Buzzcocks

Early years Howard Trafford, a student at Bolton Institute of Technology who had been involved in electronic music, placed a notice in the college looking for musicians to play the Velvet Underground's song "Sister Ray". Fellow student Peter McNeish, who had played in a rock band called Jets of Air, responded to the notice. Devoto and Shelley chose the name "Buzzcocks" after reading the headline "It's the Buzz, Cock!" in a review of the television series Rock Follies in Time Out magazine. The "buzz" is the excitement of playing on stage and "cock" is northern English slang meaning "friend". They thought the name captured the excitement of the nascent punk scene and had humorous sexual connotations following Pete Shelley's time working in a Bolton adult shop. Buzzcocks performed live for the first time on 1 April 1976 at their college. Garth Davies played bass guitar and Mick Singleton, who also played in local band Black Cat Bone, played drums. After reading an NME review of the Sex Pistols' first performance, in February 1976, Shelley and Devoto travelled to High Wycombe together to see the band. Shelley and Devoto were impressed by the show and arranged for the Sex Pistols to perform at the Lesser Free Trade Hall in Manchester on 4 June 1976. Buzzcocks intended to play at this concert but the other musicians dropped out, and Shelley and Devoto were unable to recruit replacements in time for the gig. Once they had recruited bass guitarist Steve Diggle and drummer John Maher, Buzzcocks made their debut opening for the Sex Pistols' second Manchester concert on 20 July 1976 at the same venue. In between these live performances, Buzzcocks began developing their own material and recorded an 11-track demo at Stockport Studios which was eventually released in 1991. The EP was re-released in September 1979 and reached number 31 in the charts. He returned to college for a year then formed a band called Magazine. Pete Shelley took on the vocal duties for Buzzcocks and moved away from social commentary to adolescent themes. It was followed the next month by their debut album Another Music in a Different Kitchen, which reached number 15 in the chart. The band's third album A Different Kind of Tension was released the end of September 1979 and reached number 26 in the chart while the band completed a second UK tour. A period of inactivity lasted until September 1980 when the double-A side "Why She's A Girl From the Chainstore/Are Everything" was released. It reached number 61 and was the band's last charting single. Break-up and reunion After recording demos for a fourth album, Buzzcocks disbanded in 1981; Shelley took up a solo career, and Diggle and Maher formed Flag of Convenience and released several singles between 1982 and 1989. Between 1988 and 1989, EMI re-released much of Buzzcocks' back catalogue on Compact Disc (CD), as well as a Peel Sessions album and a box set called Product. In 1992, bassist Tony Barber and drummer Phil Barker joined Buzzcocks; this line-up toured with Nirvana in 1994, one of Nirvana's last tours. 21st century , Brazil, 2006 In 2000, Mute Records released the 1976 demos that were recorded while Devoto was in the band as ''Time's Up, which had long been available as a bootleg. This album includes alternative takes of all the tracks from the EP Spiral Scratch and early versions of tracks that later appeared on Another Music in a Different Kitchen''. In 2002, Shelley and Devoto collaborated for the first time since 1976, producing the album Buzzkunst, Kunst being the German word for "Art". The album is a mix of electronic music and punk. Buzzcocks toured as support for Pearl Jam in 2003 and released their seventh, self-titled studio album. In 2005, as a tribute to BBC Radio 1 disc jockey John Peel, Shelley re-recorded "Ever Fallen in Love (With Someone You Shouldn't've)" with a group including Roger Daltrey, David Gilmour, Peter Hook, Elton John, Robert Plant and several contemporaneous bands. Proceeds from the single were donated to Amnesty International. Shelley also performed the song live with Plant, Daltrey, Gilmour, Hook and Jeff Beck at the 2005 UK Music Hall of Fame. In April 2006, Barker left Buzzcocks and was replaced with Danny Farrant. In March 2006, the band released their eighth studio album Flat-Pack Philosophy on Cooking Vinyl Records. On the supporting tour, Buzzcocks played on a leg of the mid-2006 Vans Warped Tour and made an appearance at Maxïmo Park's homecoming gig in Newcastle upon Tyne on 15 December 2007. In April 2008, Barber left the band and was replaced with Chris Remington. , Pete Shelley, Danny Farrant and Chris Remington, performing live at Hellfest 2013. In January 2009, Buzzcocks embarked on a UK and European tour, the "Another Bites Tour", in which they played their first two albums in full, as well as an encore of their other hits. In the same year, Buzzcocks played in Serbia for the second time at the EXIT festival in Novi Sad. Their song "Why Can't I Touch It" was played in the second episode of the sixth season of the television series Entourage. On 9 November 2009, Buzzcocks gave a performance on a small balcony overlooking Dame Street, Dublin, for the viral music show BalconyTV. In December 2009, the band played as the main support act for the Courteeners. In August 2011, they headlined the first night of The Rhythm Festival in Bedfordshire. On 25 May 2012 in Manchester at the O2 Apollo and on 26 May in Brixton at the O2 Academy, Buzzcocks performed with the original line-up, including Devoto. On 1 May 2014, Buzzcocks released the album The Way via PledgeMusic. On 13 September 2014, they played "a brief but triumphant set" at Riot Fest in Chicago, Illinois, US. In 2017, "Why Can't I Touch It" was featured in the opening segment of the Telltale game 'Guardians of the Galaxy. Shelley's death and aftermath Pete Shelley died on 6 December 2018 from a suspected heart attack at his home in Tallinn, Estonia. In June 2019, Buzzcocks performed with several guest vocalists as a tribute to Shelley. The concert had been planned before his death. Steve Diggle said that Buzzcocks would continue, with the post-Shelley Buzzcocks being a "new era". Sonics in the Soul, the band's first album without Shelley, was released in September 2022. It featured Diggle on all vocals, and included a tribute to Shelley in the form of the track "You've Changed Everything Now". == Musical style and influences ==

Buzzcocks are a punk rock band that exhibit "crisp melodies", "driving guitars" and "biting lyrics", according to Mark Deming of AllMusic. He goes on to say that instead of drawing on political lyrical themes, the band "brought an intense, brilliant vigor to the three-minute pop song, powered by Shelley's alternately funny and anguished lyrics about adolescence and love, backed by melodies and hooks that were concise and memorable." Steve Taylor in The A to X of Alternative Music says Buzzcocks' distinctive sound combines "trademark wall of sound guitars" and "resignedly realist lyrics", which set "the benchmark for the British indie scene to follow". The band have cited several bands as influences, including the Velvet Underground, the Stooges, and Ramones. == Legacy ==

Buzzcocks have influenced American punk, hardcore, and indie rock acts, as well as Dead Kennedys guitarist East Bay Ray, Parquet Courts, Hüsker Dü, Superchunk, and Dag Nasty. The Smiths' Johnny Marr has stated that Buzzcocks influenced them "massively in the way we approached our record sleeves and our choice of independent record company – because of the Buzzcocks we took on a Mancunian DIY ethic." Buzzcocks' name was combined with the title of Sex Pistols' album ''Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols to create the title of the long-running UK comedy television panel game show Never Mind the Buzzcocks''. Diggle said in his autobiography he and Shelley only granted the BBC use of their name under the impression it would be a one-off, probably unsuccessful, pilot, and that they are now mildly disgruntled the name is more readily associated in Britain with the series than with their band. Shelley appeared on the programme in 2000, when host Mark Lamarr introduced Shelley by saying without Buzzcocks "there'd be no Smiths or Radiohead, and this show would be called Never Mind Joan Armatrading". Mark Deming of AllMusic called Buzzcocks "one of the best, most influential punk bands of all time". The staff of Consequence ranked the band at number 5 on their list of "The 100 Best Pop Punk Bands" in 2019. == Band members ==

, 13 August 2009 Current • Steve Diggle – guitars (1977–1981, 1989–present), lead vocals (1978–1981, 1989–present); bass (1976–1977) • Danny Farrant – drums (2006–present) • Chris Remington – bass (2008–present) Touring • Mani Perazzoli – guitars, backing vocals (2019–present) Former • Pete Shelley – guitars, vocals (1976–1981, 1989–2018; his death) • Howard Devoto – lead vocals (1976–1977, 2012) • Garth Smith – bass (1976, 1977) • Mick Singleton – drums (1976) • John Maher – drums (1976–1981, 1989, 1992, 2012), backing vocals (1977–1978) • Steve Garvey – bass (1977–1981, 1989–1992, 2012) • Mike Joyce – drums (1990–1991) • Steve Gibson – drums (1992) • Tony Barber – bass (1992–2008) • Phil Barker – drums (1992–2006) Timeline == Discography ==

Studio albums • Another Music in a Different Kitchen (1978) • Love Bites (1978) • A Different Kind of Tension (1979) • Trade Test Transmissions (1993) • All Set (1996) • Modern (1999) • Buzzcocks (2003) • Flat-Pack Philosophy (2006) • The Way (2014) • Sonics in the Soul (2022) • Attitude Adjustment (2026) == References ==