love song' (a definitive damned song, right up there with 'new rose' and 'neat neat neat'), grabs you by the throat and from there on in it only gets better: the full-speed-ahead thrash of the title track (complete with a breakdown strangely reminicent of gary glitter's 'rock and roll'), the poppy keyboard-driven 'i just can't be happy today', straight-forward punk'n'roll numbers such as 'noise noise noise', 'liar', 'melody lee', and 'antipope' (featuring a bongo jam in the middle!), the circus-like atmosphere of 'these hands' and the quintesential live damned song, a run through mc5's classic 'looking at you'. 'plan 9 channel 7' is undoubtably a bonafide classic, as is 'smash it up', the punk anthem of anthems.