Thank you very much for posting this. I've been looking for the integral version of this interview for so long..... OMG this man is simply irresistible!!!!!!!
Recently discovered this band, and I curse my fate that I hadn’t heard about them decades ago!! Making up for lost time now, emersing myself in all their albums and history! I give them HUGE respect for everything that The Stranglers have been doing all these years! Msr. Brunel, merci 1000 fois pour vos efforts massifs pendant toutes ces années!
JJ is a wonderful person, intellectual and very intelligent. He's not arrogant and is so down to earth. My mother met him many moons ago and said he was incredibly kind. Hugh and JJ are both in my eyes legends
For a lot of us who came out of the late sixties into the seventies when punk rock started around 1976 the Stranglers caught us because of the organ. It kind of connected the two eras with bands like the Doors and so many others. At the time punk was raw, abrasive and absolutely needed but the Stranglers, the Damned, Blondie and the Ramones made it more palatable for us who were over 20. Fast forward to today we are due for another revolution.
Now I don't know if I watched this for the sake of nostalgia or because of current sterile conditions. I have a feeling both amount to the same thing. I always think I'm not a fan of anything... Then I see something Stranglers related and..... Click.
Wether it’s the early stranglers or the current lineup and material they were and are a killer band with a great back catalogue but still staying relevant I love them.
So does the less cool and unimfamous. South West of the New Forest - but we all love them for sure 🏴😇❤️ new forest pixies ps The Chameleons I loved as well
awesome interview. It's just great hearing the anecdotes, and JJ putting flesh on the bones. It's just such a shame JJ's relationship with Hugh is now that antagonistic, considering the shared success, and so much history, memories etc...... I wish it wasn't. Watching this in the wake of Dave's passing, but hearing JJ talk about where the Stranglers would be at "if" one of the members died was hard as i'd watched another interview with JJ a few days ago where he was very visibly grief-stricken after Dave had had actually died. I look at the stranglers, who we grew up with, and I look at todays clowns who don't gig, and get into brawls, and experience life on the road as a working band, or deal with mega record companies, the nitty-gritty reality stuff.....and these clowns make a linear "beat"with a shelf-life of 2 minutes, get to no.1 with 10,000 sales or however little it takes now.........and the comparison between then and now is striking, and I'm forced to conclude that there are "no more heroes anymore". I wish we had moe bands like The Stranglers. RIP Dave
There always were bands / singers that never did it live on stage. That was why the Clash wouldn't do Top of the Pops. Music in the seventies was mostly over blown self indulgent pap. For me Punk washed all that away, there was a movement rather than just music you could be part of.
JJ has always shone. There are some amazing brilliant bass players around but his playing and his bass sound has been the measure that I compare others by. Noone comes close in my opinion
“ assuming you’re heterosexual, you’ve looked at women right ? You admit it ? “ ....thank the gods for simple truths like this - surviving all the fucking bullshit that’s shoved into our citizens’ pummelled media minds nowadays. The Stranglers deserve the ‘ Internet revived ‘ part of their career because shows like the Paris 2014 demonstrate their worth & enthusiasm when playing and especially when contemporaries and old guard acts of much less diversity or imagination continue receiving more daily routine radio exposure and are treated as national treasures . When was the last really good or very popular New song written by Elton or Rodney or Sting or U2 or Blondie or Roxy or Pink Floyd or Spandau Ballett etc etc ? All of the above are only in it to generate profits let alone live on glories from 45 years ago. Longlivethismaninblue ❤️
good advice. my son dislikes the stranglers and karen dalton. i don't believe in brainwashing our children. so when he's out at karate, i can play karen dalton; when he's home he still doesn't like the stranglers. i hope he has the energy of jj when he's older; school doesen't help!
He's always struck me as quite shy, no ego and very intelligent and cultured but he's hard as nails and took no nonsense now and back in the day when he looked scarier, legend. I'm sure he only used his powers for good though!
Excellent interview. Always been fascinated by Jean-Jacques and Hugh. Both had a dark, macho exterior, yet from their interviews they come across as well-spoken and intelligent. Would love to share a beer with them (separately) down a country local.
Why do todays teenagers go and support The Stranglers? Simple but complicated. They always says things tend to skip a generation so here is my theory as they say. Us old punks are now Grandads, papa and old grumps even. Anyway like us our own kids took a great dislike to their parents taste in music, our music, I certainly took a great dislike to my parents musical taste, mum was a Elvis freak and dad Cliff Richard. So here we are in the 21st Century and along come the grandchildren and todays vinyl revival and who still have those original records and what are they? Us old grumps who suddenly find our now teenage grandchildren doing what there parents NEVER did, listen to our music and best of all, loving it. I had a varied interest in music, depending on the girlfriend and what they listened to. So I built up quite a varied "vinyl" record collection, best of British 70/80s but started with and always will be a devoted Punk.... So yeah out come the Stranglers Albums, Siouxsie, The Clash, SLF and many many other great Punk bands. People often asked why I kept my vinyl collection and the answer will always be the same, they are part of my life, my youth, and they mean a lot to me. Now I get asked by those grandkids if they can have them when I die, sorted, cos I know they will cherish them as much as I have. Geese many of those vinyl records are 40 plus years old, older than their own parents !!!!!
It was quite obvious from day one that The Stranglers were disciples of Beefheart. You could really hear the Beefheart influence in Cornwell's guitar playing style. Gotta love JJ Burnell. Such a humble fella.
JJ was totally on it in this terrific interview. To be honest I hate most modern interviewers as it's all ego and about them but this guy knew about The 101'ers and asked some good questions. One of my fave JJ interviews. What an entertaining guy. Hope when the cameras were switched off he didn't mash that interviewer to a bloody pulp!
Great bloke, just like having a chat with your mate. Still remember 5 minutes from back in the day. Punk summed up how young people were feeling at that time.
Yes Norfolk Coast ( the title song ) sits very easily amongst their more Punchy Catchy Tunes like Duchess and Go Buddy Go and Rise of The Robots and lots more . I didn’t hear it until I had my very own tablet computer and found these music apps. I should feel thoroughly ashamed for straying over the years and not hearing the rest of the album yet ..but I’m pleased to see the shows of the last 20 years and how they’re still pretty tasty for a bunch of old fellas . 👍new forest pixies
The hardest thing for JJ must be that it is almost impossible for anything the band now do, to standup against their first four albums. They had a whole movement behind them back in the late seventies and such a distinctive sound. I have to admit that if I think of The Stranglers I imediately go to '5 minutes' or 'Goodbye Toulouse' coz that is where they exist for me.
That could be said of a lot of bands that were about in the 60s - 90s and are still going. Duran Duran & Depeche Mode are still going but they'll never reached the heights that they did in the early '80s.
No comparison to both Duran and Depeche Both those bands have their main driving force teams still in tact Le Bon, Rhodes John Taylor, Gahan ,Gore...& the so called Fake Stranglers? The entire original line up of Cornwell,Black (RIP) Greenfield (RIP) gone & Burnel ( Hardly a frontman?) still calling them the 😅 25:49
JJ is so cool,yet so down to earth. Mum had a massive crush on his she told me. I grew up listening to their music and fell for the incredible sound and the awesome image. A real nice guy who has time for fans and also a love of bikes
I had always been a fan anf in the 90s got invited to a Stranglers gig at Leeds where I met JJ and the rest of the band. Later we met them back at their hotel and had a fun time, I will never forget that night. I was living in York at the time and went back to the station to get the train, saw the York train and climbed aboard and fell asleep. A while later the conductor woke me looking for my ticket which I gave him and he asked where I was going too, York! Ah, well, you should know, this train is going to Manchester Airport! But it had York on the front, no, that was the back. So, I spent a long time on that train getting home to York but a night I can't forget.
He's probably the biggest influence on me why I love playing bass. I listened to the Stranglers in my teenage years day and night. His bass sound is by far my favourite. For me his bass was the song.
The problem with the guy who replaced Hugh Cornwell is that he posed for photos as if he was part of a Stock, Aitken & Waterman act, he had an ok voice and actually sounded a bit like Hugh but to me he was really out of place, clicking his fingers when he wasn't singing and cheesy stuff like that, Baz is a better fit
Great job with the interview... that's JJ on his best behavior, for sure! ...as it happens, I survived the Battle of Klippan with the Raggare... sad bunch of Swedish shite...
Great interview. The Stranglers were never really my thing, tbh, but JJ is a superb bassist. Him and Derek Forbes from Simple Minds were the best from that era by a country mile.
Great interview, just seen for 1st time, recorded on 40th anniversary, now @ 50th. Saw them in Leeds 1981/2 and would love to see them again now, having been a fan right through
Saw them this year at Caldicot Castle without Jet or Dave and yet it was one of the best they have done, and I’ve seen a few! A fantastic day apart from the shit food and ridiculous prices.
I saw the stranglers play the nashville a few times. dave was a lovely person, one night he turned up in a safari suit and pith helmet smoking a pipe. The bar was busy so i offered him a drink, he asked for a pint of bitter in a jug , pure rock n roll.
"If one of us dies or leaves that's it", but Dave sadly died and Jet left and he is now soldiering on alone. His right but it's not the Stranglers imo.
I saw them for the 1st time in the summer of 2024 at the Piece Hall in Halifax. I'm 45 and they have not really being a band I ever looked into. I was amazed at how many songs I knew already. I really wish I had gotten into them earlier.
Ist time I’ve heard him being interviewed, I always though he’d have a French accent. He used to be a handful back in the day. I guess age has mellowed him over the years.
I didn’t know - Norfolk Coast was the album that brought me back . The Stranglers were my favourite band for years , I was heartbroken , I did try . I was much happy for them and their release of some proper music again . So true = Norfolk Coast & Suite XVI are two excellent additions to the canon . Anything Can Happen !
A band I never saw but no question they were doing something prior to punk that had worth and an edge that was special in 1975 /76. Dr Feelgood were the other ones. The Stranglers had better songs.
Jj burnel essentially well educated man from humble beginning to cracking musician/songwriter. Modest and proper down to earth geezer 1 in 4 of one of the most diverse bands covering several eras but in a way you dont notice a gap until hugh decided to leave for his own reasons still one of the very best from the uk and underrated in a lot of peoples opinions who cares about the doubters go buddy go.❤
Here because bbc news says some pop singer chick has 10 hits in the top ten new record better than Beatles ..so I listened to one and was not surprised as I expected.. so I quickly adjourned
