Boy, did I love the Stranglers.
Outcasts within a scene comprised of outcasts, the Stranglers didn’t fit in snugly with the rest of the British Punk crop. Whether it was their age, their facial hair, the pugnacious demeanor, their none-more-black sense of humor or their choice of instrumentation, the Stranglers were never afraid to blaze their own trail, alienate people and also write and release some of the most incendiary records of their era. Evolving where many of their peers ran aground, the Stranglers went out of their way to buck punk convention and become a band for the ages, not just a fleeting trend.
They also had an inimitable sound that was entirely their own, largely thanks to the singular bass playing of Jean Jacques Burnell — aggressively pushing an instrument normally relegated to the background right up in front — and the swirling keyboards of Dave Greenfield, broadly adding an element of musical sophistication to the band’s attack.
And if you’re still caught up about “punk,” what could be punker than vintage Dave Greenfield — a dude with a mustache, prince valiant haircut smoking a pipe while playing keyboards while the rest of the world was spiking its hair?
Dave Greenfield died last night at age 71 from COVID-19.
Rest in peace, Dave. You were inimitable and irreplaceable.
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