There will never be another group like The Stranglers. Formed in 1974 as The Guildford Stranglers, they performed hundreds of gigs to little response. With the arrival of Punk and a new atmosphere sweeping music however, their style of playing and songs soon found a new audience. The Stranglers were unusually tuneful with a unique sound based on a growling base and swirling keyboards. Along with this, The Stranglers added aggression, intellect and a playful sense of deliberately provoking reaction. Only they could mention Shelley's poem Ozymandias in the song Ugly while complaining that 'an ugly fart attracts a good looking chick if he's got money.' Songs ranged from the growling punk of Shut Up, 5 Minutes and Burning Up Time to the sublimeness of Hanging Around, Toiler On The Sea and their cover of Walk On By. Left of stage, JJ Burnel on the "barracuda" bass. To the right Hugh Cornwell on guitar. Further right on keyboards Dave Greenfield. And at the back, Jet Black on drums.

Live they were excellent, with Burnel and Cornwell prowling the stage and Cornwell providing terrible in between song jokes. Between 1977 and 1979, the band released a string of superb albums Rattus Norvegicus, No More Heroes, Black & White and The Raven - and singles that showed them to be innovative and progressive while still retaining a spiky punk attitude.

Sadly The Stranglers have never been given the credit they deserve, largely being forgotten in books written about this time by the same journalists who pilloried them or being summarily dispatched as karate kicking, organ grinding violent / sexists. These pages tell a different story.

While Hugh left in 1990, both The Stranglers and he as a solo artist have continued on and still releasing some mighty fine stuff.