Imagine the joy of hearing this as a pubescent male in 1977, and sniggering in the school yard about the lechery and innuendo. It still never fails to amuse after all these years. "Liberation for women...." is one of my favourite lines in any song, especially relevant to the time it was written. If you want more great bass playing from the punk/new wave era, listen to Norman Watt-Roy with Ian Dury and the Blockheads.
@@bobcarr2649 add reasons to be cheerful pt 3 and there aint half been some clever bastards to that list (maybe cut rythm stick because everyone does that)
Thank you for your reaction to this classic summer song, Justin. Hahaha! Really enjoyed/enjoy the Stranglers, their musical chops, and their naughtiness - downright dangerous for some critics years ago... Saw them in concert here in 1981, and it was a terrific show. "Black and White", "The Raven", "La Folie", "Feline" are a series of albums that show them growing and changing musical styles, and always with a bit of an edge. Have since seen and heard Hugh Cornwell in concert a couple of times over the years since he left the Stranglers, both solo and with a trio. Both shows were great. I like his solo work and he always litters his concerts with Stranglers tunes, too, since he wrote and sang lead for many of them back in the day. Wild to have learned that Cornwell was in high school with Richard Thompson, and that they both played together in a band for a bit (well before the Stranglers). And since people are mentioning the bass sound of the Blockheads' Norman Watt-Roy to go with that distinctive crunch of JJ Burnel, I'd also again assert the importance of another post-punk kind-of-prog band, Magazine, that also had a fine bassist in Barry Adamson. Also with cool keyboards by Dave Formula, and some great atmospheric guitar work from John McGeogh. McGeogh had moved on to Siousxie and the Banshees when I finally saw and heard Magazine on tour, and they only stuck around for one more LP at that time in the early 1980s. But there was a reunion in 2008 that led to an album of good new material, "No Thyself". Acerbic and clever and musically sophisticated, as always. Hope you'll give them a try sometime.
Punk and prog are 2 words that can't utterly stay in the same sentence...every real punk could chase you with an axe for that insult! And they were right! Cause those 20 minute "suites" was music for onanists! Punk rock was 2 minutes of fury. Ok The Stranglers have made not only fast an short songs, but they were punk in the attitude to the core. 😁
That bass line is one of the hardest earworms to shift! This song is hilariously, perfectly over the top. It's also featured in one of my favourite movies, the slightly weird gangster movie "Sexy Beast". Oh, and a clitares is a type of bathing costume, though the double-entendre is definitely deliberate! Dave Greenfield was a great keyboardist - sadly he died of Covid-19 in 2020. RIP
It took me years to find out that "clitares" was a French bathing costume, which now makes sense, although there is that schoolboy innuendo... I love the lines "Or down in the sewer / Or even on the end of a skewer".
Awite you filthy lecherous lot! I was the perfect age when this came out in 1977=14...my mates and I thought it was and still is fuckin brilliant...don't know if u know this=in an interview 1979/80 Hugh Cromwell was asked where he was when he wrote "peaches"...was it on the beach at st.tropez or on the beach at Southend? "nah actually I was sitting wiv a bunch of mates on a bench in Peckham drinkin english cider! Peckham is a part of S.E.London and is where i'm from...this was during the long hot summer of 1976 (yes the sun DOES come out in England!hahaha) and they were watchin all the pretty Peckham girls walkin past...excellent! a punk band?? nah not to me, they were (and still are) a brilliant rock band wiv a great singin bass player-Jean Jacques Burrell a great singin guitarist-Hugh cornwell a rock steady drummer-the late great jet black and a great keyboard player-the late great Dave Greenfield all that equals=a fuckin BRILLIANT English rock band...hope you agree,peace,all the best from English Piers a.k.a. Chopper.
Funky punk rock nearly finishing the album, and you’ve got to do Walk on by, the entire Raven or entire black and white album you’ll love them. Also down in the sewer is a great closer for this album
If you like this you really, really need to listen to Ian Dury & The Blockheads: New Boots & Panties. Try Wake Up & Make Love With Me, Billericay Dickie, Block 'Eds Sweet Gene Vincent, Plaistow Patricia, Clever Trevor ... Any of the tracks really. He wrote the filthiest, funniest, most poetic lyrics of anyone I've ever heard. If I was with a woman I'd threaten to unload her Every time she asked me to explain If I was with a woman She'd have to learn to cherish The purity & depth of my disdain Look at them laughing ...
Every time I hear this, and I mean EVERY time, it takes me back to the first time my buddy took me to where his father was from, Grand Marais, Michigan, which is a tiny little town right on the shores of Lake Superior. Our first morning there, we got up around seven in the morning and went down to the lake to hang out for a bit. While walking along the shore, one of us started singing, "Walking on the beaches, looking at the peaches." In response, the other sang, "Echo beach, far away in time." This was my first time out of dozens of times that I hung out on the beach in Grand Marais. For the next four or five days, we explored the beach for about twenty miles east and west of town. Jumping down the log slide, walking across the dunes, checking out Miner's Castle, eating whitefish sandwiches at West Bay Diner, etc. Such good times. And this song always takes me back to that one early morning walk along the shore. I've always loved how music can take a person back to good times. BTW . . . the second song we sang on the beach that morning was "Echo Beach" by Martha & The Muffins. Another band I think you would really enjoy. Thanks for the memories!
Walking on a deserted beach (in this case Grand Beach in Manitoba) in the morning tends to get me thinking of The Young Rascals and either "Groovin" or "It's a beautiful morning" will start earworming me.
Justin, your reaction to this was just hilarious - it wasn't until your first time hearing the line 'walking on the beaches looking at the peaches' that you realised what the song was about! Very entertaining reaction to a very entertaining song! And I like the fact that you appreciate their high level of musicianship too.
Saw this band in the Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto 1978 , here is the set list... (Get a) Grip (on Yourself) Dagenham Dave Bring On the Nubiles Dead Ringer Hanging Around Nice 'n' Sleazy No More Heroes Tank Threatened Burning Up Time Straighten Out London Lady Down in the Sewer 5 Minutes Something Better Change Toiler on the Sea
I think an English music critic wrote about the Stranglers when this single (yes : this song was issued as a single... Unimaginable nowadays, eh ;) ) went out : "They're too old to be punk. Too outrageous not to be." Perfectly sums up the Stranglers, imo :) .
We had a fund-raising summer fayre at school the year this was out. One of the English teachers was playing pop tracks throughout the afternoon, and he had a jar on the table by the record decks for collecting 5p donations, saying that once it got to £5, he'd play Peaches by The Stranglers! He soon raised the cash. :)
The songs for their first 3 albums were all honed by touring the UK before they had a record contract. It's great to see 50 years later their music still stands the test of time. A great unsung band.
Huge in their homeland at the time,then went global. Saw them at some uni in north London late 70’s and they did Get A Grip On Yourself,blew my mind. Check out that track fella,the keys are monstrous.
I loved watching your reactions to this JP! Hahaha! I'll always have a deep love for this album as it was my introduction to 'Popular Music' aged 13 - my brother (14 years my senior) brought it home and played it on the family stereo. It blew my adolescent mind -scared but intrigued me - darkness and light. Had to get my disapproving mother's approval to ask if I could tape it. I then literally played that tape to death: RIP my childhood!
Hey Justin, Screen Idol ! [shout out to the wife there]. Loved this reaction, so funny. Even though this wasn't their first single, it was the first one I heard from them and I was hooked. A couple of words were exchanged for radio play, obvs. "Bikini" and "Oh No" instead of, you know, the other ones. They are so clever with the grooves man. I know you're going through the whole album, thankfully, but another great reggae inspired song is "Nice and Sleazy" [not lecherous, despite the title, lol]. That's off the album "Black And White", gotta get through this one first though. Next album?, gotta be "The Raven". Enjoyed this reaction.
Isn't it such a funky track... it was even played on the radio in the UK...!! I do know that when they did their live shows and this song came on then every now and then used to get some of the local strippers to walk on stage as it was being sung.... now that is dedication to your craft and one hell of a show.... Keep on Rocking.
Peaches was the Stranglers attempt at Reggae after Hugh and JJ used to rent out their PA system to raise funds to Jamaican dance parties in London…. They wrote the riff one night after one of those nights. Another song, Bitchin refers to that experience in the verse with “the peacock guys”
Great, great band. Gem after gem. Hooo, boy. Funny AF, earworms for days!! Everybody plays great!!! Compare and contrast 'Skin Deep'. On my desk first thing Monday morning, mister. ;>D
Good hear you got man. JJ confessed that this bass line was inspired by some reggae tune. The Men in Black were close to the reggae band Steel Pulse (the Stranglers are mentioned in the credits on their album Handsworth Revolution). Lovin' what you do 👍
I've never seen you but I noticed the song and the group so I had to listen. Awesome band, one of my fav's and I really loved your analysis. So I've subbed on the basis of that. Oh and yeah man you are cute like your wife says, although I mean it in an on cam persona way. ;))
For me, this is the highlight song of a magnificent album. You pretty much nailed all the parts I love, from the organ to the bass to the lyrics to back and forth calls, and that's not even counting the composition which is great in and of itself. Really, though, it's the comedy, isn't it? Even the women I know who heard this thought it was funny. It's not like they don't know we like to look at the "peaches." Edit("He's on the side of women" Dude, you made me spit out my drink! Too funny...)
been waiting for this reaction for so long and its made me smile even on a sunny day too its boiling outside. Perfect punk summer song. Gotta check out Walk On By or The Raven album next album listen you do by these guys.
It's one of the songs that shows that The Stranglers were the target of feminists at the time, and yet with The Stranglers you shouldn't take everything at face value ! Here's what Hugh Cornwell said about the track: "Throughout time, men have been ogling at women, and this is a song about that. On building sites, they've always done it. "Peaches" is not necessarily a celebration of ogling. It's just saying it exists. But I got so much stick for writing it. I'm sure if it had just been buried on an album, it wouldn't have caused as much controversy. It's funny because the lyrics are so tongue-in-cheek, I don't know how anyone could take them any other way. The critics would say you can't treat subjects like that in a tongue-in-cheek manner because that legitimises them. Well, I didn't mean to legitimise at women as objects of desire. The lyrics are full of sexual innuendo, and I like turning the idea of female emancipation upside down. It's my surrealist fetishism, because sometimes by turning things on their heads you get a fresh look at things. It's not trying to legitimise a view or discredit it, it's just getting a new angle on it." "I got a lot of stick for using the word 'clitoris'. When it came out as a single, we had to do another version". The radio cut was re-recorded with less explicit lyrics: "clitoris" was replaced with "bikini", "oh shit" with "oh no" and "what a bummer" with "what a summer". "What people don't realise about "Peaches" is that it was one of the first rap songs. There was no singing on it apart from the chorus refrain and "(Get A) Grip (On Yourself)" is also very rap-like".
Hilarious review Justin. It is what it is and you call it out. A song that would be savaged today for its in your face sexism but that was 1970s . As you say the groove is great and you are travelling along with them on that beach front. Cool track even if it is not allowed we all were thinking that way as teens!
@@malingor7042 I wasn't thinking of it in racial terms because there are plenty of white rappers doing exactly the same thing, just using it as an example of more modern music using the same subject matter.
@@malingor7042 "Michelle Pfeiffer that white gold" "so many pretty girls around me and they're waking up the rocket". Bruno Mars. That's different then?
A hit in the UK when I was at (High) school. I remember asking the DJ at a local night club to play it - he wouldn’t - big chicken. He played what he insisted was the A-side, ‘Go Buddy go’, not a patch on ‘Peaches’.
The Clitares(bathing suit) line went over so many heads(including mine)at the time to the point of the song being banned or severely edited for radio lol
As a student saw them in '77 at the Fiesta Club in Sheffield, UK. It was the time when spitting at the band, as they played, seemed to be popular! Check out European Female, La Folie, Golden Brown to name just a few...
Ok i just wanna say two things: 1: Kickass song! evil creepy sound and the raw voice i love! Stranglers , The Godfathers & Saxon got some raw singers ♥ 2: Damn you're SO CUTE when you sitting here.. lol you almost got me goin.. up and down
I was singing this to myself in 1977 as I walked along several beaches on the Greek island of Rhodes. Packed with Swedish and German girls. Not topless of course, beacuse Greece was ruled by a military Junta at the time. Nonetheless........ And the song is definitely, an ear worm. Could NOT get it out of my head throughout the two week vacation. I was 23 years old. Sigh. I think this was their second UK singles hit and a double A-Side with Go Buddy Go.
That's JP's "OMG ! What have I got myself into ?" face 😆 You're quite right about the reggae influence. The song was written after Hugh and JJ went to pick up a PA from a reggae club.
@@Katehowe3010 👌 And charabanc was outdated even in the late 70s in UK but I wonder if less so in France and Jean-Jacques chose it? Anyway "Oh shut there goes the coach" doesn't scan so well!
It's again this notion by so many that The Stranglers were a punk band, they weren't it's just that their big breakout moment came at the same time, the aggression and attitude that was part of their music and persona saw them lumped in with the snarling punks but they were far more sophisticated and talented musically. They shocked and challenged the establishment as much as the punks at the time when much of our institutions in the UK were rooted in the outmoded attitudes of the 50's, the people in charge of councils, the BBC, ITV and radio didn't in the main know how to deal with the whole outpouring of filth as they saw it that hit the UK music scene in 1976/1977, it was a fabulous time to be young and aware and our teachers didn't know how to handles us either, I was coming to the end of my school life as I would leave the following year 1978, despite all the socio-economic issues it was a great time to be alive.
S-o-o-o good! I'm fairly sure (I haven't checked ) this was released as a double A-side single with 'Go Buddy, Go' on the other side....but this was the side that got played...JJB killing it on the bass...great one JP
They arrived with punk (which is an attitude more than a musical genre, by the way!) It was said (and I may be paraphrasing somewhat) that they were too old to be punks but too outrageous not to be. My brother brought this one into the house when I was about 13, and I've been a fan ever since. Have you reacted to 'Hanging Around' yet? Or 'Toiler on the Sea'? Or 'Shah Shah A Go Go'? Or 'Dead Loss Angeles'? etc, etc, etc...
Here's a song whose title means, "Little by little" (at least I know that, but I can't offer much more than that.) The pronunciation is not what you'd assume from English orthography, but if you listen for a repeated word, you can hear it being sung/ chanted. For instance a "K" is somewhere between an English "K", and a "G". It's a kind of soft G sound. (For the k in cat, an "H" is added, and some breath goes with it. Aspirated is the technical term.) The "C" is a bit less misleading, once you get used to it. It's a "dental click" - a click consonant with tongue starting on the back of the incisors. Nice easy click to get started on if you ever decide to get into clicking for some reason. Ja, and then there's something about the girls (using the word for little girls, actually) running away from the handsome young men. (The word uSoka - with that "soft g, k" means something like "stud"/ "the guy all the girls get silly over".) th-cam.com/video/URpnSY9_hDY/w-d-xo.html
Fun song with some real muscle behind it. Another song with Peaches in the title is "Rotten Peaches" by Elton John, from his "Madman Across the Water" album. Leave it Bernie Taupin to write multiple songs about crime and punishment.
The punk version of the Doors, psychodrama, shame, perversion and enjoyment, all wrapped in a pop nous that most of their "punk" brethren completely missed. Real adult music.
When I was young, innocent and didn't listen to the lyrics, I thought he was just enjoying a mouthful of delicious, juicy peaches when he "mmm-mmm mmm..." part. I guess he was at that.
For a heavy dose of organ in a fusion context see Jan Hammer on organ on the song "Red And Orange" from guitarist John Abercrombie's 1975 album Timeless.
@@Katehowe3010 It would also be nice for Justin to do a few tracks on the No More Heroes album before he tackles Black & White ! I know he already did the title track but it would be nice if he did for example some 'controversial' tracks like "I Feel Like a Wog" and "Bring on the Nubiles" as well as some oddities like "Peasant in the Big Shitty" and "School Mam" !
@@Katehowe3010 Maybe all your efforts were not in vain since finally Justin pursues Rattus Norvegicus until the end and I'm sure he will continue to do so with other albums of the band !
A fun song even if the lyrics are showing their age. For some reason my mind jumped to Blackie and the Rodeo Kings', punkish roots tune "House of Sin" and then, when Justin mentioned the reggae sound, I thought of Bruce Cockburn's "Rumours of Glory" which is definitely not at all in the same lyrically sphere (another of his religious tunes but with a reggae beat). Neither song has that much to do with with the Stranglers song. I look forward to the rest of the album.
I love the Stranglers! But they change musically after 1978. Their album Black And White is generally considered the turning point; the white side, The Stranglers as you know them; the Black Side they're sound moving away from their punkish beginnings. Although not part of the original vinyl album, they released at this point a cover of Burt Bacharach's "Walk On By" as a single, which everybody who knows it is mad about it. The keyboard solo on it alone is worth the listen. Anyway, to my ears, they reach their pinnacle on the album Aural Sculpture (Nov1984). Production, arrangements, its all more mature. But they're first three albums are all very punkish and fun. Keep bringing back more Stranglers.
I don’t know if there’s a better example of bass / keyboards interaction than The Stranglers. Hopefully as others have suggested, you’ll get to Walk On By at some point. The band’s excellent musicianship was supposedly a turn-off to many punks in the early days, but I think they were probably won over in the end.
Haven’t been really “getting “ the big hoodoo with these guys but, this song was a hoot. If you’d played this first I might be at a different place. A few nays and one yay so far. Eat A Peach is a great album by the Allman Brothers, part with and without Duane, I think, maybe I’m thinking Wipe The Windows, Check The Oil, don’t know… love them. Also Peaches En Regalia by Franklin Zappa. Peace and fruitful Music
I don’t “get” them either. This kind of music wasn’t my thing when I was in high school and maybe that’s why. As far as peaches, The Joker by Steve Miller is what comes to my mind.
![The Stranglers - Peaches [REACTION]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/QJjQWPClhEE/mqdefault.jpg)
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Similar era is RockWrok and Young Savage by Ultravox
This was so tongue in cheek that Hugh was lucky not to swallow it!
Imagine the joy of hearing this as a pubescent male in 1977, and sniggering in the school yard about the lechery and innuendo. It still never fails to amuse after all these years. "Liberation for women...." is one of my favourite lines in any song, especially relevant to the time it was written. If you want more great bass playing from the punk/new wave era, listen to Norman Watt-Roy with Ian Dury and the Blockheads.
Great shout on Norman Watt-Roy
N W-R, bass royalty
Hit me with your rhythm stick, or what a waste, the second being my second favourite Dury song, after wake up and make love with me.
@@bobcarr2649 add reasons to be cheerful pt 3 and there aint half been some clever bastards to that list (maybe cut rythm stick because everyone does that)
remember for me, not imagine :-)
Love The Stranglers... Highly underrated. Punky but not Punk. Maybe Punk Prog... They're definitely their own bag.
I think they really kind of fit into alternative simply because they didn't fit anywhere else.
I definitely go punk-prog for any band that does concept albums or songs using the harpsichord 😉
Yes, definitely a progressive punk band, although things had changed by Feline, but still one of their best. along with Dreamtime.
Thank you for your reaction to this classic summer song, Justin. Hahaha! Really enjoyed/enjoy the Stranglers, their musical chops, and their naughtiness - downright dangerous for some critics years ago... Saw them in concert here in 1981, and it was a terrific show. "Black and White", "The Raven", "La Folie", "Feline" are a series of albums that show them growing and changing musical styles, and always with a bit of an edge. Have since seen and heard Hugh Cornwell in concert a couple of times over the years since he left the Stranglers, both solo and with a trio. Both shows were great. I like his solo work and he always litters his concerts with Stranglers tunes, too, since he wrote and sang lead for many of them back in the day.
Wild to have learned that Cornwell was in high school with Richard Thompson, and that they both played together in a band for a bit (well before the Stranglers).
And since people are mentioning the bass sound of the Blockheads' Norman Watt-Roy to go with that distinctive crunch of JJ Burnel, I'd also again assert the importance of another post-punk kind-of-prog band, Magazine, that also had a fine bassist in Barry Adamson. Also with cool keyboards by Dave Formula, and some great atmospheric guitar work from John McGeogh. McGeogh had moved on to Siousxie and the Banshees when I finally saw and heard Magazine on tour, and they only stuck around for one more LP at that time in the early 1980s. But there was a reunion in 2008 that led to an album of good new material, "No Thyself". Acerbic and clever and musically sophisticated, as always. Hope you'll give them a try sometime.
Punk and prog are 2 words that can't utterly stay in the same sentence...every real punk could chase you with an axe for that insult!
And they were right! Cause those 20 minute "suites" was music for onanists! Punk rock was 2 minutes of fury. Ok The Stranglers have made not only fast an short songs, but they were punk in the attitude to the core.
😁
That bass line is one of the hardest earworms to shift! This song is hilariously, perfectly over the top. It's also featured in one of my favourite movies, the slightly weird gangster movie "Sexy Beast". Oh, and a clitares is a type of bathing costume, though the double-entendre is definitely deliberate!
Dave Greenfield was a great keyboardist - sadly he died of Covid-19 in 2020. RIP
It took me years to find out that "clitares" was a French bathing costume, which now makes sense, although there is that schoolboy innuendo... I love the lines "Or down in the sewer / Or even on the end of a skewer".
Its not. The only place you find that translation is JJB claiming thats what the song is talking about!
Clitaris
Their cover version on Dionne Warwick's "Walk On By" is a must. The singing style gives the lyrics almost completely different meaning.
It also has to be the _full_ version! 😊👍
Awite you filthy lecherous lot! I was the perfect age when this came out in 1977=14...my mates and I thought it was and still is fuckin brilliant...don't know if u know this=in an interview 1979/80 Hugh Cromwell was asked where he was when he wrote "peaches"...was it on the beach at st.tropez or on the beach at Southend? "nah actually I was sitting wiv a bunch of mates on a bench in Peckham drinkin english cider! Peckham is a part of S.E.London and is where i'm from...this was during the long hot summer of 1976 (yes the sun DOES come out in England!hahaha) and they were watchin all the pretty Peckham girls walkin past...excellent! a punk band?? nah not to me, they were (and still are) a brilliant rock band wiv a great singin bass player-Jean Jacques Burrell a great singin guitarist-Hugh cornwell a rock steady drummer-the late great jet black and a great keyboard player-the late great Dave Greenfield all that equals=a fuckin BRILLIANT English rock band...hope you agree,peace,all the best from English Piers a.k.a. Chopper.
Loving watching you enjoying The Stranglers their such a fantastic band, great music fantastic lyrics
Funky punk rock nearly finishing the album, and you’ve got to do Walk on by, the entire Raven or entire black and white album you’ll love them. Also down in the sewer is a great closer for this album
If you like this you really, really need to listen to Ian Dury & The Blockheads: New Boots & Panties. Try Wake Up & Make Love With Me, Billericay Dickie, Block 'Eds Sweet Gene Vincent, Plaistow Patricia, Clever Trevor ... Any of the tracks really. He wrote the filthiest, funniest, most poetic lyrics of anyone I've ever heard.
If I was with a woman
I'd threaten to unload her
Every time she asked me to explain
If I was with a woman
She'd have to learn to cherish
The purity & depth of my disdain
Look at them laughing ...
Every time I hear this, and I mean EVERY time, it takes me back to the first time my buddy took me to where his father was from, Grand Marais, Michigan, which is a tiny little town right on the shores of Lake Superior. Our first morning there, we got up around seven in the morning and went down to the lake to hang out for a bit. While walking along the shore, one of us started singing, "Walking on the beaches, looking at the peaches." In response, the other sang, "Echo beach, far away in time." This was my first time out of dozens of times that I hung out on the beach in Grand Marais. For the next four or five days, we explored the beach for about twenty miles east and west of town. Jumping down the log slide, walking across the dunes, checking out Miner's Castle, eating whitefish sandwiches at West Bay Diner, etc.
Such good times. And this song always takes me back to that one early morning walk along the shore. I've always loved how music can take a person back to good times.
BTW . . . the second song we sang on the beach that morning was "Echo Beach" by Martha & The Muffins. Another band I think you would really enjoy.
Thanks for the memories!
Walking on a deserted beach (in this case Grand Beach in Manitoba) in the morning tends to get me thinking of The Young Rascals and either "Groovin" or "It's a beautiful morning" will start earworming me.
I should note that "It's a beautiful morning" was released as The Rascals. I guess they were too old by then to be called young.
Echo Beach: yes !
Justin, your reaction to this was just hilarious - it wasn't until your first time hearing the line 'walking on the beaches looking at the peaches' that you realised what the song was about! Very entertaining reaction to a very entertaining song! And I like the fact that you appreciate their high level of musicianship too.
Haha ty Ian!
Such an unique sound, I really love The Stranglers, the sun is shining and this has certainly put me in a good mood!
When saw in la in 1980 this song came on great then great today
Saw this band in the Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto 1978 , here is the set list...
(Get a) Grip (on Yourself)
Dagenham Dave
Bring On the Nubiles
Dead Ringer
Hanging Around
Nice 'n' Sleazy
No More Heroes
Tank
Threatened
Burning Up Time
Straighten Out
London Lady
Down in the Sewer
5 Minutes
Something Better Change
Toiler on the Sea
I bet that was a helluva show
Another classic by The Stranglers 👌
Saw the stranglers a couple of months ago in Halifax uk, still touring and still awesome!
I think an English music critic wrote about the Stranglers when this single (yes : this song was issued as a single... Unimaginable nowadays, eh ;) ) went out : "They're too old to be punk. Too outrageous not to be." Perfectly sums up the Stranglers, imo :) .
Peaches was the B Side to Go Buddy Go
Love your Stranglers reactions 😉😊
Appreciated Norman :)
I'm glad this made you laugh to tears cause it's brilliant.
Gotta love this band... have since 77. Glad you are discovering one of England's best bands ever ! Love your reaction...
I was 11 when this came out 😂 loved it ! How lucky we were 😊
We had a fund-raising summer fayre at school the year this was out. One of the English teachers was playing pop tracks throughout the afternoon, and he had a jar on the table by the record decks for collecting 5p donations, saying that once it got to £5, he'd play Peaches by The Stranglers! He soon raised the cash. :)
Well, this never fails to make me smile. 😁
Great groove,great single..great review Justin..it is hilarious,but,that groove by Jet Black.. awesome song.
A very underrated album imho.
Classic Stranglers! Brilliant.
This was actually a double A side with "Go Buddy Go" - I think - so that there was something the BBC would actually play.
First album I ever bought,and the best.RIP JET AND DAVE...
The songs for their first 3 albums were all honed by touring the UK before they had a record contract. It's great to see 50 years later their music still stands the test of time. A great unsung band.
Huge in their homeland at the time,then went global.
Saw them at some uni in north London late 70’s and they did Get A Grip On Yourself,blew my mind.
Check out that track fella,the keys are monstrous.
I loved watching your reactions to this JP! Hahaha!
I'll always have a deep love for this album as it was my introduction to 'Popular Music' aged 13 - my brother (14 years my senior) brought it home and played it on the family stereo. It blew my adolescent mind -scared but intrigued me - darkness and light. Had to get my disapproving mother's approval to ask if I could tape it. I then literally played that tape to death: RIP my childhood!
Lovin' your work, sir ! You really need to review The Stranglers version of Walk On By. It is incredible. Best wishes, from Scotland.
Saw them at Fist Avenue where Prince played in Purple Rain. Saw the English Beat, UB40, The Damned, so many great shows there. Magical times!!
Hey Justin, Screen Idol ! [shout out to the wife there]. Loved this reaction, so funny. Even though this wasn't their first single, it was the first one I heard from them and I was hooked. A couple of words were exchanged for radio play, obvs. "Bikini" and "Oh No" instead of, you know, the other ones. They are so clever with the grooves man. I know you're going through the whole album, thankfully, but another great reggae inspired song is "Nice and Sleazy" [not lecherous, despite the title, lol]. That's off the album "Black And White", gotta get through this one first though. Next album?, gotta be "The Raven". Enjoyed this reaction.
Ty CC! 🐱
The first record I had at10yrs old, I asked my mom to get it for me because older kids at school were talking about the swear words in it
Isn't it such a funky track... it was even played on the radio in the UK...!! I do know that when they did their live shows and this song came on then every now and then used to get some of the local strippers to walk on stage as it was being sung.... now that is dedication to your craft and one hell of a show.... Keep on Rocking.
You will love the last track on this album ‘Down in the sewer’ Can’t wait until you get to it. It’s a masterpiece.
@@Katehowe3010 When you say Ugly, do you mean just rough looking?
Peaches was the Stranglers attempt at Reggae after Hugh and JJ used to rent out their PA system to raise funds to Jamaican dance parties in London…. They wrote the riff one night after one of those nights. Another song, Bitchin refers to that experience in the verse with “the peacock guys”
Love it, still got my 7" vinyl single of this in the under-stairs cupboard. The B-side was 'Go Buddy Go' which is well worth reviewing too
LOVED this review. Laughed and laughed along with you. Thanks!
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I was 11 when classic came out !!! Joy … we were so lucky 🍀
Great, great band. Gem after gem. Hooo, boy. Funny AF, earworms for days!! Everybody plays great!!!
Compare and contrast 'Skin Deep'. On my desk first thing Monday morning, mister. ;>D
Good hear you got man. JJ confessed that this bass line was inspired by some reggae tune. The Men in Black were close to the reggae band Steel Pulse (the Stranglers are mentioned in the credits on their album Handsworth Revolution). Lovin' what you do 👍
Appreciate that Jossy :)
i loved the stranglers in my youth good reaction going to look at no more heros now another classic
I've never seen you but I noticed the song and the group so I had to listen. Awesome band, one of my fav's and I really loved your analysis. So I've subbed on the basis of that. Oh and yeah man you are cute like your wife says, although I mean it in an on cam persona way. ;))
My sister played this all the time, I used to sing along to it aged ten . Happy times 🥳
For me, this is the highlight song of a magnificent album. You pretty much nailed all the parts I love, from the organ to the bass to the lyrics to back and forth calls, and that's not even counting the composition which is great in and of itself. Really, though, it's the comedy, isn't it? Even the women I know who heard this thought it was funny. It's not like they don't know we like to look at the "peaches." Edit("He's on the side of women" Dude, you made me spit out my drink! Too funny...)
been waiting for this reaction for so long and its made me smile even on a sunny day too its boiling outside. Perfect punk summer song. Gotta check out Walk On By or The Raven album next album listen you do by these guys.
It's one of the songs that shows that The Stranglers were the target of feminists at the time, and yet with The Stranglers you shouldn't take everything at face value !
Here's what Hugh Cornwell said about the track:
"Throughout time, men have been ogling at women, and this is a song about that. On building sites, they've always done it. "Peaches" is not necessarily a celebration of ogling. It's just saying it exists. But I got so much stick for writing it. I'm sure if it had just been buried on an album, it wouldn't have caused as much controversy. It's funny because the lyrics are so tongue-in-cheek, I don't know how anyone could take them any other way. The critics would say you can't treat subjects like that in a tongue-in-cheek manner because that legitimises them. Well, I didn't mean to legitimise at women as objects of desire. The lyrics are full of sexual innuendo, and I like turning the idea of female emancipation upside down. It's my surrealist fetishism, because sometimes by turning things on their heads you get a fresh look at things. It's not trying to legitimise a view or discredit it, it's just getting a new angle on it."
"I got a lot of stick for using the word 'clitoris'. When it came out as a single, we had to do another version". The radio cut was re-recorded with less explicit lyrics: "clitoris" was replaced with "bikini", "oh shit" with "oh no" and "what a bummer" with "what a summer".
"What people don't realise about "Peaches" is that it was one of the first rap songs. There was no singing on it apart from the chorus refrain and "(Get A) Grip (On Yourself)" is also very rap-like".
I'm a big fan of the band but some of their earlier songs could easily be perceived as sexist. "London lady", Sometimes", "Tits" etc etc.
As you say it now, yes it has this rap vibe on it.The slow Reggae-like Groove and the more talking than singing style of the Lyrics.
Spot on reaction JP. Enjoyed your reaction to the lyrics
Hilarious review Justin. It is what it is and you call it out. A song that would be savaged today for its in your face sexism but that was 1970s . As you say the groove is great and you are travelling along with them on that beach front. Cool track even if it is not allowed we all were thinking that way as teens!
No more sexist than most of the rap music that floods the airwaves these days
@@parshakamarsh that's just racist BS, and doesn't justify the sexism either
Yeah, most women didn't find this ''funny'' then either. You'll notice most people ( still) defending it are also male.
@@malingor7042 I wasn't thinking of it in racial terms because there are plenty of white rappers doing exactly the same thing, just using it as an example of more modern music using the same subject matter.
@@malingor7042 "Michelle Pfeiffer that white gold" "so many pretty girls around me and they're waking up the rocket". Bruno Mars. That's different then?
WHY DOES THIS TRACK REMIND ME OF MARK E SMITH AND THE FALL ? ? ? 🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔
Great track all round, but J.J.s bassline stays in your head all day. 😁
Keith Floyd, a TV chef at the time was a fan and used this song as his intro until they made Walzinblack for him.
A hit in the UK when I was at (High) school. I remember asking the DJ at a local night club to play it - he wouldn’t - big chicken. He played what he insisted was the A-side, ‘Go Buddy go’, not a patch on ‘Peaches’.
@@Katehowe3010 yeah, but the DH-DJ wouldn’t have that, he insisted ’Peaches’ was the B-Side.
The Clitares(bathing suit) line went over so many heads(including mine)at the time to the point of the song being banned or severely edited for radio lol
can you believe this was released as a single? don't know what the censor was doing that day but so pleased he was otherwise engaged.
The radio version was heavily edited and they took the piss every time they performed the song on TV making sure everyone knew they were miming.
As a student saw them in '77 at the Fiesta Club in Sheffield, UK. It was the time when spitting at the band, as they played, seemed to be popular!
Check out European Female, La Folie, Golden Brown to name just a few...
Ok i just wanna say two things:
1: Kickass song! evil creepy sound and the raw voice i love!
Stranglers , The Godfathers & Saxon got some raw singers ♥
2: Damn you're SO CUTE when you sitting here.. lol you almost got me goin.. up and down
I was singing this to myself in 1977 as I walked along several beaches on the Greek island of Rhodes. Packed with Swedish and German girls. Not topless of course, beacuse Greece was ruled by a military Junta at the time. Nonetheless........ And the song is definitely, an ear worm. Could NOT get it out of my head throughout the two week vacation. I was 23 years old. Sigh. I think this was their second UK singles hit and a double A-Side with Go Buddy Go.
Nice and Sleazy from Black and White has a similar reggae-ish rhythm but crazy electronics from Greenfield.
Nice n Sleazy or Walk on by would be good choices from the Black and White era
Didn't know you'd hit this. Punk was the kick up the arse that mainstream rock needed.
Brilliant reaction 👋🤣new subscriber solely on this 🤣
Thank you Queen! Appreciate that :)
A couple of suggestions-
Novocaine for the soul'-Eels
'Shame on the moon'-Bob Seger
This blew my mind , love the Stranglers bought the Album when it came out , sounded just like nothing on earth ?
That's JP's "OMG ! What have I got myself into ?" face 😆 You're quite right about the reggae influence. The song was written after Hugh and JJ went to pick up a PA from a reggae club.
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They had lent the reggae band their own pa.
I think this was released in the UK as a double A side single with Go Buddy Go. Enjoyed your comments as usual.
@@Katehowe3010 👌 And charabanc was outdated even in the late 70s in UK but I wonder if less so in France and Jean-Jacques chose it? Anyway "Oh shut there goes the coach" doesn't scan so well!
You are almost up to "Down In The Sewer". The best track on the album IMHO. Quite prog.
It's again this notion by so many that The Stranglers were a punk band, they weren't it's just that their big breakout moment came at the same time, the aggression and attitude that was part of their music and persona saw them lumped in with the snarling punks but they were far more sophisticated and talented musically. They shocked and challenged the establishment as much as the punks at the time when much of our institutions in the UK were rooted in the outmoded attitudes of the 50's, the people in charge of councils, the BBC, ITV and radio didn't in the main know how to deal with the whole outpouring of filth as they saw it that hit the UK music scene in 1976/1977, it was a fabulous time to be young and aware and our teachers didn't know how to handles us either, I was coming to the end of my school life as I would leave the following year 1978, despite all the socio-economic issues it was a great time to be alive.
S-o-o-o good! I'm fairly sure (I haven't checked ) this was released as a double A-side single with 'Go Buddy, Go' on the other side....but this was the side that got played...JJB killing it on the bass...great one JP
@@Katehowe3010 thx Christian.. My memory is flakier as I get older lol
With the song and the mind in the sewer, the wallpaper turns into the illustrated Kamasutra.
Lol! Good one Klaus
Made me think of Rage Against the Machine. Imagine Zack rapping over a track like that.
better cover up honey, here comes the Stranglers. love it
They arrived with punk (which is an attitude more than a musical genre, by the way!) It was said (and I may be paraphrasing somewhat) that they were too old to be punks but too outrageous not to be. My brother brought this one into the house when I was about 13, and I've been a fan ever since. Have you reacted to 'Hanging Around' yet? Or 'Toiler on the Sea'? Or 'Shah Shah A Go Go'? Or 'Dead Loss Angeles'? etc, etc, etc...
Also something "Doors" in there? Bob Morrison and the Wailers.
Here's a song whose title means, "Little by little" (at least I know that, but I can't offer much more than that.)
The pronunciation is not what you'd assume from English orthography, but if you listen for a repeated word, you can hear it being sung/ chanted. For instance a "K" is somewhere between an English "K", and a "G". It's a kind of soft G sound. (For the k in cat, an "H" is added, and some breath goes with it. Aspirated is the technical term.)
The "C" is a bit less misleading, once you get used to it. It's a "dental click" - a click consonant with tongue starting on the back of the incisors. Nice easy click to get started on if you ever decide to get into clicking for some reason.
Ja, and then there's something about the girls (using the word for little girls, actually) running away from the handsome young men. (The word uSoka - with that "soft g, k" means something like "stud"/ "the guy all the girls get silly over".)
th-cam.com/video/URpnSY9_hDY/w-d-xo.html
My favorit stranglers
Who else is taken to that sunbed and the icy towel on a roasting Gal on those first few notes?
Fun song with some real muscle behind it. Another song with Peaches in the title is "Rotten Peaches" by Elton John, from his "Madman Across the Water" album. Leave it Bernie Taupin to write multiple songs about crime and punishment.
The punk version of the Doors, psychodrama, shame, perversion and enjoyment, all wrapped in a pop nous that most of their "punk" brethren completely missed. Real adult music.
When I was young, innocent and didn't listen to the lyrics, I thought he was just enjoying a mouthful of delicious, juicy peaches when he "mmm-mmm mmm..." part. I guess he was at that.
Would love to see you do a favourite album of mine - Yello "One Second". I think you'd love it.
Yello....One Second....Oh Yeah!!!
Dude, wait until you get to the La Folie and Feline Albums...sublime!
For a heavy dose of organ in a fusion context see Jan Hammer on organ on the song "Red And Orange" from guitarist John Abercrombie's 1975 album Timeless.
Down in the sewer. Another name for London in the seventies, from the viewpoint of a band trying to survive there in their early career.
Has to be Nice and Sleazy next
@@Katehowe3010 It would also be nice for Justin to do a few tracks on the No More Heroes album before he tackles Black & White !
I know he already did the title track but it would be nice if he did for example some 'controversial' tracks like "I Feel Like a Wog" and "Bring on the Nubiles" as well as some oddities like "Peasant in the Big Shitty" and "School Mam" !
@@Katehowe3010 Maybe all your efforts were not in vain since finally Justin pursues Rattus Norvegicus until the end and I'm sure he will continue to do so with other albums of the band !
No. Has to be (Get a) Grip (on Yourself)
Great groove and also pure filth. What more could you ask for?
This was a big hit single in the UK. I guess no one listened too closely to the lyrics or it would've been banned from radio play!
Actually, I misremembered slightly: they re-recorded a version for radio play with different lyrics.
A fun song even if the lyrics are showing their age. For some reason my mind jumped to Blackie and the Rodeo Kings', punkish roots tune "House of Sin" and then, when Justin mentioned the reggae sound, I thought of Bruce Cockburn's "Rumours of Glory" which is definitely not at all in the same lyrically sphere (another of his religious tunes but with a reggae beat). Neither song has that much to do with with the Stranglers song. I look forward to the rest of the album.
I believe it is phrased clitaris, which they said was a French swimsuit.
Nice n sleazy
Get a Grip (on Yourself)
I love the Stranglers! But they change musically after 1978. Their album Black And White is generally considered the turning point; the white side, The Stranglers as you know them; the Black Side they're sound moving away from their punkish beginnings. Although not part of the original vinyl album, they released at this point a cover of Burt Bacharach's "Walk On By" as a single, which everybody who knows it is mad about it. The keyboard solo on it alone is worth the listen. Anyway, to my ears, they reach their pinnacle on the album Aural Sculpture (Nov1984). Production, arrangements, its all more mature. But they're first three albums are all very punkish and fun. Keep bringing back more Stranglers.
I don’t know if there’s a better example of bass / keyboards interaction than The Stranglers. Hopefully as others have suggested, you’ll get to Walk On By at some point. The band’s excellent musicianship was supposedly a turn-off to many punks in the early days, but I think they were probably won over in the end.
+1 for 'Walk On By'! 😃👍
You must react to their version of “walk on by” it’s a real jewel.
Definitely not politically correct.....but still makes me smile all these years later. Absolutely massive when it came out in the UK
If you compare it with music aimed at teenagers today it is tame. At the end of the day, men look at women and visa versa. It's just a fact.
@@m.b-ee8815 exactly 👍🏼
Looking at the Peaches , not looking for some Peaches .
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha :)
When you consider the average age of people listening to and buying this music was 15, you can kind of get it :)
The b side go buddy go
Haven’t been really “getting “ the big hoodoo with these guys but, this song was a hoot. If you’d played this first I might be at a different place. A few nays and one yay so far.
Eat A Peach is a great album by the Allman Brothers, part with and without Duane, I think, maybe I’m thinking Wipe The Windows, Check The Oil, don’t know… love them.
Also Peaches En Regalia by Franklin Zappa.
Peace and fruitful Music
I don’t “get” them either. This kind of music wasn’t my thing when I was in high school and maybe that’s why. As far as peaches, The Joker by Steve Miller is what comes to my mind.