Though it had been bubbling under for 18 months, the end of 1976 was when UK punk got its first seven inches. The Sex Pistols’ “Anarchy in the UK” may have generated the most outrage, but The Damned’s “New Rose” got there first. While they may have fired the first shot, The Damned ran counter to many of the key tenets of punk. Their songs dealt with the personal rather than the political, they didn’t instantly disregard all music before 1976 and they could actually play their instruments. They were outcasts, set adrift by the punk powers that be, yet one of the most vital and interesting bands of the era. This is New British Canon and this is the story of “New Rose.”