As punk's history enters a new millennium, the impact of the band initially judged "the least likely to" seems to grow ever more each day. The Ramones hold deserved pride of place for kick-starting the whole thing, while the Sex Pistols and to a lesser extent the Clash helped take it to an even more notorious level, role models for many young bands to this day. But arguably just as important and memorable were the Damned, London contemporaries of the Pistols and Clash that made their own mark from the start. Eschewing political posing, ill-fitting outside rhetoric, and simply doing the same thing over and over again, the group — lacking anything like a stable lineup — took punk's simplicity and promise as a starting point and ran with it. The end result, at the group's finest: a series of inspired, ambitious albums and amazing live shows combining full-on rock energy, a stylish sense of performance, and humorous deadpan cool.

As of early 2001, the Vanian/Sensible-led Damned looked to be in fine shape, planning gigs and finishing up an as-yet untitled record for Nitro — the group's first real studio album since 1986. Knowing the fractured history of the band — captured in the literally endless series of releases, authorized and otherwise, from all periods of its career, live, studio, compilations, and more — it'd be a foolish person who'd claim things will stay on an even keel for the future. Permanently losing Scabies would seem to have been a killer blow on first blush, but the group soldiers on regardless, a welcome influence from the past as well as a group of fine entertainers for the present. Regardless of where the next years take them — and who knows if there might not be one more full reunion tour many moons from now — long live the Damned. — Ned Raggett, AMG