Worse Stranglers "career move"

[Boody]

No, but I bet it was fun....

[T.F.P.R.H.G]

No, but I bet it was fun....

[Fraziel]

Worse career move was to carry on without Hugh.

They would have certainly reformed eventually and it would be Simple Minds supporting The Stranglers in 2015 if personal differences hadn't been resolved.

Still, we have all those classic albums to enjoy that wouldn't have been recorded if Hugh had stayed..

Not so sure. Their record sales were going down the tubes as it was and 10 was so bland and middle of the road it was a white line. I prefer them live now with Baz and they have as many, if not more, people going to see them live than shortly before Hugh left. Suite 16 is one of the best albums they have done too.

[ThruBeingCool]

jj knocking fck out of all them jornos didnt help.

I wonder what they did to deserve it? Insult his religion or summat?

[Twosunspots]

Put 'America's have bigger brains' in the sense that telling A & M their American record company to 'get fucked' was quite major, lol - who then got behind a band called The Police instead by all accounts..

[jason]

It's a shame the Stranglers are pretty unknown in America. You'd think some of their songs could have done really well over there.

[Ruby]

Selecting Paul Roberts as singer and moving to a 5 piece trumps everything else on that list.

Two years to reply but I'll second that.

[jason]

Calling themselves the Stranglers!

[kjblack]

Selecting Paul Roberts as singer and moving to a 5 piece trumps everything else on that list.

Two years to reply but I'll second that.

Yes!

I was listening to Paul Roberts singing an acoustic version of Always The Sun yesterday and it was just so wrong sounding.

[parasiteinblack]

Selecting Paul Roberts as singer and moving to a 5 piece trumps everything else on that list.

Two years to reply but I'll second that.

Yes!

I was listening to Paul Roberts singing an acoustic version of Always The Sun yesterday and it was just so wrong sounding.

I've probably heard Paul sing it about as much as Hugh, but it's the Baz version that leaves me cold sadly.
I think the 5 piece was a good thing, especially with Baz.
The worst moves were probably being lazy(?) enough to leave Hugh to do all the legwork in the late 80s and blandifying everything, plus the lack of oomph they've had since Paul left. The lack of new ideas and "macho" ness of the whole thing is terribly boring as well, they may be selling out tours but how much of the audience are the same every night and does that count? the fact that so many people are saying "it's more about the social side than the gig" or "I've had enough now, not really interested" speaks volumes.

[Ruby]

Well it's all opinion of course and healthy debate but personally I will never understand the point of view that a 5 piece Stranglers was a good thing.I mean The Stranglers with a singer in the middle.Who doesn't play an instrument. He just sings. It's as far removed from the dynamic and the spirit of the band as is possible. In my opinion.
Also to be fair paras, the band had keen fans back in the Hugh era too, fans who would do a full tour or numerous dates, just the same.You could say the same for most bands, that some people in the audience would have been in attendance at the previous show.

[parasiteinblack]

Well it's all opinion of course and healthy debate but personally I will never understand the point of view that a 5 piece Stranglers was a good thing.I mean The Stranglers with a singer in the middle.Who doesn't play an instrument. He just sings. It's as far removed from the dynamic and the spirit of the band as is possible. In my opinion.
Also to be fair paras, the band had keen fans back in the Hugh era too, fans who would do a full tour or numerous dates, just the same.You could say the same for most bands, that some people in the audience would have been in attendance at the previous show.

Fair points, well made. I think it's possibly more noticeable now as there's no effort to be attracting new fans any more. Perhaps understandably as it's quite late in the day...