Manchester, UK · punk · power-pop

Buzzcocks

2 upcoming festivals

Manchester punk that invented lovesick pop-punk two decades early — 'Ever Fallen in Love' and a singles run where every hook still lands perfect.

Buzzcocks formed in Manchester in 1976 after Howard Devoto and Pete Shelley saw the Sex Pistols play, and the pair went on to organise the Pistols' well-documented Manchester shows. Their Spiral Scratch EP, self-released in 1977, is often cited as an early landmark of independent record-making in Britain.

Devoto left to form Magazine, leaving Shelley as the main singer and songwriter. Under him the band paired fast, buzzing guitars with short, hook-driven songs about infatuation and frustration, issuing a string of singles later collected on Singles Going Steady. They broke up in 1981 and reformed later in the decade; Shelley died in 2018, and guitarist Steve Diggle has continued to lead the band.

punkpower-pop