ViP Jukebox Vol. 5

THE STRANGLERS - GOLDEN BROWN, NUCLEAR DEVICE, GENETIX

Last week in 1982, THE STRANGLERS played the ‘NO Nukes’ concert at Jaarbeurs, Utrecht, Netherlands, (April 1982).

The ‘No Nukes’ Festival at Utrecht in Holland was filmed for Dutch TV and featured an interesting assortment of Dutch and British bands including The Stranglers, The Sound, U2, The Beat, Steel Pulse, Bad Manners and Dave Edmunds. The concert was a fund-raiser for the anti-nuclear platform that had emerged in The Netherlands in the early 80s and a protest against the intention to install tactical cruise missiles there.

The Stranglers opened with 'Down In The Sewer' with Hugh telling the crowd that ‘The Stranglers didn't want nukes ANYWHERE, not just the US, Russia, England or The Netherlands.

The set befitted the ethos behind the concert perfectly, featuring tracks like 'Who Wants The World’, together with excellent renditions of 'Baroque Bordello', 'Golden Brown', 'Let Me Introduce You ...' and the JJ-sung 'How To Find True Love which featured guest percussionists from Steel Pulse.

Following the gig, Jet Black was interviewed about the festival, “I think the idea is exciting because through music one can reach a lot of people with a lot of new ideas. And although it's easy to be fooled into believing that you're really achieving something, in real terms IT IS important in that expressing ideas through music does definitely reach people and make them think."

"I think it's a bit of a pipedream to expect the Russians or the Americans to scrap all their nuclear weapons simply because we played a gig in Utrecht, but nevertheless, the idea of spreading the message that nuclear weapons are no good to anybody is a valid one”.