BOOK REVIEW: "No Mercy" The Authorised Autobiography of The
Stranglers by Paul Buckley
- Tim Kennedy
The Stranglers were the first band I ever went to see back in 1978. Punk was tailing off in the capital, but in the rest of Britain it was thriving. Thousands of kids were defacing their clothing and dyeing their hair and any band that cared to tour the provinces found crowds flocking to worship their antiheroes. One of the bands that were 'semi-detached' from the punk vanguard but who attracted a fanatical following amongst punks was the Stranglers - 'semi-detached' in the sense that they pursued a distinct path, with complicated keyboard-driven yet rhythmic and aggressive psychedelic music. Keyboardist Dave Greenfield was clearly familiar with the works of Rick Wakeman and Ray Manzarek. Jet Black the drummer was at least old enough to be in sixties bands. Guitarist and singer Hugh Cornwell looked well past his teens. Only bassist Jean-Jacques Burnel could boast pretty-boy looks, though he too was no teenager.
The main problem - as far as the press were concerned - was the reputation for unprovoked aggression, associated principally with JJ Burnel who was liable to take out his martial arts skills on those who crossed him. Any bad review might be followed by the hapless writer being kidnapped, driven to the next town then left gagged and bound whilst the night's set was played out on stage. After a couple of unsavoury incidents the band were 'black-balled' by the press, compounding the vicious circle further.
They were involved in some gig riots on the continent, although it is not clear whether this was the fault of the band or of conditions out of their control. They made ample use of most hard drugs at one time or another, though it didn't seem to blunt their creativity.
The band's reputation for nastiness was mostly deserved, judging from the comments in this book from the lads themselves alone. They seem to have mellowed somewhat now and JJ confesses his sins here and admits he was beyond the pale. However, the behaviour of the band should not detract from their music which for a period of six or seven years (1977-1984) was of great quality and clearly influences bands to this day.
In these days of political correctness the tone and content of the early Stranglers records seem outrageous. Women were sex objects, violence was a regular theme and the casual attitude of the band to these issues would bring immediate condemnation if it happened today. Their banter onstage rarely went further than bad sexist jokes. However if you hunt through any band's output from the 50s up to the 80s you'll find similar gaffes, as Buckley points out. Allowances are made and excuses are given. I would merely point out that at the time punk was just about being as shocking as possible, and it was only later that writers have tried to make punk seem in some way 'pure' and 'honest'.
Buckley never witnessed the band in its heyday of the late 70s and relies instead on live recordings and the recorded output to judge the band's musical merit. This is a drawback of the book, although it makes up for it by having the full cooperation of the band. The writing style is awkward and some of the comparisons are laboured and unconvincing. Buckley's closeness to the band has meant he has possibly paid too much attention to the latter-day Stranglers - a rather sad reflection of their former glory, and more of a hobby for the original members still involved.
What has to be emphasised is that despite the differences between the band and other punk outfits of the time outlined above, this band commanded the most fanatical following of all - and a huge one at that. The band were glorious live, and provided inspiration amongst others to Joy Division (who were a support act to the Stranglers early on) with their dark rat-infested vision. They were somewhat right-wing in outlook - possibly close to some of the beliefs of the current 'militias' of the US, though they never proposed any direct action. In the early 80s they wrote a (superb) concept album about alien abductions The Gospel According To The Meninblack which very much fits into this paranoiac belief system, involving aliens breeding humans for meat and even Jesus as an alien agent.
The eighties saw the band go into decline though a few singles showed that they could still sell on a large scale. The band lost its focus as Hugh became disenchanted with JJ's aggression and he eventually split. Two new members were brought in, a vocalist and a guitarist, but the lack of commercial success of the 1990s output has left a yawning gap between the financially-struggling newcomers and the rest who can rest on the security of their royalties. Hugh has become a solo artist with limited success, though he seems content enough. The two parties do not talk - Hugh is still too nervous of JJ, who detests his ex-partner for walking out.
Perhaps there was no band like them. They were instrumental in showing punks that they could make more than a noise - that musicianship was important. A generation grew up that played strange dark music - ultimately 'goth' was probably the Stranglers' doing. They were never huge, though they had more 'hits' than the Clash or the Pistols during the time of punk. Songs like "Peaches" and "No More Heroes" defined punk for many of us at the time, more so than the others who rarely toured the provinces.
This is an interesting and honest, though not terribly well-written, book. Nonetheless, it serves as the only source for those who want to discover this fascinating band. The decline of the band over time should not detract from the glory of what they were; this is really the story of two bands, with the latter-day group only a sideshow to the main event that was the original Men In Black.
The committed fan will not find much that is new here, and will wish that the writer had dug a little deeper into the minutiae of the band - for there is much more to be found. Perhaps a compilation of the best of official fanzine 'Strangled' is in order.
