New Rose

Recorded at Islington's Pathway Studios for £50 and running a tidy 2:46, "New Rose" was the debut single by The Damned. Released on October 22, 1976, it beat the Sex Pistols' "Anarchy In The U.K." to the shops by over a month to become what is generally recognized as the UK's first punk single. The Sex Pistols had been around longer, but The Damned beat them to vinyl. One of the first Damned concerts was opening for The Sex Pistols on July 6, 1976, at the 100 Club in London.

Early on, Damned guitarist Brian Jones was their principal songwriter, and he wrote "New Rose." Unlike other UK punk upstarts, Jones stayed away from politics, preferring to write songs about love or escapism, just at a hyperkinetic tempo. "New Rose" is filled with energy and excitement, with lead singer Dave Vanian over the moon: I never thought this could happen to me I feel strange, why should it be? Brian James explained the meaning when he told Mojo magazine February 2013: "Everyone thinks 'New Rose' is about a girl or a new relationship but it's not. It was about this emerging scene, this lovely buzz that you'd never dreamed could possibly happen. It was like. 'I'd got my own Swinging '60s,' that sorta vibe."

This was released on the Stiff label backed by a cover of The Beatles' "Help!" It appeared on the debut Damned album, Damned Damned Damned.