Jet Black, drummer for the influential British punk/new wave band The Stranglers, has died. He was 84.
The band wrote on social media, "It is with heavy hearts we announce the passing of our dear friend, colleague and band elder statesman Jet Black. Jet died peacefully at home surrounded by his family. Fond adieu, fly straight JB."
Black, a successful businessman who'd been a semi-professional drummer in the '50s and '60s, formed the band in 1974 after he decided to return to music. The Stranglers were identified with the punk rock movement because they toured with The Ramones and Patti Smith, but in actuality, they were older and much more musically adept than the other bands in the genre.
While they never had a U.S. hit, their songs "Peaches," "No More Heroes," "Something Better Change," "Golden Brown," "Skin Deep" and "Always the Sun" were hits in the United Kingdom and have been heavily used in commercials, TV shows and movies. "Golden Brown" was used in the Black Mirror episode "Metalhead" and in season 2 of The Umbrella Academy.