Library Rock's Backpages

Buzzcocks

Buzzcocks

68 articles

Free articles

Buzzcocks/X-Ray Spex/Wire etc.: Running with the Ratpack

Live Review by Jon Savage, Sounds, 16 April 1977

ROXY RATPACK, Saturday nite. Find a friend and stick close: sink or swim. Tony and Julie were right: a club full of 'Wild Boys' outtakes ...

Buzzcocks: Looking Back

Retrospective by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 26 June 1982

Proto-punk, pure pop and other bites and scratches. Richard Cook assesses the career and impact of "the world’s first modern pop group". 1 April ...

Audio interviews

The Buzzcocks (1989)

Interview by Ira Robbins, Rock's Backpages audio, 11 November 1989

The punk pioneers discuss their reunion; talk about their previous solo activities; on why the band broke up originally; relearning the songs, and playing them slower; the coincidental release of box set Product; other punk bands reuniting; the Fine Young Cannibals' version of 'Ever Fallen In Love', and changes in music over the previous decade.

File format: mp3; file size: 46.7mb, interview length: 48' 41" sound quality: ***

Andrew Lauder (1990)

Interview by Andy Gill, Rock's Backpages audio, 1990

From the Groundhogs to the Stone Roses: the music-industry legend narrates his journey from '60s Denmark Street to '90s Madchester via United Artists Records; talks about Hawkwind and Dr. Feelgood, signing the Stranglers and Buzzcocks, Radar Records and F-Beat, Nick Lowe and Elvis Costello, Demon Records and the CD/catalogue revolution; Silvertone Records and the Stone Roses... and the many changes in the music business over the years.

File format: mp3; file size: 60.7mb, interview length: 1h 03' 12" sound quality: ***

The Buzzcocks' Pete Shelley (2007)

Interview by Mark Petracca, Rock's Backpages audio, 2007

The Buzzcocks' frontman looks back at the formation of the band with Howard Devoto, and at Devoto's subsequent exit; talks about himself as a songwriter and looks at his subsequent solo career.

File format: mp3; file size: 41.2mb, interview length: 44' 52" sound quality: *****

List of articles in the library

By date | By writer | Most recently added

Sex Pistols/Buzzcocks/Slaughter and the Dogs: Lesser Free Trade Hall, Manchester

Live Review by Jonh Ingham, Sounds, 31 July 1976

ABOVE MANCHESTER'S Free Trade Hall is a little known auditorium, capable of holding some 400, cunningly named the Lesser Hall. Until the Sex Pistols discovered ...

Sex Pistols, Clash, Buzzcocks: Screen on the Green, Islington, London

Live Review by Giovanni Dadomo, Sounds, 11 September 1976

A STRANGE affair, this. And then some. ...

The Sex Pistols, The Clash, The Buzzcocks: Screen On The Green, Islington, London

Live Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 11 September 1976

Our Islington correspondent mingles with the Sex Pistols' portable audience looking for Johnny Rotten's toof. It's incisive stuff… ...

Parade Of The Punks

Report by Caroline Coon, Melody Maker, 2 October 1976

THE 600-STRONG line, which last Monday straggled across two blocks outside London's 100 Club in Oxford Street, waiting for the Punk Rock Festival to start, ...

The Buzzcocks, Eater: Holdsworth Hall, Manchester

Live Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 2 October 1976

YOU CAN count on Manchester to be 48 months behind apparent national trends. Like, reggae is largely frowned upon: crunching hard rock bands employing predictable ...

The (?) Rock Special (#5): Other Bands

Profile by Jonh Ingham, Sounds, 9 October 1976

"I don't understand why people think it's so difficult to learn to play the guitar. I found it incredibly easy. You just pick a chord ...

Buzzcocks: Band on the Wall, Electric Circus, Manchester

Live Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 27 November 1976

MANCHESTER MADMEN ...

Pistols, Clash etc.: What Did You Do On The Punk Tour, Daddy?

Live Review by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 18 December 1976

The Sex Pistols/The Clash/The Heartbreakers /The Buzzcocks: Electric Circus, Manchester ...

Other Punk Bands

Book Excerpt by Caroline Coon, 1988: The New Wave Punk Rock Explosion, 1977

"I want more bands like us. I want people to go out and start something, to see us and start something, or else I'm just ...

The 100 Club Punk Rock Festival

Book Excerpt by Caroline Coon, '1988: The New Wave Punk Rock Explosion', 1977

Monday, September 20th: The Sex Pistols, the Clash, Subway Sect, Siouxsie and the Banshees. Tuesday, September 21st: The Damned, Chris Spedding and the Vibrators, the ...

Buzzcocks: Teen Rebel Scores £250 From Dad

Profile by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 5 February 1977

This feature bears the New Wave Seal of Quality ...

The Clash etc: Harlesden's Burning

Live Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 19 March 1977

The Clash/The Buzzcocks/The Subway Sect/The Slits: Harlesden Colosseum, London ...

The Clash/Buzzcocks/Subway Sect/The Slits: Harlesden Colosseum, London

Live Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 19 March 1977

NICK KENT comes out of hiding to offer himself as a 'punk' sacrifice to the ritualistic 'beat' of THE CLASH, THE BUZZCOCKS, THE SUBWAY SECT ...

The Clash, Buzzcocks, Subway Sect, Slits: Coliseum, Harlesden, London

Live Review by Caroline Coon, Melody Maker, 9 April 1977

THE GRANDLY-NAMED COLISEUM in Harlesden, London, turned out somewhat grander than most people expected. It's no fleapit, more a small local theatre — complete with ...

The Front Line: On The Road With The Clash

Report by Giovanni Dadomo, Sounds, 14 May 1977

JOE STRUMMER says he'll smash my face in if I so much as print a syllable of what's said in the dressing room of the ...

The Clash, The Jam, The Buzzcocks: The Rainbow Theatre, London

Live Review by Jon Savage, Sounds, 21 May 1977

Rock ‘n’ roll can be one of the few honest things left in this world.Yes.An event, a gathering of the clans.Yes.But it was all down ...

Buzzcocks, Penetration, John Cooper Clarke, Warsaw: Electric Circus, Manchester

Live Review by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 18 June 1977

THERE IS undoubtedly a great deal of refining and cleaning to be done on Buzzcocks' material before the album they can so definitely record comes ...

Manchester: They Mean It Maaanchester

Overview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 30 July 1977

MANCHESTER as a Rock and Roll town just didn't use to exist. It fed dutifully off London, and there were frequent visits from groups to ...

Various artists: The Roxy, London, W.C.2 (Harvest SHSP 4069)

Review by Ira Robbins, Trouser Press, September 1977

BACK IN nineteen-sixty-something, when an earlier new wave was proudly unfurling, several Live at the Star Club LPs appeared, scooping up some of the bands ...

Buzzcocks: Rafters, Manchester

Live Review by Barry Cain, Record Mirror, 10 September 1977

BUZZCOCKS — a Manchester miasma causing GBH to the nostrils? Or one of the best damned bands the rainy city has ever produced? ...

Whatever Happened To The Buzzcocks?

Interview by Caroline Coon, Sounds, 17 September 1977

Now there's nothing behind meAnd I'm already a has-beenMy future ain't what it wasI think I know the words that I meanYou know me – ...

Buzzcocks/Magazine/John Cooper Clarke/The Worst/The Fall/The Prefects/The Negatives/Warsaw: Electric Circus, Manchester

Live Review by Jon Savage, Sounds, 15 October 1977

Prime Manchester venue closes... Power cut at the Electric Circus ...

The Buzzcocks: Another Music In A Different Kitchen (United Artists UAG 30519)*****

Review by Jane Suck, Sounds, 4 March 1978

A real kitchen sink drama ...

Buzzcocks, The Slits: Thames Polytechnic,Woolwich, London

Live Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 11 March 1978

Buzzcocks turn pro ...

The Buzzcocks: Another Movie In A Different Cinema

Report and Interview by Jane Suck, Sounds, 25 March 1978

I SMOKE TOO much. I drink too much. I do drugs and don't get off, and, according to Dead Fingers Talk's manager and all the ...

Rock Against Racism's Carnival Of The North: Chaos & Concern

Report by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 22 July 1978

THE ANTI-NAZI LEAGUE and Rock Against Racism were formed specifically as a reaction against racism. ...

The Buzzcocks

Report and Interview by Kris Needs, ZigZag, September 1978

LOVE BITES can be: The vice-like heart-grasp of new love: Embarrassing marks on the neck; Romance with a sting in the tail; THE NEW BUZZCOCKS ...

Buzzcocks: Love Bites

Review by Jon Savage, Sounds, 23 September 1978

VULNERABILITY MEANS never having to say you're sorry... ...

The Buzzcocks: Pete Shelley is a Sensitive Artist... and Buzzcocks Have no Guilt

Interview by Harry Doherty, Melody Maker, 30 September 1978

Every successful new wave band experiences a backlash, and Buzzcockes are no exception. HARRY DOHERTY sympathises ...

The Buzzcocks: Love Bites

Review by Simon Frith, Melody Maker, 30 September 1978

UMMMMM, ON THE cover of their new album the Buzzcocks look yummy enough to wrap up and take home. Love Bites, it's called, but no ...

Buzzcocks: The Lust Train Stops Here

Interview by Paul Rambali, New Musical Express, 14 October 1978

LOVE… Ain't that something to be proud of? Isn't it a bitch? Don't the waves crash, the trumpets roar and the planet split? Doesn't the ...

The Buzzcocks: Top Rank, Shefield

Live Review by Andy Gill, New Musical Express, 21 October 1978

Who, exactly, is gobbing on whom? ...

Buzzcocks, V2, Fast Cars: Manchester Polytechnic

Live Review by Mick Middles, Sounds, 27 January 1979

Still friends of mine ...

The Buzzcocks: Inside the Hit Factory

Report and Interview by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 7 April 1979

(PETE SHELLEY'S BACK PARLOUR IN GOSPORT, ACTUALLY, REVEALS PETE SILVERTON) ...

The Buzzcocks: Inside The Hit Factory

Report and Interview by Peter Silverton, Sounds, 7 April 1979

"It's really amazing. I can just sit there and go dee-da-dee-da-dee, da-dee-da-dee, put some words to it, teach the other three how to play it, ...

Howard Devoto: The Compleat Fatalist

Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 28 April 1979

LATE THURSDAY afternoon. I am angry, very angry, for reasons that form too personal a tale but revolve around a head-on collision with hysterical illogicality. ...

The Buzzcocks: The Other One Speaks!

Interview by Michael Gray, ZigZag, May 1979

WHEN YOU GO and see Buzzcocks, there are four of them. Up at the back, as high on his rostrum as an Old Bailey judge, ...

Buzzcocks/Gang Of Four: Club 57, New York, NY

Live Review by Van Gosse, Melody Maker, 8 September 1979

THIS IS the year that the New Wave, or at least its more retrograde element, has finally hit the U.S. charts. Everybody English and short-haired, ...

The Buzzcocks, Gang of Four: Club 57, New York NY

Live Review by Richard Grabel, New Musical Express, 22 September 1979

THIS IS AN interesting juxtaposition: Buzzcocks work on a high energy formula, a formula that works; Gang Of Four work away from formula – they ...

Buzzcocks: Hey Mac Are You Some Kind Of Limey Pop Star?

Report and Interview by Paul Morley, New Musical Express, 6 October 1979

SAT RANDOMLY around a small table are four young men each with dark hair. When they grin, their faces show they see things differently. ...

Sex, Fast Cars and a Different Kind of Buzzcock

Interview by Dave McCullough, Sounds, 6 October 1979

The spiritual awakening of Steve Diggle. ...

The Buzzcocks, Joy Division: Mountford Hall, Liverpool

Live Review by Penny Kiley, Melody Maker, 12 October 1979

OF IMAGES AND IDOLS ...

The Buzzcocks: City Hall, Newcastle

Live Review by Ian Ravendale, Sounds, 13 October 1979

Same old rubbish in a different theatre ...

Buzzcocks/Joy Division: Rainbow, London

Live Review by Chris Bohn, Melody Maker, 17 November 1979

ON CURRENT FORM, Joy Division should have been the best thing happening on Friday night, and the Buzzcocks camp knew it too. Consequently, they treated ...

Phantom of the Factory — It's Martin Hannett! A legend in his own town!! Didsbury!!!

Report and Interview by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 19 July 1980

Bassist with Arnie Prole's Blues Band! Founding member of John Cooper Clarke's Curious Yellows! Close friend of Eric the Ferret! Producer of Spiral Scratch, Jilted ...

Buzzcocks: A problem in communication

Interview by Penny Kiley, Melody Maker, 4 October 1980

PENNY KILEY talks to the Buzzcocks ...

Buzzcocks, Human Sexual Response: The Ritz, New York NYC

Live Review by Dave Schulps, Trouser Press, February 1981

DO I DETECT the beginnings of a love affair between New York and the Buzzcocks? The Mancunians packed the Ritz solid on a Sunday night, ...

Pete Shelley: Origin of the Species

Interview by Mick Sinclair, Sounds, 16 January 1982

Pete Shelley discusses humanity with Mick Sinclair ...

Flag Of Convenience: a C.H.A.I.N. R.E.A.C.T.I.O.N.

Interview by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 23 October 1982

Is there life after Buzzcocks? Steve Diggle and John Maher are trying again. After the passive disintegration of Buzzcocks in the spring of 1981, the ...

Peter Shelley

Interview by Jim Green, Trouser Press, August 1983

Back when the much-saluted bywords of British punk were "rebellion," "relevance" and "gritty realism," Manchester's Buzzcocks brought something fresh, pithy and even humorous to their ...

Punk: Rogues Gallery

Overview by Kris Needs, ZigZag, January 1986

TO PUT EVERYTHING INTO PERSPECTIVE, AS TO WHERE THE ORIGINALS FROM '76 HAVE GONE; BE IT A WAYSIDE DITCH OR A MAJOR RECORD COMPANY WATER ...

The Buzzcocks: Product

Review by Martin Aston, Q, December 1989

LIKE MOST punk escapades, Buzzcocks started with Johnny Rotten, whose "We're not into music, we're into chaos" motto drew Bolton students Peter Shelley and Howard ...

The Sex Pistols, The Clash, The Damned, The Heartbreakers, The Buzzcocks: Destination Nowhere

Retrospective by Johnny Black, MOJO, December 1996

Twenty years ago this month, the Sex Pistols, Clash, Damned, Heartbreakers and Buzzcocks embarked upon the Anarchy Tour. What followed more than lived up to ...

The Buzzcocks

Interview by Ian Fortnam, music365.com, 1999

SINCE THEIR initial formation, way back in 1976, Manchester’s Buzzcocks have attained a genuinely legendary status in the hearts and minds of both aficionados of ...

Howard Devoto talks about Punk's Year Zero

Retrospective and Interview by Kieron Tyler, Record Collector, May 2000

"I'M TIRED OF noise and short of breath. I'm sick of having to address people out of breath and under my breath." That was how ...

Various Artists: Cash From Chaos: The Complete Punk Collection

Review by Ian MacDonald, Uncut, February 2002

Perverse selection – from New York Dolls to Gonads, Buzzcocks to Toy Dolls — misses chance to be definitive summary ...

Part-time Punks: The Buzzcocks

Retrospective and Interview by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 1 March 2002

The Buzzcocks were one of punk's most influential bands. Now, 25 years on, Pete Shelley and Howard Devoto are recording together again. Paul Lester meets ...

Various Artists: Zero - A Martin Hannett Story 1977-1991

Review by Jon Savage, MOJO, May 2006

The post-punk Phil Spector lives on again on a (single CD) retrospective that reveals him to be a producer both before his time and ahead ...

The Buzzcocks' Pete Shelley (2007) [transcript]

Audio transcript of interview by Mark Petracca, Rock's Backpages transcripts, 2007

This is a transcript of Mark's interview with Pete. Listen to the audio of the interview. ...

Ageless Punk Rockers And The AARP

Interview by Jim Sullivan, Christian Science Monitor, 3 Fall 2007

I WAS WORKING in the home office the other day, and all of a sudden I heard the bright melody and chorus of a favorite ...

Buzzcocks: The Making of 'Ever Fallen In Love (With Someone You Shouldn't've)'

Retrospective and Interview by Gavin Martin, Uncut, March 2008

Treasured by John Peel, the 1978 powerpop perennial by Manchester's melodic punks ...

For Buzzcocks, age of 'Nostalgia' is now

Report and Interview by Jim Sullivan, Boston Herald, 16 May 2010

THIRTY-TWO YEARS ago, a young British punk-pop band, Buzzcocks, recorded a song called 'Nostalgia'. It included these words from singer/guitarist Pete Shelley: "My future and ...

Howard Devoto and Steve Diggle of Buzzcocks on Spiral Scratch

Retrospective and Interview by Irina Shtreis, Louder Than War, 29 January 2022

45 years ago, Buzzcocks released Spiral Scratch, the first independent punk record in the UK. The original Buzzcocks frontman Howard Devoto and original bass player ...

see also Howard Devoto

see also Magazine

see also Pete Shelley

RSS

back to LIBRARY

COPYRIGHT NOTICE