I first discovered The Stranglers from an A&M compilation album called No Wave. The vinyl was a light transparent blue, something I had never seen before, and the various artists included Joe Jackson, UK Squeeze (later Squeeze), The Police, and The Dickies.1 I bought all of these albums, including The Incredible Shrinking Dickies on piss yellow vinyl!
If you haven’t figured it out yet, I have a dark sense of humor cultivated by reading MAD Magazine and The National Lampoon and watching strange British comedy on WNET-TV 13 in New York City. Punk rock (or whatever you call this type of music) was a natural addition to my warped viewpoint. It was funny, angry, and you could dance to it. Thanks Dick Clark!
I have played guitar along to this track for a while and decided to add it to my list of songs to cover. Unfortunately, by the time I got around to recording it I had injured my left hand, particularly the hammer finger. I tried, but could not record a guitar track. I put it aside and worked on tracks that didn’t require guitar-playing. Then I was inspired to record “Clampdown” because of all the Trumpian talk about internment camps and squashing rights and the fall of democracy. But it’s a guitar driven song. I approached it that way and used some MIDI computer guitar samples. It wasn’t perfect, but it worked.
I love “(Get A) Grip (On Yourself)” because of the lyric, “Stranger from another planet, welcome to our hole. Strap on your guitar, and we’ll play some rock and roll.” It’s also ironic, since I can’t grip shit with my left hand! Anyway, there are two guitars on this, but I buried them in the mix.
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