When The Damned’s guitarist Captain Sensible hit with his whimsical solo cover of Rogers and Hammerstein’s “Happy Talk” and “Wot?” it looked to me like one of the original punks wanted to host a kid’s program. He could have been the Pee-wee Herman of Britain (Oh, come on, you know what I mean! How dare you disrespect the good Captain with your filthy minds!!!).

At the very least they could have given The Damned their own Young Ones-type sitcom. That would have been classic, what a tragically missed opportunity.

I’m obsessed by “Wot?” with its fantastically “chic” bassline and “straight out of Croyden” rap. Nine times out of ten, when I was actively DJing, I’d put this sucker on. People would always go nuts for this record.

If “Wot?” isn’t one of the greatest, glorious and most underrated singles of the early 1980s, I’ll eat a red beret…
 

 
Bonus: “(What D’Ya Give) The Man Who’s Gotten Everything?” from 1981’s “This is Your Captain Speaking” EP on Crass Records: