by Chris Harris
When I was 18, two of my top five albums were London Calling by The Clash and Machine Gun Etiquette by The Damned. More than 40 years on, both albums still sit firmly in that same personal top five. For many people who love punk and its wider musical orbit, London Calling is the definitive record of the genre. But for me, personally, as a huge Damned fan, Machine Gun Etiquette matches it blow for blow, brimming with power, urgency, and a melodic accessibility that elevates it far beyond a straight punk record. Mind you London Calling will never be bettered.
What many people don’t realise is that these two albums were recorded at the same time, in neighbouring studios at Wessex in 1979. For significant periods, The Clash were in one room while The Damned were in another. two of punk’s greatest bands, at the absolute height of their creative powers, unknowingly soundtracking one another’s sessions. Biographies suggest there was plenty of crossover and interaction between the bands, and it’s hard not to believe that some of that creative electricity rubbed off.
And it wasn’t just a vague “sometime in 1979” overlap either. The timelines properly collide.
London Calling was recorded at Wessex Sound Studios between August and November 1979, with recording beginning in August 1979 and mixing happening later in November.
Machine Gun Etiquette was recorded across March–May 1979, then again July–August 1979, with Wessex Sound Studios one of the key locations.
So the Damned were still wrapping parts of Machine Gun Etiquette while The Clash were gearing up and beginning London Calling.
It feels like an almost absurd coincidence: two landmark albums, recorded back to back and overlapping, in the same building, within weeks of each other. Surely this represents the true creative peak of the punk movement, not just raw aggression, but ambition, songwriting depth, and musical confidence. One album went on to conquer the world; the other, while perhaps less universally canonised, remains ferociously loved by those who know it and like the Damned. Incredibly underrated.
Wessex Studios.
Part of what makes this story so satisfying is where it happened.
Wessex Sound Studios wasn’t some anonymous sterile facility. It was a proper London recording room with an amazing history. The building was a converted Victorian church hall, with that very specific combination of tall space and odd acoustics.
It sat at 106a Highbury New Park, North London, and by the late 70s it had become one of those places where major records just happened, not because it was trendy, but because it worked. The Queen and the Sex Pistols recorded there.It closed in 2003, and the building ended up being converted into residential property.
Two albums Two Different Kinds of Brilliance.
The funny thing is: these records are often treated like they belong to completely different levels of “importance”, when musically they’re doing something equally impressive, but in different directions.
London Calling gets framed (fairly) as punk expanding outward: ambition, genre collision, big themes, big songs, big world. A huge step forward musically from the first two albums, hardly sounded punk, but it was the spirit of punk growing up.
But Machine Gun Etiquette is punk doing something arguably harder: staying fast, sharp, urgent, and slightly unhinged… while also being catchy, structured, and ridiculously replayable. Arguably, it has stood the test of time better. It still feels criminally underrated. It’s punk, yes—but it’s also pop, rock ’n’ roll, gothic drama, and melodic precision, all wrapped in relentless momentum.
And while it’s unrealistic to expect any band to match their absolute heyday forever, it’s genuinely heartening to see The Damned not reduced to a heritage act. They continue to perform at a high level, still recording strong albums, and bringing classics from Machine Gun Etiquette back to the stage, played by three of the band’s original surviving members.
The real “creative peak” of punk might be this exact overlap
People love to talk about punk’s peak as 1977: the explosion, the shock, the danger, the early mythology.
But I’ve always thought the truly interesting period comes slightly later—when the bands that could actually play, and write, and think started using punk as the launchpad rather than the destination.
That’s why the Wessex overlap matters so much.
It’s not just two brilliant albums near each other in time. It’s two different answers to the same question
#The Clash #The Damned #Punk Rock #Machine Gun Etiquette #London Calling
The Rights of Fans. 