Stranglers

The Stranglers are an English rock band who emerged via the punk rock scene. Scoring some 23 UK top 40 singles and 17 UK top 40 albums to date in a career spanning four decades, the Stranglers are one of the longest-surviving and most "continuously successful" band to have originated in the UK punk scene of the mid to late 1970s. Beginning life as the Guildford Stranglers on 11 September 1974 in Guildford, Surrey, they originally built a following within the mid-1970s pub rock scene. While their aggressive, no-compromise attitude identified them as one of the instigators of the UK punk rock scene that followed, their idiosyncratic approach rarely followed any single musical genre and the group went on to explore a variety of musical styles, from new wave, art rock and gothic rock through the sophisticated pop of some of their 1980s output. They had major mainstream success with their single "Golden Brown". Their other hits include "No More Heroes", "Peaches", "Always the Sun" and "Skin Deep". The Stranglers' early sound was driven by Jean-Jacques Burnel's melodic bass, but also gave prominence to Dave Greenfield's keyboards at a time when the instrument was seen as unfashionable. Their early music was also characterised by the growling vocals and sometimes misanthropic lyrics of both Jean-Jacques Burnel and Hugh Cornwell. (read more at Wikipedia)
Keyboard player Dave Greenfield died in May 2020 at the age of 71 after testing positive for coronavirus. Drummer Jet Black died in December 2022 at the age of 84 after an unspecified long illness.
==Links To Peel ==
Peel first went to see The Stranglers at the Hammersmith Odeon in October 1976 supporting Patti Smith, well before the band were signed to United Artists Records and subsequently became a champion of their music in their early stage. The band recorded two sessions for his show, the first of which was broadcast before their debut album "Rattus Norvegicus" came out and later repeated several times. During one of these repeats on 12 May 1977, Peel enthusiastically referred to them as one of the bands who were making "the first half of 1977 the best six months for music since the latter half of 1967" and added that the more he heard them, the more he liked them. 40 years later, in 2017, bassist J.J. Burnel recalled that the BBC sessions and Peel's support signaled the moment when the band started to gain credibility and legitimacy in the scenehttps://thestranglers.co.uk/40th-anniversary-of-1977-part-1/. 
Peel continued to feature exclusive tracks from their albums in the late 70s, including famously playing their third album "Black and White" in full before its release datehttps://louderthanwar.com/the-stranglers-black-and-white-was-the-first-post-punk-album/. He also featured tracks from Burnel's solo album "Euroman Cometh", from "Nosferatu", a collaboration between frontman and guitar player Hugh Cornwell and Robert Williams, the then-current drummer for Captain Beefheart, which also included cameos by Ian Dury and members of The Mothers of Invention and Devo among others and the two singles by Celia & The Mutations, who were The Stranglers in disguise as the backing band of punk singer Celia Gollin. 
However, when the band signed to Epic Records in 1983, they changed their songwriting to a more mellow pop sound with less focus on Burnel's bass playing and more on Greenfield's synthesizers. This change of style wasn't appreciated by Peel who on his Peel 042 (BFBS) show called their "Nice In Nice" single "a bit of a bore". Nonetheless, their older more aggressive material still got occasional plays.
==Festive Fifty Entries==
*1977 Festive Fifty: London Lady #32
*1978 Festive Fifty: London Lady #40
*1978 Festive Fifty: No More Heroes #33
*1978 Festive Fifty: Hanging Around #32
*1979 Festive Fifty: No More Heroes #45
==Sessions==
*thumb|330x330pxTwo sessions, officially available on "The Sessions" (Essential, 1995). 'Somethin' Better Change' from session #1 also officially available on Winters Of Discontent - The Peel Sessions 77-83 (Strange Fruit) and 'No More Heroes' from #2 available on Movement: BBC Radio 1 Peel Sessions 1977-1979 (BBC Worldwide Ltd.). Full session #1 also unofficially available on John Peel Session, 1977 (Stigma).
1. Recorded: 1977-03-01. Broadcast: 07 March 1977. Repeated: 08 April 1977, 12 May 1977, 21 December 1977, 16 July 1980, 19 August 1986.
*Hangin' Around / I Feel Like A Wog / Goodbye Toulouse / Somethin' Better Change
2. Recorded: 1977-08-30. Broadcast: 13 September 1977. Repeated: 17 October 1977, 21 November 1977, 28 December 1977.
*Dead Ringer / No More Heroes / Burning Up Time / Bring On The Nubiles
==Live==
Recorded at the London Roundhouse gig of 1977-11-06. Broadcast: 27 December 1977. Repeated: 23 January 1978. No commercial release but parts of this show appeared on "Live (X Cert)" (United Artists Records, 1979).
#No More Heroes
#Dead Ringer
#Sometimes
#Dagenham Dave
#Hanging Around
#Bitching
#Burning Up Time
#I Feel Like A Wog
#Straighten Out
#Something Better Change
#London Lady
#Peaches
#(Get A) Grip (On Yourself)
==Other Shows Played==
(The list is incomplete. Please add further information if known)
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;1977
*27 January 1977: Grip / London Lady (7") United Artists
*28 January 1977: Grip / London Lady (7") United Artists
*31 January 1977: London Lady (7" - Grip / London Lady) United Artists
*02 March 1977: London Lady
*The Stranglers John Peel Show Extracts March / April 1977: Choosey Suzie (limited 7" with album - Stranglers IV (Rattus Norvegicus)) United Artists FREE 3
*The Stranglers John Peel Show Extracts March / April 1977: Hanging Around (album - Stranglers IV (Rattus Norvegicus)) United Artists UAG 30045
*The Stranglers John Peel Show Extracts March / April 1977: Peasant in the Big Shitty - Live (limited 7" with album - Stranglers IV (Rattus Norvegicus)) United Artists FREE 3
*05 April 1977: Down In The Sewer (Album: Rattus Norvegicus) (EMI)
*06 April 1977: Three tracks from "Rattus Norvegicus" 
*25 April 1977: Unknown track trailed in show introduction.
*The Stranglers John Peel Show Extracts March / April 1977 / PM004: Go Buddy Go (album - Stranglers IV (Rattus Norvegicus)) United Artists UAG 30045 28 April 1977 or 29 April 1977.
*11 May 1977: Peaches (7")' United Artists
*17 May 1977: 'Go Buddy Go.'
*19 May 1977: 'Peaches (7")' United Artists (JP: 'I'm not quite sure why that's not getting played on the radio: it's a pity that it isn't, 'cos it's an excellent record. Perhaps it's because it's got a reference to "sewers" in it, and sewers as we all know are not fun places. The girls in the Radio 1 typing pool, who have fine taste I think, think that that and the Frankie Miller single [1] are the two best singles around at the moment, and they could well be right.')
*20 May 1977: Peaches (7") United Artists UP 36248 The version that's had a clitorectomy
*PM015: 'Something Better Change (7")' (United Artists)
*12 July 1977: 'Something Better Change (7")' (United Artists)
*14 July 1977: 'Something Better Change (7")' (United Artists)
*15 July 1977: Straighten Out (7" - Something Better Change) United Artists
*19 July 1977: Something Better Change (7") United Artists 
*22 July 1977: Straighten Out (7" - Something Better Change) United Artists
*05 August 1977: Something Better Change (7" - Something Better Change / Straighten Out) United Artists
*29 August 1977: London Lady (7", Single: Grip) United Artists Records
*29 August 1977: Straighten Out (7", Single: Something Better Change) United Artists Records
*0x September 1977: No More Heroes (7") United Artists
*13 September 1977: 'School Mam (LP-No More Heroes)' (United Artists)
*22 September 1977: In The Shadows (7" - No More Heroes) United Artists UP 36300 
*22 September 1977: Bitching (album - No More Heroes) United Artists UAG 30200 
*03 October 1977: Hanging Around (12", Album: Rattus Norvegicus) United Artists Records
*04 October 1977: Before the final hour, Peel promises "three from Randy Newman, three from the Modern Lovers, plus The Stranglers, Gladiators, Tyla Gang and oh so much more." 
*26 December 1977: London Lady (single) United Artists FF #21
;1978
*24 January 1978: 5 Minutes (7") United Artists UP 36350
*24 January 1978: Rocket To The Moon (7" - 5 Minutes) United Artists UP 36350 
*01 February 1978: 5 Minutes (7") United Artists
*09 February 1978: 5 Minutes (7") United Artists
*05 May 1978: Nice 'n' Sleazy (7") United Artists UP 36379
*09 May 1978: Walk On By (7" - Walk On By / Old Codger / Tank) United Artists
*10 May 1978: Sweden (All Quiet On The Eastern Front) / Hey! (Rise Of The Robots) / Toiler On The Sea (LP - Black And White) United Artists
*17 May 1978: Tank (LP - Black And White) United Artists
*22 May 1978: Mean To Me (free EP with Black & White LP) United Artists
*26 July 1978: Go Buddy Go (v/a LP - Street Music - No Heroes No Legends) United Artists
*20 December 1978: Enough Time (LP – Black And White) United Artists
*27 December 1978: London Lady (LP - Rattus Norvegicus, 1977) United Artists FF #40
*27 December 1978: No More Heroes (LP - No More Heroes, 1977) United Artists FF #33
*27 December 1978: Hanging Around (LP - Rattus Norvegicus, 1977) United Artists FF #32
;1979
*20 February 1979: 5 Minutes / Go Buddy Go (album - Live (X-Cert)) United Artists UAG 30224
*21 February 1979: Straighten Out / Curfew / Do You Wanna? / Death And Night And Blood (Yukio)(Medley) (album - Live (X-Cert)) United Artists UAG 30224
*07 July 1979 (BFBS): Sverige (Jag Är Insnöad På Östfronten) (7") United Artists
*09 August 1979: Duchess (single) United Artists
*24 September 1979: The Raven (LP – The Raven) United Artists
*20 December 1979: 'No More Heroes (LP-No More Heroes)' (United Artists) FF #45
;1980
*08 March 1980 (BFBS): Goodbye Toulouse (album - Rattus Norvegicus) United Artists UAG 30045
*03 May 1980 (BFBS): Meninblack (album - The Raven) United Artists UAG 30262
*19 May 1980: 'Who Wants The World (7 inch)' (United Artists)
*14 June 1980 (BFBS): Hanging Around (album - Live X Cert) United Artists UAG 30224
;1981
*30 June 1981: Hanging Around (album - Rattus Norvegicus) United Artists UAG 30045
*22 November 1981 (BFBS): How To Find True Love And Happiness In The Present Day (album - La Folie) Liberty LBG 30342
*17 December 1981 (BBC World Service): The Man They Love To Hate (album - La Folie) Liberty LBG 30342
;1982
*26 January 1982: No More Heroes
;1985
*10 February 1985 (BFBS): '(Get A) Grip (On Yourself) (LP-Rattus Norvegicus)' (UA)
*Peel 005 (BFBS): '(Get A) Grip (On Yourself) (LP-Rattus Norvegicus)' (UA) (JP: 'Goodness me, that used to sound really hard in the days when it first came out. It sounds sort of Gary Numanesque these days.')
;1989
*20 September 1989: No More Heroes (album - No More Heroes) United Artists
;2004
*16 December 2004: Midnight Summer Dream
;Others
*Punk 78: Sweden (All Quiet On The Eastern Front) / Hey! (Rise Of The Robots) / Toiler On The Sea (LP - Black And White) United Artists
*Staying Single: Something Better Change
*Punk Fiction: Peaches / Nice 'n' Sleazy
;J.J. Burnel
*19 April 1979: Do The European (LP - Euroman Cometh) United Artists
*21 May 1979: Triumph (Of The Good City) (LP - Euroman Cometh) United Artists UAG 30214
;Hugh Cornwell & Robert Williams
*29 October 1979: White Room (single) United Artists
;Celia & The Mutations
*05 July 1977: Mony Mony (7") United Artists
*28 October 1977: You Better Believe Me (7") United Artists
*16 November 1977: Round & Around (7" - You Better Believe Me) United Artists UP 36318
*07 March 1982 (BFBS): Mony Mony (7") United Artists
*02 May 1982 (BFBS): You Better Believe Me (7") United Artists UP 36318
== Top Of The Pops ==
*28 August 1986 (TOTP): Nice In Nice (32) (video clip - breaker)
== See Also ==
*Gigography 1976 
*Gigography 1985
*Record Collection: Auction
*Burt Bacharach
*Sounds
==External Links==
*Wikipedia
*Discogs
*Official Website
;Footnotes
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