Archive for February 12th, 2009
No More Heroes for us Old Codgers

If it wasn’t bad enough seeing punk legends like Johnny Rotten and Iggy Pop advertising butter and insurance, I have just seen one of my heroes, Hugh Cornwell of The Stranglers on BBC Breakfast, tarnishing his wild man image.

The Stranglers

Hugh has a new solo LP and was talking about one track that tells how he hates Trowbridge in Wiltshire and in particular its one way road system. This is a man who caused riots at concerts, and went to jail for smoking “rock and roll woodbines” . The new song is called “Don’t Put me On A Slowboat To Trowbridge” hardly Peaches or Something Better Change. I saw The Stranglers live a couple of times, once with a bloke playing the spoons as the support act, and I saw Hugh do one of his first solo gigs. It was at a new venue above an Oxford pub, the light system was poor and Hugh sung Golden Brown with a towel over his head and then sarcastically said “the light was a lot better that time”.

So whatever next, will Polly Styrene make a song about her problems finding nice curtains, or will Stiff Little Fingers do a number about getting planning permission for their patio. Personally, I still feel young and wild, only the other day, I ate an After Eight mint at 7.30, Anarchy in Tenerife or what?