CBGBs

[Sweder]

To be fair I didn't much care for the gobbing and screaming that appeared de rigueur with bands like Sham 69 (local to me) or X-Ray Specs. I was lucky to get into the Stranglers early on . . . I won tickets (from Capital Radio, the DJ a certain Mr Nicky Horn, now in residence at Planet Rock - small world, eh?) in '78 to see them at the Front Row Festival, playing to 200 fortunate souls downstairs at the Hope & Anchor, Islington. It was a magical cavern of sweat and visceral R&B (in the long-accepted use of the term); I was hooked, though soon discovered ACDC, Iron Maiden et al. I figured if you like your music ear-splittingly loud you may as well pay to see people who could actually play their instruments with a modest degree of skill. Despite untold ribbing from my Metal mates I stayed 'loyal' to the Stranglers because, to me, they remained a unique creative force and, whilst never particularly claiming to be great musicians, produced a stream of truly great records. They were also rebellious in an altogether more mature way (remember Huge Cornball calling for the release of all prisoners? Perhaps not the best thought-out policy, but a little more articulate than coughing up phlegm or trashing the stage). And didn't we all at some stage want to be Jean-Jacques Burnel, wielding that bouncing bass as a blatant extension of brooding sexuality and physical danger? I certainly did.



I did see the Damned once . . . quite a treat at the Electric Ballroom. Lemmy popped up to jam on Ballroom Blitz, a version of which I recently discovered floating around the internet. Its rubbish, of course, and, as you quite rightly point out, almost without merit out of the context of time and/ or intoxication.

A time when responsibility was something you denied on a regular basis; halcyon days