Buzzcocks Artistfacts

Buzzcocks song list

Buzzcocks Artistfacts

1976-1981, 1989-
Pete ShelleyGuitar, vocals1976-1981, 1989-2018
Steve DiggleGuitar, vocals1977-1981, 1989-
Howard DevotoVocals1976-1977
Steve GarveyBass1977-1981
John MaherDrums1977-1981
Danny FarrantDrums2006-
Chris RemmingtonBass2008-
Buzzcocks were one of the "brainier" punk bands to emerge from England's first wave. As Pete Shelley told The Quietus, "Both me and Howard Devoto did humanities at Bolton Institute of Technology [where they also received honorary doctorates in July 2009]. I was doing philosophy and comparative European literature when Buzzcocks started. As Steve Diggle says, we were punks with library cards."
After leaving the Buzzcocks in 1977, singer Howard Devoto went on to form the popular post-punk outfit Magazine.
During the Buzzcocks' split in the mid '80s, Pete Shelley issued several solo albums (the most popular being 1983's XL1), while Steve Diggle formed a new band, Flag of Convenience.
The Buzzcocks were invited by Nirvana to open select dates on the grunge outfit's last-ever European tour, in early 1994. Steve Diggle offered a standout memory he has of Kurt Cobain: "Doing two grams of coke is one of my famous stories with him."
Another renowned grunge act are also fans of the Buzzcocks: Pearl Jam, who had the group open US shows for them in 2003, including the Buzzcocks' first-ever appearance at New York's Madison Square Garden.
When Henry Rollins began hosting his own radio show on Los Angeles' Indie 103.1 in 2004, the show was titled Harmony in My Head, after a classic Buzzcocks tune.
The Buzzcocks were one of the first bands to successfully cross pop with punk. They were a big influence on The Go-Go's, who followed suit. Jane Wiedlin of The Go-Go's told Songfacts: our favorite band, the band that we always tried to emulate was the Buzzcocks, who had that great pop song done in a punky style."
Steve Diggle attended Varna Street secondary school in East Manchester, whose alumni include The Monkees' Davy Jones.
For months Buzzcocks rehearsed at TJ's in Salford in the room later immortalized by Joy Division's "Love Will Tear Us Apart" video. In his memoir, Autonomy: Portrait of a Buzzcock, Diggle complains that Ian Curtis' crew stole a lot off them, from their bass sound to their look. "They must have had sniffer dogs on us," he sniped.
Buzzcocks toured with Nirvana in early 1994. Diggle watched Kurt Cobain jokingly mow down fans with a plastic machine gun from his dressing room window in Paris. Seven weeks later, Cobain took his own life.
Steve Diggle's first guitar was a Spanish guitar that he bought for £5. "Every time I played a chord it would go out of tune," he recalled to Uncut magazine. "But then I realized you could play Beethoven's 'Ode To Joy' on one string, so I started jamming on a couple of strings, making little tunes. When I look back at the initial outburst of Buzzcocks, that was a good lesson – that's where a lot of them guitar motifs come from."

Comments: 1

Bex from Philadelphia Pa Usarip PETE SHELLEY ... you will never be forgotten. -BEX Z191TV , Athena Music MEdia. the FIRE

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