Formation and mainstream success (1974–1979) Prior to forming the band,
Jet Black (Brian Duffy) had run various businesses, including a fleet of ice cream vans, and later ran The Jackpot, a Guildford
off-licence that would serve as the base for the early Stranglers. Black had also been a semi-professional drummer in the late 1950s and early 1960s. After attaining a degree of financial stability due to his business successes, by 1974 he decided to return to drumming and assemble a band. The Stranglers came to be an influential band in the British punk and new wave scene of the mid-1970s. Black drove the ice cream vans that would serve as the Stranglers' early tour buses. The group that eventually formed between 1974 and 1975 was originally named The Guildford Stranglers, but they soon dropped the geographical prefix and the name,
The Stranglers, was registered as a business on 11 September 1974 by Black. The other original personnel were bass player/vocalist
Jean-Jacques Burnel, guitarist/vocalist
Hugh Cornwell and keyboardist/guitarist
Hans Wärmling, who was replaced by keyboardist
Dave Greenfield within a year. None of the band came from the Guildford area apart from Burnel, who was originally from
Notting Hill but moved to
Godalming during his childhood. Black was from
Ilford, Cornwell from
Kentish Town and Greenfield from
Brighton, while Wärmling came from
Gothenburg and returned there after leaving the band. Cornwell was a
blues musician before forming the band and had briefly been a bandmate of
Richard Thompson, Burnel had been a classical guitarist who had performed with symphony orchestras, Black's musical background was as a jazz drummer, and Greenfield had played at military bases in Germany. Their early influences included pre-punk
psychedelic rock bands such as
the Doors and
the Music Machine. From 1976, the Stranglers became associated with the burgeoning punk rock movement, due in part to their opening for the first British tours of American punks
the Ramones and
Patti Smith. Notwithstanding this association, some of the movement's champions in the British musical press viewed the band with suspicion on account of their age and musical virtuosity and the intellectual bent of some of their lyrics. However, Burnel was quoted saying, "I thought of myself as part of punk at the time because we were inhabiting the same flora and fauna ... I would like to think the Stranglers were more punk plus and then some." The band's early albums,
Rattus Norvegicus,
No More Heroes and
Black and White, all released within a period of 13 months, were highly successful with the record-buying public and singles such as "
Peaches", "
Something Better Change" and "
No More Heroes" became instant punk classics. Meanwhile, the band received a mixed reception from some critics because of their apparent sexist and racist innuendo. However, critic Dave Thompson argued that such criticism was oblivious to the satire and irony in the band's music, writing: "the Stranglers themselves revelled in an almost
Monty Python-esque grasp of
absurdity (and, in particular, the absurdities of modern 'men's talk')." These albums went on to build a strong fan-following, but the group's confrontational attitude towards the press was increasingly problematic and triggered a severe backlash when Burnel, a martial arts enthusiast, punched music journalist
Jon Savage during a promotional event. In February 1978, the Stranglers began a mini-tour, playing three secret pub gigs as a thank-you to those venues and their landlords for their support during the band's rise to success. The first was at The Duke of Lancaster in
New Barnet on Valentine's Day, with further performances at The Red Cow,
Hammersmith, and The Nashville Rooms,
West Kensington, in early September. During their appearance at the
University of Surrey on the BBC TV programme
Rock Goes to College, on 11 October 1978, and aired on the 19 October, the group walked off stage because an agreement to make tickets available to non-university students had not been honoured. In the latter half of the 1970s, the Stranglers toured Japan twice, joining the alternative music scene of Tokyo, which was evolving from the punk sound of Kyoto-based band Murahachibu (村八分,
Ostracism), whose music influence spread to Tokyo in 1971. The Stranglers were the only foreign band to take part in a landmark scene focused around S-KEN Studio in
Roppongi and The Loft venues in
Shinjuku and
Shimokitazawa from 1977 to 1979. The scene included bands such as
Friction, and they became friends with the band Red Lizard, whom they invited back to London, where the band became known as Lizard. In 1979, while still in Japan, Burnel also became close friends with Keith, co-founder and drummer for
ARB. At the end of 1983, ARB's bassist was imprisoned, leaving the band with a problem for their forthcoming tour. Burnel took time out from the Stranglers to fly out to Japan at short notice and join ARB to cover the tour, including appearing at the All Japan Rock Festival at Hibaya park, becoming the first non-Japanese to ever appear at the festival.
Burnel toured with
ARB for five weeks and played on two studio tracks, "Yellow Blood" and "Fight it Out", both of which appeared on the RCA Victor
ARB album
Yellow Blood.
Second phase (1979–1982) In 1979, one of the Stranglers' two managers advised them to break up as he felt that the band had lost direction, but this idea was dismissed and they parted company with their management team. Meanwhile, Burnel released an experimental solo album
Euroman Cometh backed by a small UK tour and Cornwell recorded the album
Nosferatu in collaboration with
Robert Williams. Later that year the Stranglers released
The Raven, which had a more melodic and complex sound. The songs on
The Raven are multi-layered and musically complicated, and deal with such subjects as a
Viking's lonely voyage, heroin addiction, genetic engineering, contemporary political events in Iran and Australia and extraterrestrial visitors,
"Meninblack". The
Hohner Cembalet, which saw prominent use on the previous three albums, was dropped and
Oberheim synthesizers used instead whilst acoustic piano was used on "Don't Bring Harry". A harmoniser was used to treat Burnel's vocal on the track "Meninblack", the recording of which led to
Martin Rushent, who had produced their earlier albums, walking out, leaving the band to co-produce the album themselves with
Alan Winstanley. {{Blockquote|We're never going to use a producer again. They are just shitty little parasites. All they're good for is telling jokes. And we know better jokes than any of 'em.|Hugh Cornwell,
NME – November 1979 The album reached No. 4 in the UK chart in January 1983. 1984 saw the release of
Aural Sculpture which consolidated the band's success in Europe and established them in
Oceania. It included the UK No. 15 hit "
Skin Deep" (which also reached No. 11 in Australia, No. 19 in New Zealand and Top 30 in the Netherlands). This was their first album to feature the three-piece horn-section which was retained in all their subsequent albums and live performances until Cornwell's departure in 1990.
Aural Sculpture peaked at No. 14 in the UK Albums Chart in November 1984. Their 1986 album,
Dreamtime, dealt with environmental concerns among other issues. Its signature track, and another radio staple for many years to come, was "
Always the Sun" (a No. 15 hit in France and No. 16 hit in Ireland, No. 21 in Australia, No. 30 in the UK and No. 42 in the Netherlands). The only Stranglers album to chart in the US,
Dreamtime was a moderate hit in the UK, reaching No. 16 in November 1986. The Stranglers' final album with Cornwell,
10, was released in 1990. This was recorded with the intention of building on their "cult" status in America. Following the success of their cover of
The Kinks' "
All Day and All of the Night", a UK No. 7 hit in 1988, the Stranglers released another cover of a 1960s track, "
96 Tears" as their first single from
10; it reached No. 17 in the UK. The follow-up single "Sweet Smell of Success" only reached No. 65. "Man of the Earth", which the band had high hopes for, was due to be the third single from the album, but Epic Records decided against it. In August 1990, Hugh Cornwell left Stranglers to pursue a solo career, following the band's failure to secure a tour in the US. In his autobiography, Cornwell stated that he felt that the Stranglers were a spent force creatively and cited various examples of his increasingly acrimonious relationship with his fellow band-members, particularly Burnel. Feelings were mutual; when Cornwell phoned Jet Black to say he was leaving the band, the drummer's response was blunt "OK, fine".
Post-Cornwell era (1990s) Following the departure of Cornwell, CBS-Sony dropped the Stranglers from its roster. The remaining members recruited
John Ellis, who had had a long-standing association with the band. He had opened for them in the 1970s as a member of
The Vibrators, filled in for Cornwell during his time in prison for drug possession in 1980, worked with Burnel and Greenfield in their side-project Purple Helmets and been added to the Stranglers' line-up as a touring guitarist a short time before Cornwell's departure. Burnel and Ellis briefly took over vocal duties (for one television appearance on
The Word) before enlisting
Paul Roberts, who sang on most songs live, even those originally sung by Burnel. This line-up recorded four albums:
Stranglers in the Night (1992),
About Time (1995),
Written in Red (1997) and
Coup de Grace (1998).
2000s resurgence and reversion to a four-piece In 2000, Ellis left the band and a new guitarist,
Baz Warne, was recruited. The Stranglers achieved something of a critical and popular renaissance in 2004 with the album
Norfolk Coast and a subsequent sell-out tour, together with their first UK Top 40 hit (No. 31) in 14 years, "
Big Thing Coming". The album also included
Tuckers Grave about a Somerset cider house named after the victim of a suicide in a nearby farm which members of the band now occupied. In 2005,
Coast to Coast: Live on Tour was released; the live album contained songs recorded during their tour the previous year. On their UK tour they were supported by
Goldblade. In May 2006, Roberts left the band and the Stranglers were now back to a four-piece line-up: Burnel, Black, Greenfield and Warne, with the lead vocals shared between Warne and Burnel. In concert, Burnel returned to singing the songs he originally recorded as lead vocalist and Warne sang the numbers originally led by Hugh Cornwell.
Suite XVI, the follow-up album to
Norfolk Coast, was released in September 2006 (the title is a pun on "Sweet 16" and also a reference to the fact that it was the band's sixteenth studio album) and continued the band's resurgence. Although partly a return to the band's heavier punk roots, the album featured a typically idiosyncratic mixture of musical styles which included a country and western style Johnny Cash pastiche/homage "I Hate You". In 2007 it was reported that drummer Black was suffering from
atrial fibrillation, an ailment which subsequently forced him to miss several shows, particularly where extended travel was required. On such occasions Ian Barnard, Black's drum technician, deputised. On 4 November 2007, the band (with Black) played a sell-out gig at the
Roundhouse in
Camden, North London, marking the 30th anniversary of their headline run at the same venue in 1977. The set list was the same as the 1977 concert, with the addition of a couple of more recent songs as a final encore. The event is recorded on the DVD
Rattus at the Roundhouse.
2010–present The Stranglers started 2010 with an extensive UK tour, including a sold-out return to the Hammersmith Apollo in March, their first visit there since 1987. They were supported on the 16-date UK tour by
Max Raptor. A double CD
compilation album,
Decades Apart, containing a selection of tracks from the full career of the band, including at least one from each of their 16 studio albums and two new tracks, "Retro Rockets" and "I Don't See the World Like You Do", was released in February 2010. The download version of
Decades Apart included an unreleased recording from 1978, "Wasting Time", inspired by the band's
Rock Goes To College experience earlier that year;
Giants was released in 2012. The "deluxe" version consisted of a second disc containing tracks from the
Weekend in Black acoustic session in November 2011. 2013 saw the band play a full UK tour, with Black playing the second half at most gigs (Jim Macaulay taking the first half). Several festivals were booked for 2013, including a session at the
BBC Proms on 12 August. For the North American tour Black was not present, with Macaulay playing the entire show. In 2014, the band celebrated its 40th birthday with a Ruby Tour, throughout the UK and Europe. In 2015, the March On tour had 18 dates around the United Kingdom. Where stage space allowed, a second drum kit was set up and Jet Black appeared for a set of four songs. A proposed gig in Moscow was announced and then cancelled due to visa difficulties, but a mini-tour of the UK took place in July. The band then played gigs throughout Europe, ending in November. In April 2016, they returned to New Zealand and Australia. Black ceased performing on stage with the band after some partial-set appearances in March 2015, although he remained an official member of the band until his retirement in 2018. Jim Macaulay appeared in a promotional photograph alongside Burnel, Greenfield and Warne for the first time in 2016 and has since been named as an official member of the group. In August 2017, the Stranglers performed at an outdoor concert in
Hull as part of the
UK City of Culture celebrations. In July 2018, the band played at the LUNAR festival in
Tanworth-in-Arden. Greenfield died on 3 May 2020, at the age of 71. He had contracted
COVID-19 while in hospital for a heart ailment. The band's 18th studio album,
Dark Matters, features contributions from Greenfield and is also their first release following the retirement of Black. and entered the UK Albums Chart at number 4, the highest position since
Feline in 1983 and their first top 10 position since 1990. In November 2021, the band began what was billed as their last full tour with their new keyboard player, Toby Hounsham, who played with
Rialto, an English rock band formed in London in 1997, and subsequently
Mungo Jerry for live and studio work since the early 2000s. After many years of health problems, Black died on 6 December 2022 at the age of 84. Although the band had billed their 2021 dates as their final UK tour, they continued to tour Europe in 2023. For 2024, a 50th Anniversary Tour included dates in the UK and Europe, and 2025 found the band touring Europe, the UK, Australia and New Zealand. ==Legacy==