Crash & Burn (Taang!)
by Joshua Brown
When NOFX played Avalon, opening for Fishbone, vocalist Fat Mike asked the crowd, after explaining his personal connection to early Boston hardcore, “Whatever happened to Stranglehold?” Looking around at all the faces, empty of expression, it appeared that nobody knew what he was talking about.
Stranglehold were an important band with a place in history alongside Gang Green and the F.U.’s, who somehow got lost in the shuffle of common knowledge. Their career was short-lived and their two releases, The Leisure Tour ’84, and a self-titled LP, are not that easy to come by. That’s why Taang! has reissued them alongside live material, including covers of The Who and the Undertones. Part of the original appeal of punk rock was that “anyone can do it.” If that were really true, why does it seem like no one is capable any longer of harnessing the energy found on Crash & Burn? The Descendents were cleverer songwriters, the Necros were rawer, still Stranglehold had a bratty honesty that nobody’s quite touched upon. When they shouted, “I’m gonna do whatever I want,” it was a little more believable than everyone else who was singing the same thing. Conveniently, the three bonafide classics they recorded are the CD’s first three tracks. “Same All Over” is a swaying anthem that would have sounded corny if done by someone else; “She’s Not Leaving” underscores the Undertones and out-Ramones the Ramones; and “One Step Closer” is an ultimate affirmation of infatuation (“I’m just too shy to know what to do/But I’m still getting just one step closer to you”).