>> Stranglers

Growing from standard pub rock R&B to punk and later into more inventive sounds, the Stranglers grew up alongside the bands from the British punk explosion, though they musically followed a different path. Mixing keyboards in with stripped-down rock, the Stranglers sound evokes both the Doors and classic punk rock. With an attitude matching the most aggressive of the punk outfits, the Stranglers were frequently censored for obscenity and once arrested for inciting a riot, though the band’s musical output lacks the charge of four-on-the-floor punk groups.