Rattus Norvegicus (alternative title The Stranglers IV) is the debut studio album by the Stranglers, released on 15 April 1977. It was one of the highest-selling albums of the punk era in Britain, eventually achieving platinum record sales. Two of its tracks, "Peaches" and "(Get A) Grip (On Yourself)", were released as 7-inch singles in the UK. Background The album was originally going to be titled Dead on Arrival but it was changed at the last minute. The Stranglers IV prefix was a deliberate attempt by the band to cause confusion. The released title is the taxonomic name for the common brown rat. The album was produced in one week by Martin Rushent and was a snapshot of the band's live set at the time. The first 10,000 copies of the original vinyl release included a free 7-inch single, containing "Peasant in the Big Shitty" (live) and "Choosey Susie". The album launch party was held in the Water Rat pub on the King's Road, in the World's End district of Chelsea. Remastered versions of the album were reissued on CD in 1996, 2001 and 2018, and included additional tracks. Lyrics According to the book The Stranglers-Song by Song, "Sometimes" describes a violent argument with a girlfriend. The same girlfriend is the subject of "Strange Little Girl" which was written earlier by Cornwell and Hans Wärmling. "Goodbye Toulouse" describes the destruction of Toulouse predicted by Nostradamus. "London Lady" is loosely based on a contemporary female journalist, and "Hanging Around" describes the characters found in the London pubs where the band performed. In 1981, it was covered by Hazel O'Connor on her third album, Cover Plus, and released by her as a single that same year. "(Get a) Grip (On Yourself)" is based on the band's life in their Chiddingfold squat. It features Eric Clarke, a Welsh coal miner friend of the band's manager Dai Davies, on saxophone. "Ugly" mentions the poem Ozymandias. "Down in the Sewer" has four sections: "Falling", "Down in the Sewer", "Trying to Get Out Again", and "Rat's Rally". The 'sewer' refers to London. Lyrically the song references an episode of the 1975 post-apocalyptic BBC TV drama Survivors titled "Lights of London", where the protagonists leave the safety of a farming community to head for the city, which they find can only be entered through a rat-infested sewer. Reception and legacy Rattus Norvegicus was ranked at No. 10