Stranglers, The Vinyl Records
Although they rose to fame during the initial explosion of U.K. punk, the Stranglers always stood apart from the other bands from the class of 1977. They had been together before punk became the "next big thing", and while they had a great talent for being suitably rude and transgressive, their music didn't sound or feel much like the fast-loud guitar-based fury of the Damned, the Sex Pistols, or the Clash. Instead, it initially suggested a grimy version of '60s garage punk with a sinister psychedelic undertow added by Dave Greenfield's keyboards. The group didn't often concern themselves with politics or social commentary, either, preferring to weave tales of sexual decadence, strange relationships, and bad behaviour.