Forty-five years ago, a new musical and cultural movement was sweeping the UK
Snarling and spitting, and afforded endless column inches by a mock-outraged tabloid press, 1977 was when punk rock gave a punch on the nose to the complacent music and fashion industries of the day. At the vanguard of the new movement were the likes of the Sex Pistols, The Clash and The Damned - bands whose members weren't necessarily great musicians, but who had a rawness, energy and immediacy, many believed the established 'dinosaur' groups had come to lack.
Another band making a big impact in 1977 were The Stranglers - though whether they could entirely be classed as 'punk' was a matter of debate even then in the music press, with some comparing their keyboard-driven sound to that of 1960s American band, The Doors. Nevertheless, The Stranglers were deemed a punk group, and that broad definition would remain.
