The Stranglers

They are currently preparing a follow-up album for release in early 2006. Before he had a chance to return to the group - whose members were perfectly willing to wait for him to recover - DeYoung found himself replaced by Lawrence Gowan on the record company's insistence that the band begin touring again as soon as possible. The Stranglers had a critical and popular renaissance in 2004 (together with their first top 40 hit for 14 years) with the highly acclaimed "Norfolk Coast" album and a subsequent sell-out tour. DeYoung was further hindered in attempts to reform due to a strange viral illness which made him excessively sensitive to light. "Peaches", finally, also takes pride of place in another British movie, Sexy Beast by director Jonathan Glazer. Once again, though, personality conflicts drove the band members apart. Interest in The Stranglers resurfaced when, in 200, singer Tori Amos covered their song "Strange Little Girl" and titled the album it was featured on "Strange Little Girls" and their song "Golden Brown" was also used in the hit film Snatch by film director Guy Ritchie. Continuing with Todd Sucherman replacing Panozzo, Styx's reunion tour was a success and the band soon released a new album Brave New World (1999).

The Stranglers classic period 1977-1990 has secured them a respected place in British popular music history. The entire band reunited in 1996 for a tour, but John Panozzo was unable to participate due to problems with alcohol that killed him soon after. The remaining members recruited two replacements and have continued to tour and release independent label records to little fanfare. The new line-up released one album, Edge of the Century, before once again disbanding. Founding member Cornwell left in August 1990 to pursue a solo career. In 1990, with Shaw achieving some success with Damn Yankees, the remaining elements of Styx reformed with Glen Burtnik replacing Shaw. Who can forget the rippling pipe organ on "Skin Deep", the best-known song from their 1984 album Aural Sculpture? Their 1986 album, Dreamtime, was also good, but reverted to softer, more soothing 'instrument work' and vocals that were clearly more subdued than Aural Sculpture and most of their albums before it. Shaw formed Damn Yankees in 1989 with Ted Nugent, Jack Blades and Michael Cartellone.

Songs of creditable quality. DeYoung released several successful solo albums centered around pop ballads and soft rock tunes, and James Young attempted a solo career with limited success. The Stranglers went on to score hits with the ballad "Golden Brown" (1982) and "Strange Little Girl" the same year, and by 1990 had more British chart hits (28) than any other artist never to reach the number one spot. By 1985, this most-successful version of Styx had disbanded and the members had moved onto moderately successful solo careers. This album and the ones before it are landmarks that never sound dated and even today earn critical praise. Roboto" and DeYoung's power ballad "Don't Let It End". This was both the beginning and the end of a musical era for the Stranglers, as their music took a very different turn in albums following that excellent release. Kilroy did contain several hits, including the synthesizer-based "Mr.

Take one listen to the title track from the album -- even just the first minute -- and you'll be convinced. Two albums later the Stranglers released La Folie. Kilroy sold well and was the centerpiece of an ambitious and theatrical stage show; however, the album and tour were a critical disaster and brought the tensions within the band to a breaking point. If one were to listen to the songs (or at least some of them) on The Raven, their 1979 album, one would clearly see the 'symptoms' of their separating from 'traditional' punk, and with that album they would lay out a musical foundation that is emulated to this day. Critics said that the concept behind the album was still very murky; several band members themselves admitted to not really getting it. Their sense of melody and structure are free, their creativity never wanes, and with the spiraling keyboards of Dave Greenfield, the shredding guitar work of Hugh Cornwell, the rumbling bass of JJ Burnel, and the pulsating drum work of the Jet Black, these albums built a fan following that exists in full force to this day. The band followed DeYoung's lead with their next project, Kilroy Was Here: another, more fully-realized concept album, this one set in a future where music itself has been outlawed. These albums (Rattus Norvegicus, No More Heroes, Black and White) are gems. On the success of the ballad "Babe", Styx founder DeYoung had been pushing for a more theatrical and pop-oriented direction, while Shaw favored a harder-edged approach.

Although initially received with mixed reaction because of their supposedly "sexist" and "racist" innuendo, the Stranglers employed a sort of intelligent dog-humour in their lyrics that won over many music critics. During this period of greatest success, the band, particularly DeYoung and Shaw, began to be affected by interpersonal tensions. Their early albums are essential classics by most critic's standards. In 1980, Styx released Paradise Theater, a loose concept album that became their biggest hit, reaching number one on the Billboard pop albums chart and yielding five top-40 singles including the top 10 hits "The Best Of Times" and "Too Much Time on My Hands". It was their frequent run-ins with the law and their strong following amongst British street gangs like the Finchley Boys that gave them a menacing persona. Through the late 1970s the band enjoyed its greatest success, with the album releases Pieces of Eight (1978) finding the group moving in a more straight-ahead pop-rock direction and spawning the hit singles "Renegade" and "Blue Collar Man", and Cornerstone (1979) yielding the group's first number one hit, the DeYoung ballad "Babe", as well as their biggest international hit, "Boat on the River". The band has been quoted as saying that they did not consider themselves to be a "punk" band. The first album with Shaw, Crystal Ball (1976), was moderately successful, and its followup, The Grand Illusion (1977) became the group's breakthrough hit, going platinum and spawning a top-ten hit and AOR radio staple in "Come Sail Away".

They wrote a string of top ten hits, including "No More Heroes" and "Peaches", which placed the band at the forefront of the New Wave movement - a branch one step removed from the spitting, snarling punks - not to mention that The Stranglers' material was fiercely intellectual, while never pretentious or boring. Following the move to A&M, Curulewski left the band, replaced by singer and guitarist Tommy Shaw. However, the four members of the group - Hugh Cornwell, Jean Jacques Burnel, Dave Greenfield and Jet Black (real name: Brian Duffy) - were not regarded as punks by their musical peers for the reason that they could actually play. On the heels of its belated hit single, Styx signed with A&M Records and released Equinox (1975), which sold well and yielded a minor hit in "Lorelei". They began as a sinister sounding, hard-edge pub rock group, and beginning in 1976, were tangentially assocated with punk rock, due in part to their opening for The Ramones' first British tour. The Stranglers were also associated with new wave music, but their idiosyncratic approach never fit completely within any musical genre. In the spring of 1975, nearly two years after the album it came from was released, "Lady" hit the top ten, and Styx II went gold soon after.
The Stranglers are a British rock music group, formed in 1973 in Guildford. On the strength of these releases and constant playing in local clubs and schools, the band established a fan base in the Chicago area, but was unable to break into the mainstream until an early song, the power ballad "Lady" (from Styx II) began to earn some radio time, first in Chicago and then nation-wide.

2004 Beyond Elysian Fields. The band's Wooden Nickel recordings, Styx (1972), Styx II (1973), The Serpent Is Rising (1974) and Man of Miracles (also 1974) were a mixture of straight-ahead rock with some dramatic prog-rock flourishes and art-rock aspirations. 2003 In the Dock. Changing their name briefly to TW4, the band added guitarists James Young and John Curulewski, and were soon signed to Wooden Nickel Records, under the name Styx. 2002 Mayday. This earliest line-up of the group included singer and keyboardist Dennis DeYoung, and a rhythm section comprised of brothers Chuck and John Panozzo. 2002 Sons of Shiva. The group originally formed in the Chicago area in the late 1960s as The Tradewinds.

2002 Footprints in the Desert. Styx was an American rock and roll band popular in the 1970s and early 1980s. 2000 Hi Fi. 200- The Big Bang Theory. 1999 Black Hair Black Eyes Black Suit. 2003 Cyclorama. 1997 Guilty. 2003 21st Century Live (live).

1993 Wired. Louis (live). 1992 CCW. 2002 At the River's Edge: Live in St. 1988 Wolf. 2001 Styx World: Live 2001 (live). 1979 Nosferatu. 2000 Arch Allies: Live at Riverport (live) (with REO Speedwagon).