Monday 11 November 2024

(Get a) Grip (on Yourself)


I was today years old when I realised the opening line to the Stranglers' first single 'Grip' was "Didn't have no money 'round to buy a Morry Thou". From that day to this I had absolutely no knowledge*

That the Stranglers were too old to be punks barely mattered back then, even less now (all the Mk. 1 punks are old now). In January 1977 I just remember Grip being an absolute barnstormer. Even with the sax all over it. And Dave Greenfield's ill-advised tash. Also, when their debut album came out shortly thereafter it was nowhere near the best track on it. Not even close; such was the sheer brilliance of Rattus Norvegicus - don't @ me.

The fact that it works in a lounge format tells you just how great a song it is. 

Nouvelle Vague - Get a Grip (2019)

* Even in 2013 when I last wrote about this very song. (And yes, I'd totally forgotten writing that piece over ten years ago.)

2 comments:

  1. Oh, you've hit the spot with this one, John! 'Rattus...' was only the second album I ever bought (how I had to save and save that pocket money!) - I concur with all you say about it. Neither had I clue about that lyric so there's a revelation for me as too. Oh and I adore Nouvelle Vague. What a great post for a chilly windy Tuesday, thanks.

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    1. Excellent, C! The purists (and/or the revisionists) will cite 'Bollocks', 'London Calling' and, maybe, 'Pink Flag' as being the defining punk albums; whatever that means - there we go again - one word which tells us nothing: 'defining'.
      Me, I'd go with 'Crossing the Red Sea with the Adverts', 'Rattus' and 'Generation X's debut. OK, and the Buzzcocks' 'Another Music'.

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