Stranglers

Good point about their cover of Walk on by. It would be in my list of all time great cover versions even allowing for bolting Light My Fire by theDoors into the twiddly mid section meanderings. Loved Hugh Cornwall's vocals on the original line up's version

They really were a band who really were both loved and loathed. I was a big fan at 13 and so didn't actually notice the sexism. I did like horrible sounding aggressive music though. As a band they always just seemed unbelievably popular in small towns. It's that suburban shock value with great tunes. Girls liked them too. I know plenty of people who started playing bass (me included) because of JJ Burnell's bass sound.

I still play the first Lp and I'm still impressed by just how nasty the band sounded. A horrible scratchy guitar sound and ferocious bass. Sarky, unpleasant and with the smell of a possible beating. They sounded like a night in a hostel. In hindsight they sounded as unlovable as their personalities probably were.

I remember taping a John Peel session with tracks that would turn up on Rattus Norvegicus and having Hanging Around swirling round my head next day at school dinners. Also how about this for a 1977 combination? An In Concert feature on Radio 1 featuring half an hour of The Stranglers coupled with a half hour set by Dave Edmunds Rockpile.

The quality nose-dived after their third album Black and White, but you have got to salute them though for making the very silly (it's also very dire) Meninblack album before alien conspiracy theories really took off. Bet they didn't play anything off it though? Bet the audience were gladthey didn't too. Interesting thing about their vocalist turnover. Their last singer PaulRoberts was with them for longer than Hugh Cornwall. I once heard an interview when JJ Burnell complained that when Hugh left the band he did it over the phone rather than telling him face to face. I think it was for the same reason that no one ever told JJ to turn his bass down. JJ... HE WAS SCARED OF YOU