The Stranglers

The Stranglers emerged via the punk rock scene, formed as the Guildford Stranglers in Guildford, Surrey in the early 1970s, they originally built a following within the mid-1970s pub rock scene.

With their local connections, they were and remain one of my favourite bands of the period. I went to see the Strangers when they played Crawley College in 1977 and again when they were at Crawley Sports Centre in 1980.

The Stranglers are one of the longest-surviving bands to have originated in the UK punk scene.

While their aggressive, no-compromise attitude had them identified by the media with the emerging UK punk rock scene that followed, their unique approach rarely followed any single musical genre, and the group went on to explore a variety of musical styles.

They had major mainstream success with their 1982 single "Golden Brown". Their other hits include "No More Heroes", "Peaches", and "Always the Sun".

The Stranglers' early sound was driven by Jean-Jacques Burnel's bass, but also gave prominence to Dave Greenfield's keyboards. Their early music also highlighted growling vocals from both Burnel and Hugh Cornwell. Over time, their output gradually grew more refined and sophisticated.

In no particular order, here are some of my favourite Stranglers tracks, starting with 'Golden Brown'

'No More Heroes' really grabbed my attention when it first came out in 1977, hot on the heels of the 'Peaches' release.

A classic early Stranglers cover hit was 'Walk on By'

And the popular 'Something better Change'

A later track that was released was 'Duchess'

Another relatively big hit was 'Always the Sun'

My personal favourite Stranglers track of all time (at this time) is 'Strange Little Girl'

There are numerous other tracks that I would have liked to have ad recorded here but many of the currently available videos are of poor quality, so I have omitted them

Lead Singer, Hugh Cornwell, left the band in 1990, for me that was the end of the group, the remaining three carried on with various additions but their best is over.

Jet Black no longer tours and has been reported to be in poor health

Founding keyboard player Dave Greenfield died on 3 May 2020 of Covid-19 complications.

Generation X

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Dexys Midnight Runners were an English pop band with soul influences from Birmingham, who achieved major commercial success in the early to mid-1980s. They are best known in the UK for their songs " Come On Eileen " and " Geno ", both of which peaked at No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart, as well as six other top-20 singles. The original Dexys Midnight Runners were founded in 1978 in Birmingham, England by Kevin Rowland (vocals, guitar) and Kevin "Al" Archer (vocals, guitar). Both had been in the short-lived punk band the Killjoys. Rowland had previously written a Northern soul-style song that the two of them sang, " Tell Me When My Light Turns Green ", which became the first Dexys "song". The band's members were "Big" Jim Paterson (trombone), Geoff "JB" Blythe (saxophone, previously of Geno Washington's Ram Jam Band), Steve "Babyface" Spooner (alto saxophone), Pete Saunders (keyboard), Pete Williams (ba...

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Paul King was born in Ireland but moved to Coventry, England, with his parents at a young age. After graduating from Coventry Drama School he joined rock-ska band the Reluctant Stereotypes. King's line up of the band – which also contained record producer Paul Sampson – released an album and three singles before the band disintegrated. After the demise of the Reluctant Stereotypes, King formed the Raw Screens who in 1983 were relaunched as the self-named band King. As lead singer, King was famed for his BIG haircut and spray painted Doc Marten's Boots – whilst Richard James Burgess produced and drummed on most of the band's songs. The band lasted just a couple of years, though both of their albums, "Steps in Time" and "Bitter Sweet" , went Gold, and they had two Top 10 singles with "Love & Pride" and "Alone Without You" .

The Teardrop Explodes

In 1978, Liverpudlian Juian Cope formed The Teardrop Explodes with drummer Gary Dwyer, organist Paul Simpson and guitarist Mick Finkler, with himself as singer, bass player and principal songwriter. Drawing on a post-punk version of West Coast pop music, the band became part of a wave of such Liverpool bands. Cope and Dwyer (and later their manager-turned-keyboard player David Balfe) were the only band constants, although seven other members passed in and out of the line-up during the band's fractious four-year existence. Several well-received early singles (including " Treason ") culminated in the band's biggest hit, " Reward ", which hit number 6 in the UK singles chart and took their " Kilimanjaro " album to number 24 in the album charts. Cope's photogenic charm and wild, garrulous interview style helped keep the band in the media eye, and made him a short-lived teen idol during the band's peak. " Reward " , I remember having...

Muzical Mystery Tour

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