The Stranglers
Background information
Origin	Guildford, Surrey, England
Genre(s)	Punk Rock, Post-punk, New Wave
Years active	1974–present
Label(s)	EMI
Members
Jean-Jacques Burnel Baz Warne Jet Black Dave Greenfield
Former members
Hugh Cornwell Hans Warmling John Ellis Paul Roberts

The Stranglers is an English rock music group, formed on September 11, 1974 in Guildford, Surrey. They were originally called The Guildford Stranglers and operated out of an off licence in the Surrey town called the 'Jackpot' which was run by their drummer. Original personnel were drummer Jet Black (real name Brian Duffy), bass player/vocalist Jean Jacques Burnel, guitarist/vocalist Hugh Cornwell and keyboardist/guitarist Hans Warmling. Hans was replaced by keyboardist Dave Greenfield within a year. None of the band actually came from Guildford - Black is from Ilford, Burnel from Notting Hill, Cornwell from Kentish Town and Greenfield from Brighton. Hans Warmling comes from Sweden, and returned there after leaving the band.

They began as a sinister sounding, hard-edged pub rock group, but eventually branched out to explore other styles of music. The Stranglers were, beginning in 1976, tangentially associated with punk rock, due in part to their opening for The Ramones' first British tour. The Stranglers were also associated with New Wave as well as gothic rock, but their idiosyncratic approach never fit completely within any musical genre. JJ Burnel has however said in an interview, "I certainly considered myself to be a punk-rocker". In another interview he goes further saying, "I would like to think we (The Stranglers) were more punk plus and then some".

EMI years

The group's members came from some very different backgrounds: Cornwell had been a blues musician prior to forming the band, bassist Jean Jacques Burnel had been a classical guitarist who had performed with symphony orchestras, Jet Black was a former jazz drummer, and Dave Greenfield had played at military bases in Germany. One of their early touchstones was a considerable influence from pre-punk psychedelic rock bands, especially The Doors, and The Music Machine.

However, despite their association with punk rock, the Stranglers were generally not regarded as punks by their musical peers. They wrote a string of top ten hits, including "No More Heroes" and "Peaches", which placed the band at the forefront of the New Wave movement - a branch one step removed from the more confrontational punks - not to mention that The Stranglers' material was fiercely intellectual. The band has been quoted as saying that they did not consider themselves to be a "punk" band. It was their frequent run-ins with the law and their strong following amongst British street gangs like the Finchley Boys that gave them a menacing persona. A nationwide UK tour in May 1977 where they were supported by the four-piece band London did nothing but strengthen their credibility and fanbase. Their 1978 appearance from the University of Surrey on the TV programme Rock Goes To College created an infamous incident where the group walked off stage after smashing their instruments and verbally abusing the audience. As the producer of RGTC was later to become the producer of The Old Grey Whistle Test it also accounted for their lack of an invitation to the latter. The band had themes of violence against women in their music. This ignited the rage of feminists who protested their music. At one protest, the band grabbed one of the feminist protesters, and proceeded to manhandle her until she managed to escape to safety. Later the band stated that it was unfortunate she escaped because she was probably enjoying it.

Their early albums are critically acclaimed. Although initially received with mixed reaction because of their apparent sexist and racist innuendo, the Stranglers employed a sort of dog-humour in their lyrics that won over many music critics. Indeed, Dave Thompson wrote that "the Stranglers themselves revelled in an almost Monty Python-esque grasp of absurdity (and, in particular, the absurdities of modern 'men's talk')." These early albums (Rattus Norvegicus, No More Heroes, Black and White) built a strong fan-following.

The picture cover of the March 1980 Bear Cage single - a double-A side with Shah Shah A Go Go

The Raven, their 1979 album, clearly illustrates the band's separation from 'traditional' punk and a transition towards a more melodic, less aggressive sound. The songs are multi-layered and musically complicated, and deal with such subjects as a Viking's lonely voyage, heroin addiction, genetic engineering, and more contemporary political events in Iran and Australia.

The following album, The Gospel According to The Meninblack was a concept album exploring religion and the supposed connection between religious phenomena and extra-terrestrial visitors. It peaked on the UK Albums Chart at #8,their lowest chart placing and was widely considered an artistic and commercial failure in 1980.

The Stranglers recovered their commercial and critical status, after a slow start, with La Folie (1981) which was another concept album, this time exploring the subject of love and included the hit "Golden Brown"). At first La Folie charted lower than any other Stranglers studio albums, and their first single "Let Me Introduce You to the Family" only charted at #41. EMI were said to be disappointed at this and informed the Stranglers that they were yesterday's men, and that they could soon find themselves searching for a new record label. The Stranglers then released "Golden Brown", their biggest hit, charting at #2 in the UK Singles Chart, and also proving to be EMI's biggest selling single for a number of years. La Folie then recharted at #11 in the UK albums chart. EMI then made a u-turn on their threat, this however did little to comfort the Stranglers. "Tramp" was thought to be the ideal follow up single to "Golden Brown", however "La Folie" was chosen after Jean Jacques Burnel convinced band mates of its potential. It charted at #47. By the release of this single the Stranglers lawyers found a loop hole allowing them to leave EMI. Immediately Stranglers informed their record company of their intention to leave. As part of their severance deal, The Stranglers were forced to release a greatest hits collection The Collection 1977-1982. This included the new single "Strange Little Girl", which was a bold choice as it was recorded on a demo and given to EMI before being signed. EMI had rejected the Stranglers on the basis of this demo. Despite EMI's original opinion of the song years before, it became a big hit charting at #7.

Epic Records era

In 1983 the Stranglers released their first album on Epic Records Feline, which included the hit "European Female" charting at #9. This album gained much critical success but fell way short of La Folie in terms of sales. Although not extremely successful in Britain, Feline was a success all over the rest of Europe. It was on this album that Jet Black began to use elctronic drum kits.

1984 saw the release of the Stranglers LP Aural Sculpture with the UK Top 20 hit "Skin Deep" (Top 30 hit in the Netherlands). This was their first album to feature the inclusion of a 3-piece horn-section which feature in all their albums and live performances until Hugh Cornwell's departure in 1990.

Their 1986 album, Dreamtime, concerned itself with environmental issues, and contained the memorable "Always the Sun" (a big hit in France, #15, and a moderate success in the Netherlands, #35). Dreamtime was also the only Stranglers album to chart in the U.S..

After Depeche Mode, by 1990, the Stranglers had had more British chart hits (28) than any other artist never to reach the number one spot.

Post-Cornwell era

In August 1990, founding member Cornwell left the band to pursue a solo career. In his autobiography, Cornwell states that he felt the band was a spent force creatively, and cited various examples of his increasingly acrimonious relationship with his fellow band-members, particularly Burnel. The remaining members recruited John Ellis, who had opened for the band in the 1970s as a member of The Vibrators, filled in for Cornwell during his time in prison in the early eighties, worked with Burnel and Greenfield in their side project "Purple Helmets" and also was added as a touring guitarist a short time before Cornwell's departure, as guitarist. Burnel and Ellis then took over vocal duties before deciding to enlist singer Paul Roberts.

Interest in The Stranglers resurfaced when, in 2001, singer Tori Amos covered their song "Strange Little Girl" and titled the album it was featured on Strange Little Girls. "Golden Brown" was also used in the hit film, Snatch, by director Guy Ritchie, and extensively in the Australian film He Died With A Felafel In His Hand. Their hit "No More Heroes" was covered by Violent Femmes and used for the film Mystery Men. "Peaches", finally, also appears prominently in another British movie, Sexy Beast by director Jonathan Glazer.

The Stranglers had a critical and popular renaissance in 2004 (together with their first top 40 hit for 14 years - "Big Thing Coming") with the acclaimed Norfolk Coast album and a subsequent sell-out tour. The follow-up album, Suite XVI, was released in September 2006 (the title is a pun on "Sweet 16" and also a reference to the fact that it is the band's sixteenth studio album).

Celebrity Stranglers fans include the chef Keith Floyd, who used "Peaches", "Waltzinblack" and other tracks as title and background music for his TV cookery programmes.

The Stranglers song "Peaches" is featured in the fourth game in the Driver series, Driver: Parallel Lines. A version of The Stranglers piece "Midnight Summer Dream" was also used in the BBC Micro computer game, Spellbinder.

As of May 2006 Paul Roberts has left the band. The lead vocals are currently being handled by the guitarist Baz Warne, and also Burnel, who has begun to sing more of the songs live that he originally recorded the vocals to.

In October 2006, a number of The Stranglers songs were voted, ranked and featured on the Triple M Essential 2006 Countdown including:

• "Skin Deep" was ranked and voted 253 out of 2006 songs
• "Golden Brown" was ranked and voted 1328 out of 2006 songs

Both "Golden Brown" and "Skin Deep" are rich sources of mondegreens. An example: "Better watch out for the Skin Deep" is often heard as "Brother, watch out for the Skinny".