Buzzcocks singer

The Buzzcocks

Formed 1975

• Principal Members
• Howard Devoto
• Steve Diggle
• John Maher
• Pete Shelley

Biography

The Buzzcocks are an English punk rock band formed in Leigh, Manchester in 1975, led by singer/songwriter/guitarist Pete Shelley for nearly their entire existence. They are commonly regarded as an important influence on the Manchester music scene, the independent label movement and punk rock/post punk in general.

They are primarily remembered for their singles, a string of would-be hits that combined a strong grasp of pop song craftsmanship with rapid-fire punk energy...

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Artist Timeline

• 1975 Band formed by Pete Shelley and Howard Devoto
• 1976 Arrange for the Sex Pistols to play Manchester
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Buzzcocks

British punk rock band

For the TV panel show, see Never Mind the Buzzcocks.

Buzzcocks are an English punk rock band that singer-songwriter-guitarist Pete Shelley and singer-songwriter Howard Devoto formed in Manchester in 1976.^[5] During their career, the band combined elements of punk rock, power pop,^[6] and pop punk.^[7] They achieved commercial success with singles that fuse pop craftsmanship with rapid-fire punk energy; these singles were later collected on Singles Going Steady, an acclaimed compilation album music journalist and critic Ned Raggett described as a "punk masterpiece".^[8]

Devoto left the band in 1977 and formed Magazine, after which Pete Shelley became the principal singer-songwriter.^[9] The classic lineup of Shelley, Steve Diggle (guitar), Steve Garvey (bass) and John Maher (drums) recorded Buzzcocks' first three albums, after which the band broke up in 1981 following a dispute with their record label. The band reunited in 1989 and released six more albums before Shelley's death in 2018.^[1

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Buzzcocks

The Buzzcocks were one of the most valid outfits of British punk rock and would have prouven to be as influential as the Sex Pistols on future generations. If the Sex Pistols opened the punk rock "hardcore" movement, the buzzcocks opened the "punk pop" one. Both heirs of the Ramones, but of that visionary group the Buzzcocks isolated two different elements: on one hand the violence, on the other the melody.

The Buzzcocks were formed in Manchester. Howard Devoto (singer, real name Howard Trafford), Pete Shelley (guitar, real name Peter McNeish), Steve Diggle (bass) and John Maher (drums) took advantage of the punk rock boom in order to release the nowadays historical single Orgasm Addict (October 1977) and moreover the E.P. Spiral Scratch (New Hormones, 1977 - Mute, 1999), which would have been of primary importance because it was the very first one "independent" release. The song Boredom had a particular importance per se, being one of the most epic punk anthems. The songs the group wrote in 1976 would be released only a quarter of a century later on Time's Up