"(I'm) Stranded" is the debut single released by Australian punk rock band the Saints. Issued in September 1976, it has been cited as "one of the iconic singles of the era", and pre-dated

vinyl Vinyl may refer to: Chemistry * Polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a particular vinyl polymer * Vinyl cation, a type of carbocation * Vinyl group, a broad class of organic molecules in chemistry * Vinyl polymer, a group of polymers derived from vinyl m ...

debuts by contemporary punk acts such as the

Sex Pistols The Sex Pistols were an English punk rock band formed in London in 1975. Although their initial career lasted just two and a half years, they were one of the most groundbreaking acts in the history of popular music. They were responsible for ...

Buzzcocks Buzzcocks are an English punk rock band formed in Bolton, England in 1976 by singer-songwriter-guitarist Pete Shelley and singer-songwriter Howard Devoto. They are regarded as a seminal influence on the Manchester music scene, the independen ...

, The Damned and

The Clash The Clash were an English rock band formed in London in 1976 who were key players in the original wave of British punk rock. Billed as "The Only Band That Matters", they also contributed to the and new wave movements that emerged in the wa ...

. In 2001, it was voted among the Top 30 Australian Songs of all time by APRA. Written by guitarist

Ed Kuepper Edmund "Ed" Kuepper (born 20 December 1955) is a German-born Australian guitarist, vocalist and songwriter. He co-founded the punk band The Saints (1973–78), the experimental post-punk group Laughing Clowns (1979–85) and the grunge-like Th ...

and vocalist Chris Bailey, the single was originally released on the band's own Fatal Records label, with an initial pressing of 500 copies. In the UK, where the single was at first available only on import, ''

Sounds In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave, through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid. In human physiology and psychology, sound is the ''reception'' of such waves and their ''perception'' by the ...

'' magazine called it "single of this and every week. ... The singing's flat and disinterested, the guitars are on full stun. ... It's fabulous." In 2007, ''Australian Musician'' magazine voted this the fourth most significant moment in the history of Australian pop/rock. On the strength of the single, The Saints were signed in November 1976 to a three-album deal by

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At the time of its break-up in 201 ...

in the UK. The single was then released in the U.K. on 31 December 1976. The band's first LP was also called ''

(I'm) Stranded ''(I'm) Stranded'' is the debut album by Australian punk rock group The Saints which was released by EMI on 21 February 1977. Their debut single, " (I'm) Stranded", was issued ahead of the album in September 1976, which ''Sounds'' magazine's re ...

''. As well as featuring on their debut album, both "(I'm) Stranded" and the single's B-side, "No Time", appeared on a split EP with Stanley Frank in 1977. In 2007, "(I'm) Stranded" was added to the

National Film and Sound Archive The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia (NFSA), known as ScreenSound Australia from 1999 to 2004, is Australia's audiovisual archive, responsible for developing, preserving, maintaining, promoting and providing access to a national co ...

Sounds of Australia The Sounds of Australia, formerly the National Registry of Recorded Sound, is the National Film and Sound Archive's selection of sound recordings which are deemed to have cultural, historical and aesthetic significance and relevance for Australi ...

registry.

History

The Saints were formed in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

in 1973, initially calling themselves Kid Galahad and the Eternals. They are considered to be one of the first and most influential

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

groups. The Saints rehearsed in the front room of the rented house on Petrie terrace, Brisbane, which happened to be opposite the local police headquarters. By 1975, contemporaneous with the

Ramones The Ramones were an American punk rock band that formed in the New York City neighborhood of Forest Hills, Queens, in 1974. They are often cited as the first true punk rock group. Despite achieving a limited commercial appeal in the United ...

, The Saints were employing the fast tempos, raucous vocals and "buzzsaw" guitar that characterised early punk rock. Guitarist Ed Kuepper explained that they played faster and faster as they were nervous in front of audiences. The police would often break up their performances, and arrests were frequent. They found it difficult to get bookings in Brisbane and so formed their own promotion company, their own club (Hay's place became the 76 Club) and their own record label. Their first single, "(I'm) Stranded", released in September 1976, came out ahead of the debut records by better-known punk acts like the

and

. The film clip for the song was directed by

Russell Mulcahy Russell Mulcahy ( ; born 23 June 1953) is an Australian film director. Mulcahy's work is recognisable by the use of fast cuts, tracking shots and use of glowing lights, neo-noir lighting, windblown drapery, and fans. He directed music videos i ...

and filmed at an abandoned terrace house located in the suburb of

Paddington Paddington is an area within the City of Westminster, in Central London. First a medieval parish then a metropolitan borough, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965. Three important landmarks of the district are Paddi ...

. The Saints distributed the single themselves, on their own Fatal label, sending it to overseas record companies and magazines. In Great Britain, ''Sounds'' reviewer Jonh Ingham called it the "single of this and every week". He continued,

There's a tendency to blabber mindlessly about this single, it's so bloody incredible ..for some reason Australian record companies think the band lack commercial potential. What a bunch of idiots. You like Quo or The Ramones? This pounds them into the dirt. Hear it once and you'll never forget it. The singing's flat and disinterested, the guitars are on full stun. There's no such thing as a middle eight. It's fabulous.

The song was played by influential DJ

John Peel John Robert Parker Ravenscroft (30 August 1939 – 25 October 2004), known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey (DJ) and radio presenter. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly fr ...

in a special punk-themed edition of his

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...

programme, broadcast on 10 December 1976.

Bob Geldof Robert Frederick Zenon Geldof (; born 5 October 1951) is an Irish singer-songwriter, and political activist. He rose to prominence in the late 1970s as lead singer of the Rock music in Ireland, Irish rock band the Boomtown Rats, who achieved ...

The Boomtown Rats The Boomtown Rats are an Irish rock band originally formed in Dublin in 1975. Between 1977 and 1985, they had a series of Irish and UK hits including "Like Clockwork", "Rat Trap", "I Don't Like Mondays" and "Banana Republic". The original line ...

later said, "Rock music in the Seventies was changed by three bands—the Sex Pistols, the Ramones and The Saints".

Records in Sydney was contacted by its London head office and told to sign the punk band from Brisbane. The Saints resisted being re-modelled into the English punk look and were generally ignored by the Australian press at the time, which reported that "a sinister new teenage pop cult, based on sex, sadism and violence, is sweeping Britain." They relocated first to Sydney and then to London, where they were received with excitement on their first regional tour. They did not share the spiky-topped, safety-pinned style of the leading UK punk groups and preferred to be described as "gutsy realists". Kuepper recalled that, nevertheless, they were swept up in the same punk packaging:

The band was a full thing by 1974. Two and a half years later, this incredibly fashionable movement comes along, only an arsehole would have associated himself with that.

On the strength of the single, The Saints were signed in November 1976 to a three-album deal by

in the UK. Their first LP was also called ''

''. As well as featuring on their debut album, both "(I'm) Stranded" and the single's B-side, "No Time", appeared on a split EP with Stanley Frank in 1977. The song "I'm Stranded" is the theme song for the Australian TV series "Spirited," about a British punk rocker who disappeared in 1982 and whose ghost has appeared in Australia in the late 2010s.

Track listing

Both songs written by

and Chris Bailey. #"(I'm) Stranded" – 3:25 #"No Time" – 2:45

Charts

Personnel

;The Saints members * Chris Bailey —

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

*Kym Bradshaw — bass *Ivor Hay —

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

—

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

;Recording details *Producer – The Saints, Richard Coe, Mark Moffatt ;Art work *Cover art —

Savage Pencil Edwin Pouncey (born June 1951), also known by the '' nom de plume'' Savage Pencil, is an English comics artist, musician, and music journalist. Biography As Savage Pencil and otherwise, Pouncey has contributed to magazines such as '' Sounds' ...

Sources for personnel *For members, see: *For Coe, see: *For Moffatt, see: *For art work, see:

References

External links

* Listen to a clip from "(I'm) Stranded" and read more about it o
australianscreen online
* "(I'm) Stranded" was added to th
Sounds of Australia Registry
in 2007 *

Allmusic review AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stranded 1976 songs 1976 debut singles APRA Award winners The Saints (Australian band) songs Songs written by Ed Kuepper Songs written by Chris Bailey (musician)