Editing The Damned (band) (section)

===Shift towards gothic rock (1980–1987)===
Ward left the band in 1980, to be replaced by [[Paul Gray (English musician)|Paul Gray]], formerly of [[Eddie and the Hot Rods]]. ''[[The Black Album (The Damned album)|The Black Album]]'' was released later that year, produced by the band themselves apart from one track produced by [[Hans Zimmer]], with three sides of the [[double album]] consisting of studio tracks, including the theatrical 17-minute song "Curtain Call". Side 4 featured a selection of live tracks recorded at [[Shepperton Studios]]. It was their last album for Chiswick.{{citation needed|date=May 2019}}

In 1981, the Damned released ''[[Friday 13th (EP)|Friday 13th]]'', a four-song [[Extended play|EP]] that featured the original tracks "Disco Man", "Billy Bad Breaks", "Limit Club" and a cover version of [[the Rolling Stones]] song "[[Citadel (The Rolling Stones song)|Citadel]]".<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.markprindle.com/damned.htm#friday|title=The Damned|website=Markprindle.com|access-date=24 July 2019}}</ref>

In 1982, the Damned released their only studio album for [[Bronze Records]], ''[[Strawberries (album)|Strawberries]]''. The band had now expanded to a quintet with the addition of full-time keyboardist [[Roman Jugg]]. At the time, Sensible was splitting his time between the Damned and his own solo career, having reached chart success in the UK with the 1982 number-one hit "[[Happy Talk (song)|Happy Talk]]". The band's next album, a one-off side project recorded without Sensible, was the soundtrack to an imaginary 1960s movie called ''Give Daddy the Knife, Cindy''.<ref>[http://crawdaddy.wolfgangsvault.com/Article.aspx?id=5824 "Naz Nomad and the Nightmares"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081220025047/http://crawdaddy.wolfgangsvault.com/Article.aspx?id=5824 |date=20 December 2008 }}, ''[[Crawdaddy!]]'', 27 February 2008.</ref> For this limited-run album of 1960s [[Cover version|cover songs]], the band was billed as [[Naz Nomad and the Nightmares]].<ref>"Dave Vanian becomes Mr. Nomad, while Roman Jugg turns into Sphinx Svenson, and Rat Scabies into Nick Detroit". {{ cite web | url = {{Allmusic|class=album|id=r45754|pure_url=yes}} | title = Give Daddy the Knife Cindy | website= [[AllMusic]] | author = Raggett, Ned | access-date = 2006-09-10 }}</ref>

In 1984, the Damned performed on the [[BBC Two]] sitcom ''[[The Young Ones (TV series)|The Young Ones]]'' with their song "Nasty", featuring new bassist [[Bryn Merrick]] (replacing Gray) and both Jugg and Sensible on guitar.{{citation needed|date=June 2019}} Sensible played his last concert with the band at [[Brockwell Park]] before leaving to pursue his solo career.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W3PODgAAQBAJ&q=the+damned+brockwell+park+1984&pg=PA1996|title=Smashing It Up: A Decade of Chaos with The Damned|first=Kieron|last=Tyler|date=12 June 2017|publisher=Omnibus Press|isbn=9781783238903|via=Google Books}}</ref>

From the earliest days of the band, Vanian had adopted a [[vampire]]-like appearance onstage, with chalk-white makeup and formal dress.<ref name="AM"/><ref>"Vanian's smart crooning and spooky theatricality ended up more or less founding goth rock inadvertently (with nearly all his clones forgetting what he always kept around—an open sense of humour)." [[AllMusic]]</ref> With Sensible gone, Vanian's image became more characteristic of the band as a whole. The Damned signed a recording contract with major label [[MCA Records]], and the ''[[Phantasmagoria (The Damned album)|Phantasmagoria]]'' album followed in July 1985, preceded by the UK No.&nbsp;21 single "[[Grimly Fiendish]]". Other hits from the same album were "[[The Shadow of Love]]"<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.officialcharts.com/songs/damned-the-shadow-of-love/ | title=The Shadow of Love | website=[[Official Charts Company|Official Charts]] }}</ref> with a gloomy gothic sound, and the lighter "[[Is It A Dream?|Is It a Dream?]]".<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.officialcharts.com/songs/damned-is-it-a-dream/ | title=Is It a Dream | website=[[Official Charts Company|Official Charts]] }}</ref>

In January 1986, the non-album single "[[Eloise (Paul Ryan song)|Eloise]]", a cover version of the 1968 hit by [[Barry Ryan (singer)|Barry Ryan]], became a No.&nbsp;3 chart success in the UK, the band's highest chart placing to date.<ref name="auto1"/>

''Phantasmagoria'''s December 1986 followup ''[[Anything (The Damned album)|Anything]]'' was a commercial disappointment, although MCA included one of its tracks ("[[In Dulce Decorum]]") on the ''[[List of Miami Vice soundtracks#Miami Vice II|Miami Vice II]]'' soundtrack release. The cover of [[Love (band)|Love]]'s "[[Alone Again Or]]" was also released as a single.{{citation needed|date=May 2019}}

Late in 1987, the Damned began to work on a new studio album for MCA, but the output of these sessions remains unreleased as the record contract was dissolved. Two of the new songs ("Gunning for Love" and "The Loveless and the Damned") were later rerecorded by the [[Dave Vanian and the Phantom Chords]] side project.