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.
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They did, notwithstanding, create some excellent music, earning considerable album and single chart success in the late 1970s and beyond. Forty-five years ago, the band's original line-up - Hugh Cornwall (guitar/vocals), Jean-Jacques Burnel (bass), Dave Greenfield (keyboards) and Jet Black (drums) - stepped out at Newcastle City Hall to perform. The support act was Co Durham band Penetration. Not for the first time at the famous venue, trouble would flare.
This was The Stranglers' breakthrough year, when they sensationally scored no less than three top 10 singles - Peaches, Something Better Change and No More Heroes - and two top 10 albums - Rattus Norvegicus and No More Heroes. No definitive setlist for the band's City Hall show on October 12, 1977, exists - but the early singles are thought to have featured alongside the likes of Five Minutes, Hanging Around and Go Buddy Go .
The show would make the pages of the following day's Evening Chronicle in a story headlined 'Rock fans storm stage'. The trouble, such as it was, started towards the end of the gig when one boisterous fan jumped on the stage and began to pogo, an activity our reporter helpfully described for readers as "a dance where you jump up and down". Soon, the initial transgressor was joined by dozens more audience members until "chaos reigned as there were more than 100 fans pogoing as the band tried to play Peaches" and the show was brought to a halt.
Some of The Stranglers' "entourage of heavies" began pushing the enthusiastic stage invaders back into the seats as other audience members in the balconies showered those below in spit. The main bone of contention seemed to be the City Hall bouncers being ordered by The Stranglers' spokesman over the PA system: "Leave the fans alone. If there is any trouble we will handle it from this end," which the fans took as a signal to ignore the City Hall staff as the chaos continued.
The only real damage caused was to seats in the first few rows, before that night the band's hotel was raided by drugs police in the early hours and members were questioned. It seemed they might even be banned from playing again in Newcastle, but that never transpired.
The Stranglers are still active in 2022, although Jean-Jacques Burnel remains the only original member. Indeed, earlier this year, they were back performing at Newcastle City Hall for the umpteenth time, 45 years on from that eventful night in 1977.
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