“No Mercy” by The Stranglers

The Stranglers issued "No Mercy" in November 1984 as the second single from Aural Sculpture, and the credit is split four ways between Hugh Cornwell, Jean-Jacques Burnel, Dave Greenfield and Jet Black. One review singled out its simple guitar line, hammered home again and again, and noted it as the first time the band ever used backing singers.

It climbed to 37 in Britain and hung around the chart for eight weeks, sold on seven-inch, twelve-inch and a picture disc shaped like an ear sculpture. The video was shot that month at St Olave's Hospital in Rotherhithe, London, with the band playing doctors and patients. One ending sent a tomato-sauce-filled dummy of Cornwell crashing to the floor in a gory heap; it was judged too gruesome, and the clip never aired with it.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.