We’re sorry to listen to of the passing of Brian James, one of many key architects of punk rock.
Brian was the guitar genius who shaped the Damned and wrote practically all of the songs on the primary two albums and created the template for punk rock…his songs have been thrilling, thrilling and nice rushes of sound with wonderful guitar solos. Even when he had simply written New Rose alone he can be one of many greats however there was a lot nice music as he distilled the Stooges and MC5 right into a extra thrilling complete. His imaginative and prescient for the Damned noticed him put the band collectively, selecting the members of the lineup that in some way fitted completely regardless of being so totally completely different from each other. The Damned first album is an all time basic however I’ve at all times beloved the second album as properly and it was nice to see Brian again on stage with the band a few years in the past a superb epitaph and lap of honour for one of many nice bands and for Brian himself.
His post-Damned Tanz Der Youth challenge was a giant favorite of mine, and Lords of The New Church was one other visionary challenge musically and visually from Brian, who understood the total 360 of rock n roll – the garments/the cool/the music and the imaginative and prescient factor.
Over time, he was at all times there doing cool stuff. I met him a couple of instances, and he was a complete gent and a visionary – Mick Jones from The Conflict usually mentioned that Brian was the primary particular person he met who had the imaginative and prescient for punk when he turned as much as jam with Mick on Praed Road in 1975.
Godspeed Brian, you have been essential in all our lives and I’ll be cranking your music tonight…
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