The Stranglers

Sweet!!  Welcome Back Jean!! 

lazland wrote: chopper wrote: Interesting to read in the Classic Rock Prog special this month that JJ Burnel is a big fan of Caravan's "In the land of grey and pink" and that "Down in the sewer" was influenced by the title track. He also says their version of "Walk on By" is "probably" prog. I saw that as well. It's funny how many of the punk bands and artists, who spent so much time gobbing at and dissing the dinosaurs of prog now claim that much of their work was influenced by the self same dinosaurs. So, they were really only saying they hated prog when told to by those nasty record moguls Actually, The Stranglers were, and remain, one of my favourite bands from that genre/era. In common with bands like Dr Feelgood, they had been treading the live boards for quite a few years doing a lot of blues and hard rock prior to the punk revolution giving them enhanced airplay. Great band, but not prog IMHO.

they only put on the "punk" sticker for getting a record contract. the only thing their music has in common with punk is its aggressiveness. I am not alone in my opinion at all; musicologist Tibor Kneif, who was the first professor to teach rock music at a German university, totally agrees with me in his book "Sachlexikon der Rockmusik" ("Lexicon of Rock Music Terms").. and I stick to it: it is nothing but prejudice against them because the music industry marketed them as punk.
by the way: I even believe there is something like "progressive punk". a good example of that music is Nik  Turner's band Inner City Unit, though they are not in the archives yet. another example are the Cardiacs. strangely they ARE in the archives. yet the Stranglers don't fit there? seems like double standards to me. the most strange thing of all is that the Cardiacs have been put into RIO / Avant. do people really don't hear the punk there?
my suggestion is: create the genre "prog punk", move the Cardiacs there and add the Stranglers and Inner City Unit to that genre too


Edited by BaldJean - August 10 2009 at 14:24

Padraic wrote: Create a genre for three bands?  I would think we need a bit higher threshold than that.

add Sleepytime Gorilla Museum to that genre too, then you have 4 bands already

I am pretty sure more artists could be put into that genre, if, for example, we did the long overdue overhaul of the "Gong" entry in the acrhives, "New York Gong" would be another candidate for the genre. and what about "Here and Now"? there definitely is a heavy punk influence in that band too

the genre could by nature not be that big, just because the opposing ends of the spectrum appear to be totally disparate and irreconcilable on first thought. yet some artists, like The Stranglers, Inner City Unit, The Cardiacs  or Here And Now managed that balancing act
here a few examples of Inner City Unit, all from their album "Punkadelic":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7c4YrDP8kQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZN_GyMozC8&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kTkhM_F1F4&feature=related

I think you can clearly hear why I consider the music to be prog punk



Edited by BaldJean - August 10 2009 at 17:26

Snow Dog wrote: russellk wrote: THE STRANGLERS are by no means classic prog, they are a progressive rock band and should be here.     They are a progressive rock band ??   Wow thats it then..its official.

Oh yeah, sorry, I'll add 'in my opinion' for the newbie who obviously hasn't been around the internetz long.

^ Hmm. Fair enough. Food for thought, though. Zeuhl (I bow to your knowledge) was originally only applied to MAGMA, and other bands with similar sounds coalesced around it. I don't see why a similar process can't happen with Pronk. It may have, for all I know.

BaldJean wrote: you shold not worry; there are probaby lozs of bands in the prog punk genre out there. the problem is no-one will name them unless it is being announced that there will be such a genre.

The problem is no-one will announce a genre without a list of bands. 

I'm sure some enterprising soul that feels strongly about progressive punk would oblige though. 

russellk wrote: Snow Dog wrote: russellk wrote: THE STRANGLERS are by no means classic prog, they are a progressive rock band and should be here.     They are a progressive rock band ??   Wow thats it then..its official. Oh yeah, sorry, I'll add 'in my opinion' for the newbie who obviously hasn't been around the internetz long.

npjnpj wrote: Just to state that I'm happy that Jean's prepared to take her old status back.