The Stranglers are one of the best bands of the late 70s & just recently finished their final, excellent, album. Golden Brown is probably their most famous track & still gets plenty of radio airplay even though it's about heroin but it's a far cry from their usual guitar/bass/keyboard sound. They were big Doors fans & did a Doors-inspired cover of Walk On By. Check it out. In fact, check all their stuff, especially the first 3 albums
1982: lots of unemployment in Thatcher's Britain...Saturday morning, went and cashed my giro (welfare), bought a copy of 2000AD comic, back home and put Tiswas on the telly(kids tv with seriously adult undertones), kicked back - and this came on. Sat there, gobsmacked, wondering how they could not have realised they were playing a song about heroin on a kid's show...
It was 1982. They could totally play songs about drugs on kids' shows if they wanted. They knew there was zero danger of us understanding what it was about, same as all the jokes Bugs Bunny cracked that I didn't get until I was old enough to vote and watching reruns.
At 5pm Uk time I was in work. I walked back as fast as I could, had a shower (Kitchen work is brutal lol!) and sat down with dripping wet hair a tad into the start! Phew! lol!
@@matthewstroud4294 A little milk and alcohol courtesy of Dr. Feelgood and Nick Lowe... speaking of whom, would be cool for Lee to hear some of Nick, and Dave Edmunds, Rocckpile, etc. too!
I believe I became aware of the Stranglers in early '77. 'Rattus Norvegicus'. They already had a punkish edge and seeming sensibility. The keys provided one of the most cherished and attractive elements of the 60s, 70s, and 80s. Style, substance, attitude attathreed attafoured Yep, harpsichord is a great sound to have on your palette, in your arsenal. That'd be Dave. Anytime you want: 'Burning of the Midnight Lamp.' Jimi. I love it when my phone gets it, knows when my mind is heading somewhere in particular. 😏📲 🙄😒 ✌🏼😊🎶🔥❤️🍁❤️✨️🕊
The harpsichord and the timing in this is so good. They are a varied band, mostly punk, this took radio stations by surprise when the stranglers said more about the lyrics lol! I won't be at the premier, working in the caffi today, Will catch the later ones so see you then xx Thanks Lee!
Thomas Cook - a UK travel company - used this in one of their sunny holiday TV adverts. I'm not completely sure the suits in the boardroom had the slightest idea....
A few of their finest: No More Heroes / Get A Grip on Yourself / Peaches / Nice n Sleazy / Hanging Around / Five Minutes / Something Better Change / Bitching / Duchess / Strange Little Girl / Walk On By (cover) / Paradise / Midnight Summer Dream / Laughing / Skin Deep / 96 Tears /
Heard this for the first time at 15 and it was a game changer. Didn't listen to music that wasn't left-of-the-dial for at least a decade+ afterwards. Hugh Cornwell does a great version of this with a mariachi band which can be found here on YT. Worth a check out and thanks.
Love this track, I remember walking into our school music room (around '81-'82) to have a jam on guitar with a friend's band and they were playing this when I walked in. Afterwards I started playing Sky's 'Toccata' on guitar and the other band members were straight on it, fun times :)
Dave Greenfield - one of my favorite keyboarders. There are for sure players that are more virtuoso. But in my opinion he always found the exact right sound to play the exact right things. He added a lot to what made the Stranglers great.
Check out their version of the classic Dionne Warwick song “Walk on By”. Dave Greenfield’s organ work is mesmerising…I think it is about six minutes, six minutes of one of the best ever covers of any song.
Back in 1979, Hugh Cornwell was jailed for drug possession so the band called on some friends to help them perform some pre-booked live dates. Among these were Peter Hammill and Robert Fripp and the whole thing was caught on their live album The Stranglers And Friends - Live In Concert
As a drummer, I recommend you react to a British artist named David Gray and his official video of a song called "Please Forgive Me" and you might also enjoy his song Babylon. I would be interested in what you think of the drum line.
No More Heroes is a complete contrast to this, and it comes from their punk days in the 70's . They were always more than punk, but they rode the punk waves at the time. I think you'll enjoy the harder sound. You'll think it's a different band.
The year before the song was release Cornwall had spent some time in the slammer for drug possession which had included Heroin. I think that must have had some impact on the lyrics he wrote for this song.
More the fact he was using it around that time, and had been for at least a couple of years prior. Their song Don't Bring Harry is about the same subject matter but flipped over to be a song against its use.
@@mana3735 In the book "Song By Song", Hugh explains that the song works on two levels (these are his words, not mine)" My girlfriend was of Mediterranean origin and her skin was golden brown. So the song was about how my girlfriend and heroin both provided me with pleasurable times."
Still on the La folie album, there's an interesting, somewhat overlooked track called "Everybody Loves You When You're Dead", which is a reflection on the opportunism that the media and the general public can display depending on the circumstances (in this case, the tragic death of John Lennon). You could test this one out in a future reaction to The Stranglers, and given that it's a short track, you could have it preceded by the equally short opening track "Non Stop"!😉
Absolutely fantastic album, haven't heard it in a while! This track is the only one currently making the rounds. The long tirle track is worth the extra minutes. Just my opinion.
Try out "Hey! (Rise of the Robots)". Great lyrics, darkly hilarious, tells a story in a broken way, with driving polyrhythmic cacaphony throughout. Can't really describe it.
I can only add that they musta been high when they wrote it. Bad drug though, seriously folks. I played the vinyl 45 of their "Something Better Change" (in hope) at Glastonbury Festival in the Green Fields during a set, & at The Green Gathering during a great set there.
Great song, though also in some ways a funny introduction to this band, as it's so atypical of their sound. You'll be startled when you hear their earlier, much more abrasive stuff...
Don't EVER give The Stranglers a bad review. They don't like it (and got extremely creative with their revenge) Their song "Nice in Nice" is about the riot they started in France, and JJ is considered one of the hardest b*stards in rock.
@@L33Reacts They've mellowed with age, but Google what they've done in the past to journalists they didn't like. Apparently JJ threw the lead singer Hugh Cornwell through a dressing room wall for simply being in his way (he's a 7th degree black belt in Shidokan Karate) Hell of a bass player though.
@@dynodon9182 It's actually very skilful use of the Dave Brubeck Quartet video with Golden Brown played over it. I had to google dates to prove to myself that Golden Brown came out years after the performance used. One of the best I have seen online with only a few clues once you look closely.
'The Dave Brubeck plays Golden brown' is a very skilful cut using Golden Brown. I did a double take when I found it while choosing this. I was hit by the doubt that The stranglers did this first lol! They did, and I think it says what The Dave Brubeck Quartet were actually playing in the video. It's very skilfully done, with only a few hints when watched closely to my non instrumental eyes.
This is about shooting frogs and having a bad tempo. The STranglers are the best bad band, or the worst good band, depends. Certainly worth a deep dive muah.
They are a PUNK band - not girlie New wave - THEY ARE THE BEST BAND THAT HAS EVER EXISTED - listen to 'North Winds Blowing' - or 'Norfolk Coast' - Golden Brown was a huge commercial success for them(despite it's dark meaning - raw OPIUM smoking!) as was 'Peaches' . They have just had a 50th anniversary world tour.
This got over played on radio in the UK. Played to death to be honest.....so many better Stranglers songs......No more heroes and nice and sleazy to name just two. I always thought the Stranglers sounded like The Doors on acid!!!!!
The Stranglers are one of the best bands of the late 70s & just recently finished their final, excellent, album. Golden Brown is probably their most famous track & still gets plenty of radio airplay even though it's about heroin but it's a far cry from their usual guitar/bass/keyboard sound. They were big Doors fans & did a Doors-inspired cover of Walk On By. Check it out. In fact, check all their stuff, especially the first 3 albums
They say your childhood is over the day you realise what this song is about...
When the list of truly great British singles is compiled - this will certainly be on there.
1982: lots of unemployment in Thatcher's Britain...Saturday morning, went and cashed my giro (welfare), bought a copy of 2000AD comic, back home and put Tiswas on the telly(kids tv with seriously adult undertones), kicked back - and this came on. Sat there, gobsmacked, wondering how they could not have realised they were playing a song about heroin on a kid's show...
it was questioned at the time and they said the song was about toast :)
I remember those days. What amazing childhoods 😊
@@dcanmore 😂
I was there, living an amazing childhood! Loved 2000ad lol
It was 1982. They could totally play songs about drugs on kids' shows if they wanted. They knew there was zero danger of us understanding what it was about, same as all the jokes Bugs Bunny cracked that I didn't get until I was old enough to vote and watching reruns.
The most harmonious and laid back song about heroin ever
damn, I can only add that they musta been high when they wrote it. Bad drug though, seriously.
The Church had a lot of laid back songs about H.
I love this song I don't really care what it is about I just love the way it sounds
Their version of Walk on By will blow your mind….
My heretical view is that the Stranglers' version of Walk On By is better than anything the Doors ever did... (*runs and hides*)
There is a real chance that Lee has never heard the song, so it might not.
Oh yes! I LOVE The Stranglers!!! Soooo much!
Please do loads of Stranglers songs, and I'll love you long time !
I saw these guys a year ago - they still rock!
It's hypnotic and narcotic. 🤎😌
I was just listening to the Stranglers yesterday. Great band
RIP Dave & Jet both sadly missed.
Some more great songs by The Stranglers: Strange Little Girl, No More Heroes, Peaches, Walk On By, Nice and Sleazy, and Always The Sun.
Good selection
No more heroes, walk on by, hanging around, etc to name but a few
Yes!!! Also Mayan Skies and Skin Deep
+ No Mercy
Tank
This always reminds me of driving out on Long Island with the breeze coming in the car windows off the Sound. Glad you did this and thanks Snoops.
Thank you Snoops. Hope you get to see and hear the reaction with the rest of us. ❤
At 5pm Uk time I was in work. I walked back as fast as I could, had a shower (Kitchen work is brutal lol!) and sat down with dripping wet hair a tad into the start! Phew! lol!
the video has them playing as a house band in a lounge in Egypt circa 1920s with the sun setting over the Nile.
Stranglers bro is the great band very understameted ... natural punk in his finest nature.
Thanks, Snoops. A favorite on first listen 40+ years ago. The irony of our complicity in the opium trade as she headed west ❤
Absolute perfection, even if it is a cover! What they did to Dave Brubeck's original is utterly captivating! 🤣🤣
The lyrics are so profound once you realise what the song is really about.
Good song. Thanks
It's about heroin and a girl said Cornwell said in his book. I remember when it came out and I still love it.
Love the Stranglers, and every other London Pub Rock band of the time! I have a pretty long London Pub Rock playlist :)
Thanks Lee and snoops!
I saw them in a pub gig in Watford.
Yes. I look forward to Lee discovering Dr Feelgood too.
@@andymccracken4046 That is awesome! And, I am not at all jealous. lol!
@@matthewstroud4294 A little milk and alcohol courtesy of Dr. Feelgood and Nick Lowe... speaking of whom, would be cool for Lee to hear some of Nick, and Dave Edmunds, Rocckpile, etc. too!
@@lauraallen55 Repeat When Necessary is a good album.
I believe I became aware of the Stranglers in early '77. 'Rattus Norvegicus'. They already had a punkish edge and seeming sensibility. The keys provided one of the most cherished and attractive elements of the 60s, 70s, and 80s. Style, substance, attitude attathreed attafoured
Yep, harpsichord is a great sound to have on your palette, in your arsenal. That'd be Dave.
Anytime you want: 'Burning of the Midnight Lamp.' Jimi.
I love it when my phone gets it, knows when my mind is heading somewhere in particular.
😏📲 🙄😒
✌🏼😊🎶🔥❤️🍁❤️✨️🕊
Heroin. Through the ages shes headed west. Never a frown with golden brown. never touched the stuff myself but this song makes it sound alluring.
Opium trade to modern smack. All in there. A true story ❤
The harpsichord and the timing in this is so good. They are a varied band, mostly punk, this took radio stations by surprise when the stranglers said more about the lyrics lol! I won't be at the premier, working in the caffi today, Will catch the later ones so see you then xx Thanks Lee!
do you want me to change it to 2 hours later? I can. it's no prob
@@L33Reacts That would be wonderful, thank you! xx
Thomas Cook - a UK travel company - used this in one of their sunny holiday TV adverts. I'm not completely sure the suits in the boardroom had the slightest idea....
😂
I never heard this before ... very unusual ... that was really enjoyable. Thank you Snoops.
Never heard this? Were you born yesterday?
@@mana3735 Might be a Yank
@@mana3735 No .. born on the west side of the pond
@@dexstewart2450 When we were listening to all this fantastic music in the late 70s/early 80s, the yanks were getting into poodle rock!
Take a listen to their song Waltzin Black. It’s like this but if it was in a nightmare.
The Stranglers are one of my SUPER fave favourite bands ❤
Also XTC
Another really great British band
I grew up as a musician. I used to think I was quite competent until I tried to comprehend the time signatures in this track. It's got me beat.
The intro/chorus is a pattern of 3 bars of 3/4 (or 6/8) then 1 bar of 4/4. The verse is straight 3/4.
A few of their finest: No More Heroes / Get A Grip on Yourself / Peaches / Nice n Sleazy / Hanging Around / Five Minutes / Something Better Change / Bitching / Duchess / Strange Little Girl / Walk On By (cover) / Paradise / Midnight Summer Dream / Laughing / Skin Deep / 96 Tears /
Tank,5 minutes,Raven the list is huge
Heard this for the first time at 15 and it was a game changer. Didn't listen to music that wasn't left-of-the-dial for at least a decade+ afterwards. Hugh Cornwell does a great version of this with a mariachi band which can be found here on YT. Worth a check out and thanks.
Love this track, I remember walking into our school music room (around '81-'82) to have a jam on guitar with a friend's band and they were playing this when I walked in. Afterwards I started playing Sky's 'Toccata' on guitar and the other band members were straight on it, fun times :)
Dave Greenfield - one of my favorite keyboarders. There are for sure players that are more virtuoso. But in my opinion he always found the exact right sound to play the exact right things. He added a lot to what made the Stranglers great.
Thanks for the upload Lee...and that's a cool shirt man!!
Strange Little Girl and The Skin Deep are another of my favourites from 80s Stranglers
A masterpiece. Enough said.
Despite the reservations of some band members this song saved them.
Jet Black said it was about toast 👍
Check out their version of the classic Dionne Warwick song “Walk on By”. Dave Greenfield’s organ work is mesmerising…I think it is about six minutes, six minutes of one of the best ever covers of any song.
Back in 1979, Hugh Cornwell was jailed for drug possession so the band called on some friends to help them perform some pre-booked live dates. Among these were Peter Hammill and Robert Fripp and the whole thing was caught on their live album The Stranglers And Friends - Live In Concert
Robert Smith of the Cure was on that gig too.
Wonderful music. You can really enjoy. 🤯🤩🤩⚡️⚡️
As a drummer, I recommend you react to a British artist named David Gray and his official video of a song called "Please Forgive Me" and you might also enjoy his song Babylon. I would be interested in what you think of the drum line.
It;s chill. 😃💙🎵🎶🎶
Gordon Brown is a former prime minister of the UK.
I used to make that joke! No one ever really got it 😊
No More Heroes is a complete contrast to this, and it comes from their punk days in the 70's . They were always more than punk, but they rode the punk waves at the time. I think you'll enjoy the harder sound. You'll think it's a different band.
Hell ya! The stranglers are awesome
You have to check out the version with Mariachi Mexteca with Hugh Cornwall version. All guitar.
Notice that 3xt4a, 45h, b3at 8n 4he instrumental bits.
The year before the song was release Cornwall had spent some time in the slammer for drug possession which had included Heroin. I think that must have had some impact on the lyrics he wrote for this song.
More the fact he was using it around that time, and had been for at least a couple of years prior. Their song Don't Bring Harry is about the same subject matter but flipped over to be a song against its use.
It is about H but also about a girl !check out songs Peaches and Nice 'N Sleazy by them...for starters. 😊
A girl? haha. Nah...that's just an excuse they used.
@@mana3735 Hugh actually confirms that it is also about a girl he was dating at the time, whom he might have been briefly engaged to.
@@cosmiccat6708 It doesn't make any sense if it's referring to a girl. We know it's about heroin. The "girl" thing was just an afterthought.
@@mana3735 In the book "Song By Song", Hugh explains that the song works on two levels (these are his words, not mine)" My girlfriend was of Mediterranean origin and her skin was golden brown. So the song was about how my girlfriend and heroin both provided me with pleasurable times."
@@cosmiccat6708 Yeah, it WORKs on two levels. But it's clearly referring to heroin. They're messing with you.
No more heroes
Songs like Nice'n'Sleazy, Peaches and Get A Grip On Yourself are worth checking out.
Peaches is my favorite of theirs but this is a great one as well
So versatile. Like the Kinks, often quirky British humour and social commentary. Try 'Peaches'.
No More Heroes or Peaches , will represent their earlier sound
It's about Herion
I saw them twice. Loud. Frantic. Nice. N. Sleazy and down in the sewer, the men in black. The thinking person’s anarchists
This song is about Herons. Those wading birds.
😂😂😂 Brilliant. It’s not about skag then?
@@mattleppard1970 What kind of bird is a skag?
@@mana3735 Sorry, I meant shag. Type of cormorant.
@@mana3735 A bit like a lesser spotted skank.
@@mana3735There's a Shag. It looks a bit like a Cormorant. 😅
Still on the La folie album, there's an interesting, somewhat overlooked track called "Everybody Loves You When You're Dead", which is a reflection on the opportunism that the media and the general public can display depending on the circumstances (in this case, the tragic death of John Lennon). You could test this one out in a future reaction to The Stranglers, and given that it's a short track, you could have it preceded by the equally short opening track "Non Stop"!😉
Absolutely fantastic album, haven't heard it in a while! This track is the only one currently making the rounds. The long tirle track is worth the extra minutes. Just my opinion.
Try out "Hey! (Rise of the Robots)". Great lyrics, darkly hilarious, tells a story in a broken way, with driving polyrhythmic cacaphony throughout. Can't really describe it.
Get A Grip. Peaches. No More Heroes. All greay songs.
He was talking about dope
I can only add that they musta been high when they wrote it. Bad drug though, seriously folks.
I played the vinyl 45 of their "Something Better Change" (in hope) at Glastonbury Festival in the Green Fields during a set, & at The Green Gathering during a great set there.
I would LOVE you to check out (Get A) Grip (on Yourself) by The Stranglers
You should listen to their earlier songs for some contrast…No More Heroes, Straighten Out, Tank, Duchess.
Great song, though also in some ways a funny introduction to this band, as it's so atypical of their sound. You'll be startled when you hear their earlier, much more abrasive stuff...
Don't EVER give The Stranglers a bad review. They don't like it (and got extremely creative with their revenge) Their song "Nice in Nice" is about the riot they started in France, and JJ is considered one of the hardest b*stards in rock.
I dig it man. I won’t. I like my neck. Hahah
@@L33Reacts They've mellowed with age, but Google what they've done in the past to journalists they didn't like. Apparently JJ threw the lead singer Hugh Cornwell through a dressing room wall for simply being in his way (he's a 7th degree black belt in Shidokan Karate) Hell of a bass player though.
Maninblack is the best for me, pure psyhedelic.
Apparently in 13/8 time. To me, it’s 3 bars of 3/4 and one of 4/4.
Peaches… Enoch said
Not Enoch enough
Knowing as we do some of your personal history, I am here to see what your take is…
It's about Hermione Granger.
Has anyone said in the comments what Golden Brown is about?
A Turkish "girlfriend" for the naive or HEROIN for the realists.
LOL. Hugh Cornwall was addicted to heroin at the time. He admits a double meaning. Also check out the Dave Brubeck version.
Well Dave Brubeck Quartet playing Take Five which is in 5 four time and matches the time of Golden Brown mostly.
@@andrewplumb6544 There's a RUclips video of them playing Golden Brown. Uses piano and sax.
@@dynodon9182 It's actually very skilful use of the Dave Brubeck Quartet video with Golden Brown played over it. I had to google dates to prove to myself that Golden Brown came out years after the performance used. One of the best I have seen online with only a few clues once you look closely.
'The Dave Brubeck plays Golden brown' is a very skilful cut using Golden Brown. I did a double take when I found it while choosing this. I was hit by the doubt that The stranglers did this first lol! They did, and I think it says what The Dave Brubeck Quartet were actually playing in the video. It's very skilfully done, with only a few hints when watched closely to my non instrumental eyes.
Most beautiful song ever written about heroin though caramel is another great one by Blur/Damon Albarn
This is about shooting frogs and having a bad tempo. The STranglers are the best bad band, or the worst good band, depends. Certainly worth a deep dive muah.
They are a PUNK band - not girlie New wave - THEY ARE THE BEST BAND THAT HAS EVER EXISTED - listen to 'North Winds Blowing' - or 'Norfolk Coast' - Golden Brown was a huge commercial success for them(despite it's dark meaning - raw OPIUM smoking!) as was 'Peaches' . They have just had a 50th anniversary world tour.
Heroin
This got over played on radio in the UK. Played to death to be honest.....so many better Stranglers songs......No more heroes and nice and sleazy to name just two. I always thought the Stranglers sounded like The Doors on acid!!!!!
Its a powder!!! Not baby.
Hah its about HeRoin
This is the best Stranglers track btw ruclips.net/video/ZAEM40UYKeU/видео.html
Definitely not new wave! And it's about Heroin.
Do you know this song is about smack ?
Jsts sunday man wtf happened to to stevie Sunday 😢