40 Fun Facts About The Stranglers

What did Stranglers drummer Jet Black sell from the vans that became the band's first tour buses?

Ice cream made Jet Black a successful businessman before the Stranglers, and that security let him return to drumming in 1974 and assemble a band.

Which keyboard instrument plays the waltzing riff on the Stranglers' biggest hit, 'Golden Brown'?

Harpsichord carries the tune, which grew from an unused keyboard part Dave Greenfield wrote while working on a song for the band's previous album.

Which band's 'Town Called Malice' kept the Stranglers' 'Golden Brown' off the UK number one spot?

The Jam entered the chart at number one and stayed three weeks, and the Stranglers' label EMI complained that sales of two versions of the single had been counted together.

The Stranglers' 1988 top-ten cover of 'All Day and All of the Night' was first a hit for which band?

The Kinks took the song to number two in 1964, and the Stranglers' version reached number seven almost a quarter of a century later.

'Golden Brown' by the Stranglers plays on the soundtrack of which Guy Ritchie film?

Snatch used the song in 2000, and it later turned up in the Black Mirror episode 'Metalhead'.

Which revolutionary is the first figure named in the Stranglers' song 'No More Heroes'?

Leon Trotsky opens the song's roll call of vanished heroes, which goes on to name Lenny Bruce, Sancho Panza, Shakespeare and Nero.

Which TV chef used the Stranglers' instrumental 'Waltzinblack' as the theme for his BBC shows?

Keith Floyd was a big fan of the band, and an edited version of 'Peaches' closed many of his programmes too.

The Stranglers' cover of 'Walk On By' reworked a Bacharach and David song written for which singer?

Dionne Warwick had the original hit, and the Stranglers first gave their version away on a free white vinyl single with early copies of the album 'Black and White'.

Stranglers bassist Jean-Jacques Burnel earned a seventh-degree black belt in which martial art?

Karate became a second career for Burnel, who rose to lead the UK branch of the Shidokan school while still playing bass for the band.

Which Surrey town, where the Stranglers' drummer ran an off-licence, was in the band's original name?

Guildford gave the band its first name, the Guildford Stranglers, but the prefix was soon dropped and the shorter name was registered as a business in September 1974.

The Stranglers' 'Peaches' plays over the opening credits of which British crime film?

Sexy Beast was the feature debut of director Jonathan Glazer, and Ben Kingsley's turn in it as gangster Don Logan earned him an Oscar nomination.

Which animal, named in the Latin title of the Stranglers' debut album, became the band's trademark?

A rat fits the title 'Rattus Norvegicus', the scientific name of the brown rat. The album was going to be called 'Dead on Arrival' until a last-minute change.

Dave Greenfield's swirling organ on early Stranglers records drew frequent comparisons with which 1960s American band?

The Doors were barely known to Greenfield, who said he knew only a couple of their tracks and named Rick Wakeman and Jon Lord as his early influences.

Which punk band from Queens, New York, had the Stranglers open for its first British tour in 1976?

Ramones dates and a support slot with Patti Smith linked the Stranglers to punk, even though the band had started out on the pub rock circuit.

The Stranglers' song 'Goodbye Toulouse' describes the French city's destruction as predicted by whom?

Nostradamus suited a band with French roots: bassist Jean-Jacques Burnel was born in London to French parents and writes many of his songs in French.

For a 1984 album cover, the Stranglers posed in Trafalgar Square beside a 13-foot sculpture of which body part?

An ear built by artist John King gave 'Aural Sculpture' its cover image, and the band's photo session with it lasted six hours.

The title of the Stranglers' 1981 album 'La folie' translates from French as which English word?

Madness here meant the madness of love: the band said each song on the album explored a different kind of love, 'Golden Brown' among them.

The Stranglers' album 'Dreamtime' takes its title from a belief of which country's Indigenous peoples?

Australia's Aboriginal tradition named an album that also voiced environmental worries and carried the band's long-running radio favourite 'Always the Sun'.

The BBC banned the Stranglers' 'Duchess' video as blasphemous because the band dressed as what?

Choirboys were too much for the BBC, yet the single still reached number 14 and was the most successful release from the album 'The Raven'.

In which London prison did Stranglers frontman Hugh Cornwell serve time in 1980 for drug possession?

Pentonville held Cornwell in early 1980, and he turned the experience into a book, 'Inside Information', published the same year.

Stranglers frontman Hugh Cornwell earned a degree in which science at the University of Bristol?

Biochemistry took Cornwell on to postgraduate research abroad, where he formed Johnny Sox, the group that grew into the Stranglers.

Hugh Cornwell formed Johnny Sox, forerunner of the Stranglers, while a research student in which country?

Sweden left its mark on the band: Cornwell studied at Lund University, and the Stranglers' first keyboard player, Hans Wärmling, came over from Gothenburg.

Dave Greenfield joined the Stranglers in 1975 after answering an advert in which music paper?

Melody Maker delivered the organ sound that defined the band: Greenfield played his first gig with them in August 1975 and stayed for 45 years.

Which American singer covered the Stranglers' 'Strange Little Girl' as the title song of a 2001 album?

Tori Amos revived a song with a long history: the Stranglers wrote it in 1974, saw the demo rejected by EMI, and only had a hit with it in 1982.

Which Britpop band settled after the Stranglers' publishers said 'Waking Up' copied 'No More Heroes'?

Elastica agreed to credit the Stranglers as co-writers on all future releases of the 1995 single to settle the claim over its riff.

Which producer of Queen's hit albums was brought in for the Stranglers' 1990 album '10'?

Roy Thomas Baker was the label's choice to aim the record at America, and its lead single, a cover of the 1966 hit '96 Tears', reached number 17 in the UK.

Which singer fronted the Stranglers from 1990 to 2006 after the departure of Hugh Cornwell?

Paul Roberts sang on five studio albums, and when he left the band went back to being a four-piece with its guitarist and bassist sharing lead vocals.

Which 2021 Stranglers album includes a tribute to keyboardist Dave Greenfield, who died the year before?

Dark Matters entered the UK chart at number four, the band's highest placing for a studio album since 1983, with Greenfield playing on eight of its tracks.

Which 1984 single returned the Stranglers to the UK top 20 as the lead release from 'Aural Sculpture'?

Skin Deep peaked at number 15 after the band's previous two singles had stalled outside the top 30, and its video ends with the band pulling off face masks.

The Stranglers' concept album 'The Gospel According to the Meninblack' ties Bible stories to what?

Alien visits and sinister government agents run through the whole record, a commercial low point that singer Hugh Cornwell nevertheless calls his favourite Stranglers album.

The back cover of the Stranglers' album 'The Raven' shows the band on the prow of which vessel?

A Viking longship matches the album's title and its first two songs, which all draw on Norse mythology. Early copies came with a 3D cover.

The Stranglers walked off stage during which BBC TV concert series in 1978 in a row over tickets?

Rock Goes to College filmed the band at the University of Surrey, and they quit the stage because a promise to offer tickets to non-students had been broken.

The Stranglers' live album 'Live (X Cert)' includes tracks recorded in 1978 at which outdoor London venue?

Battersea Park supplied part of the album alongside 1977 shows at the Roundhouse, and the record gave the band a fourth straight UK top-ten album.

Which producer of the Stranglers' first three albums went on to make the Human League's 'Dare'?

Martin Rushent urged United Artists to sign the band after hearing a demo of 'Grip', then walked out during sessions for their fourth album.

The Stranglers' 'Death and Night and Blood' takes its title from 'Confessions of a Mask' by which novelist?

Yukio Mishima's novel supplied the phrase, and Japan left other marks on the band, who toured there twice in the late 1970s and befriended Tokyo punk groups.

At school, Stranglers frontman Hugh Cornwell played bass in a band with which Fairport Convention founder?

Richard Thompson and Cornwell were classmates at William Ellis School in north London, where their band was called Emil and the Detectives.

Stranglers singer Hugh Cornwell made the album 'Nosferatu' with Robert Williams, drummer for which bandleader?

Captain Beefheart played three straight nights in San Francisco in 1978, and Cornwell went to all of them after a Stranglers tour, which is how the partnership began.

With Hugh Cornwell in prison, guests including Toyah Willcox fronted the Stranglers at which London venue?

The Rainbow hosted two nights where stand-ins such as Robert Fripp, Hazel O'Connor and Peter Hammill covered for the absent singer.

Which producer, famed for his work with David Bowie, mixed the Stranglers' album 'La folie'?

Tony Visconti was briefed by EMI to mix every song as a possible single, and one of them, 'Golden Brown', became the band's biggest hit.

Which Japanese game designer, a fan of the Stranglers, named his 2007 Wii action game 'No More Heroes'?

Goichi Suda, better known as Suda51, borrowed the title but not the music: licensing the Stranglers' track cost too much for it to appear in the game.