Review:

on 2011-07-05 CharlesMartel Said:

Of all the punk bands which surfaced during that heady year from the summer of 1976 until the summer of 1977, the Stranglers were the one band with which I found the least affinity. This was in spite of the fact that the first punk single I ever bought was "Peaches". I don't know why this should have been but I have just accepted the fact in the years since.

It may have something to do with the fact that the Stranglers were perhaps the least punk of the punks. They had been around the London scene in various guises for some time and, unlike most other punk bands of the era, they were unusual in having a keyboard player. The keyboards gave them a different sound to most of their contemporaries and it may have been this which caused me to overlook them.

By the time "No More Heroes" came on the scene, the Stranglers were making much more use of keyboards than they had previously. "No More Heroes" was a thoughtful song which fitted in with the punk ethos about the collapse of hope. But it was not aggressive enough, not negative enough and the melody was too jaunty to be considered as a punchy song for its theme. Nevertheless, it is a good song, just not as good as it could have been.
Rating: 6/10