“Posh tossers singing about nothing because they had nothing to protest about… it was part of the job to destroy Genesis and Yes”: Punk pioneer Captain Sensible loved plenty of prog – but had to hide it
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The Damned guitarist on spending years ripping off the genre he professed to hate, and the obscure tracks he’d play on Desert Island Discs – if they’d ever let him appear

So prog should be interesting – but who decides what’s interesting? Who are the prog police? I like the Groundhogs, but I can’t stand Yes. What’s the difference between them? One of them is really inspired and passionate and the other one is singing songs about fairies at the bottom of the garden.

Tony McPhee is my hero. He sang about real stuff that actually means something. Thank Christ For The Bomb is an incredible album. It’s an ironic title, of course; my girlfriend is Japanese, so I had to explain that one to her!

These fucking public school wankers in these prog bands in the mid-70s – these Royal College of Music educated posh tossers – were singing songs about absolutely nothing because they had nothing to protest about.

I want to hear people singing about real things with passion. When punk came along, it was part of the job to destroy Genesis and Yes. I wanted to see them fuck off and die.

But I do like the Canterbury scene. I like Hugh Hopper and I love the fuzz organ on the Caravan stuff. That’s where The Damned’s I Just Can’t Be Happy Today came from. Rat Scabies was a fan of Caravan and Gong as well, believe it or not.

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It’s a shame they’ll never have me on Desert Island Discs, will they? But it would be so difficult to choose six tracks. I’d probably pick some Ravel to confuse them, but also A Visit To Newport Hospital by Egg, Eccentric Man by the Groundhogs, Slightly All The Time by Soft Machine, Hallogallo by Neu! and wacky stuff like that. That’d shake up those Radio 4 bastards, wouldn’t it!”