Stranglers

When I saw the Stranglers play the Whisky, they played to a sold-out house. They were much more adept at their instruments, and wrote philosophically complicated and dark songs. What compelled this girl to jump up on stage and bare her breasts? You can see in the top photo, how both Jean Jacques Burnel and Hugh Cornwell are laughing and completely amused by this.

The Stranglers had been around the British pub rock circuit for a couple years before punk rock took hold, and got lumped in to the punk category by virtue of having opened for the Ramones in 1976, on the New York boys first trip to the UK. Everyone in the UK who became anything in punk rock saw that first Ramones tour!

The first few Stranglers albums, Rattus Norvegicus, No More Heroes, Black and White were considered punk rock records, but their subsequent albums grew more complicated and sophisticated - more poetic, more proto-goth. They are still around in some form, with Hugh Cornwell not in the band, but the core of Burnel, drummer Jet Black and keyboardist, Dave Greenfield still performing as The Stranglers.