The Stranglers. Opinions?

[MrSki]

Why Sir Horace Cutler banned them from London when he was head of the GLC



Had to play as the Shakespearos

When I saw them once at the Rainbow with strippers they were male and female. A Judge and a Police women when Hugh was banged up in Pentonville.

 

[chasbo zelena]

In terms of hitching onto the punk thing, yes, totally - but they weren't alone in that!

 

[MrSki]

Or to combine.

 

[Casual Observer]

Don't think you can accuse Ian Dury of hitching a ride on punk, the other way around if anything.

 

[scalyboy]

Don't think you can accuse Ian Dury of hitching a ride on punk, the other way around if anything.

Interesting idea - do you mean in the sense that he was singing in an English accent, and singing about 'real -life' London themes in the Kilburns, pre-punk? Yes, true. Although the whole of the pub rock 'movement' could be seen as a precursor to punk, as a grittier, more exciting 'street' reaction to boring stadium rock. e.g. the Feelgoods. Ian Dury may have cut his hair shorter around 1976-77; however, it may have been he who pioneered the razor-blade-as-jewellery-item trend

 

[Voley]

This was always my favourite of theirs:



along with No More Heroes, Grip, Something Better Change and a few others. I've never heard any of their albums but the Greatest Hits one only tails off towards the end. Loads of great singles. Ace band, fucking great bass player.

 

[oryx]

They were one of my very favourite band of the punk era. If I ever hear 'Grip' it takes me right back. Used to have that, Five Minutes and Peaches in picture covers.

I'll never forget the time I saw them live at Cambridge Corn Exchange (which used to be a big old barn of a place with bad acoustics) in 1981. Lots of my friends left saying the sound was really bad. I stayed on my own and hearing them do 'Hanging Around' was an experience I've never forgotten, bad acoustics and all, coming from a place where there were hardly ever any live gigs.....

 

[Casual Observer]

Interesting idea - do you mean in the sense that he was singing in an English accent, and singing about 'real -life' London themes in the Kilburns, pre-punk? Yes, true. Although the whole of the pub rock 'movement' could be seen as a precursor to punk, as a grittier, more exciting 'street' reaction to boring stadium rock. e.g. the Feelgoods. Ian Dury may have cut his hair shorter around 1976-77; however, it may have been he who pioneered the razor-blade-as-jewellery-item trend

Ian Dury knew Malcolm McLaren before the Sex Pistols came into being and the future Pistols saw Ian Dury perform a few times in the early/mid 70s. Dury's ex-manager (Tommy Roberts) also shared the lease on the McLaren/Westwood Kings Road shop pre-1971 (when McLaren took it over).

There's a fair bit of Johnny Rotton's Sex Pistols stage persona that overlaps with what Dury was doing pre-Pistols - the accentuated Cockney vocals and the hunched behind the microphone stand delivery, the later of which Gene Vincent was doing before Dury but that's amother story.

 

[trabuquera]

My opinions about the Stranglers are powerfully ambivalent; I love their music beyond reason, but recoil from the hateful misogyny (and occasional lameness - "shakespeareos"? really?) of their lyrics, and I feel sick when thinking about how those lyrics stemmd from their record (or at least some of their record) for being violent abusers (of women, among many others) in real life. Couldn't care less about their class backgrounds (posh, iirc) or whether/how they fit into the approved History of Punk. They rock, I love them, and I also hate them.

 

[chasbo zelena]

Don't think you can accuse Ian Dury of hitching a ride on punk, the other way around if anything.

Okay, what I mean is that he probably wouldn't have got famous without punk happening.
Would punk have happened without abusive uncle? Fuck knows.

 

[The39thStep]

I loved the first album ( keyboards reminded me of the Doors) and then really enjoyed some of their later stuff. I had a 'discussion' with JJ Brunel in Acton High Street about the Stranglers use of strippers at gig they did. He was about five foot three and full of shit although he told me he was a martial arts expert.

Not the Stranglers but released by Hugh Cornwall when he was still in them

 

[MrSki]

Nosferatu Hugh Cornwall & Robert Williams. One of my favourite albums of all time.

Well trippy compared to The Stranglers stuff.

 

[MrSki]

Wrong Way Round has another Ian Dury appearance and supposedly the Clash sing backing vocals on Puppets but I had not heard that before.

 

[Orang Utan]

I dunno, lot's of good stuff came out of Punk that wasn't really Punk, don't think late's a problem.

Like The Clash?

 

[chasbo zelena]

If you must.

 

[Orang Utan]

I'd rather not.
I would even venture that the Stranglers made better music than the Clash.
Neither proper punk bands though

 

[lefteri]

He was about five foot three and full of shit although he told me he was a martial arts expert.

He is a martial arts expert - he heads up the uk branch of shidokan, a full contact blend of karate & kickboxing, he was my instructor for a while - he's definitely not 5 foot 3, more like 5'10 - he is full of shit though!

 

[andysays]

I'd rather not.
I would even venture that the Stranglers made better music than the Clash.
Neither proper punk bands though

Not going to argue about the Stranglers, but I'd be interested to read a rationale for your frankly heretical notion that the Clash weren't a proper punk band...

 

[Orang Utan]

Not nearly noisy or shouty or raw enough. The Clash were too polished. Proper punk is fast and loud and raucous. The Americans were better at it than the Brits IMO.

 

[andysays]

Not nearly noisy or shouty or raw enough. The Clash were too polished. Proper punk is fast and loud and raucous. The Americans were better at it than the Brits IMO.

Hmm. So here we go arguing about punk again...

The idea that "proper" punk is fast and loud and raucous, and that if it isn't all those things it isn't "proper" punk is ridiculous, reductive and regressive nonsense, in my opinion, totally counter to the true significance of punk, which was about self expression.

From the little I know of you, you're too young to have ever experienced the Clash live (please correct me if I'm wrong), but even seeing some of their early performances on youtube should be enough to disuade any sensible person of the idea that they weren't nearly noisy or shouty or raw enough, or that they were particularly polished, especially live.

And simplistic statements about Americans (what, all of them?) being "better" at it (better than Brits, presumably), suggest you are afraid of making specific claims and want to fall back on evasive generalisations.

 

[Orang Utan]

nah

 

[Orang Utan]

And simplistic statements about Americans (what, all of them?) being "better" at it (better than Brits, presumably), suggest you are afraid of making specific claims and want to fall back on evasive generalisations.

Dead Kennedys and Ramones shit all over most UK punk bands

 

[andysays]

Dead Kennedys and Ramones shit all over most UK punk bands

 

[Orang Utan]

my opinion is better than yours.

 

[andysays]

my opinion is better than yours.

I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge, but I was there.
I was there.
But I was there...



I heard everybody you know is more relevant than everybody that I know

 

[Orang Utan]

i hate that tune and that band

 

[Idaho]

Vocals by George Formby I believe.

I love the stranglers. Of all the music I listened to as a youth, they are the ones I still listen to regularly.

 

[andysays]

i hate that tune and that band

They shit all over most all current UKS punk bands

 

[Orang Utan]

They shit all over most all current UKS punk bands

And Chic shat all over them

 

[Orang Utan]

And Chic shat all over them

And then Robert Mapplethorpe took an elegant black & white photograph of it