Pete Shelley
Re: Pete Shelley
I got some text messages about this earlier tonight and couldn't believe it. I've been revisiting some Buzzcocks tunes just now and as CK says, that original (well, post-Devoto) line-up created stuff that is just timeless. Three albums and a string of singles that any band would give their eye teeth to have done.
Not forgetting Spiral Scratch of course, such a perfect standalone work of art in its own right, in so many ways.
The reformed / reconfigured group were not too shabby either - 'Innocent' is one of my favourite shoulda-coulda lost singles - and I like the fact Pete and co continued to write and perform new stuff right through to the end.
RIP Pete Shelley - another one gone too early.
Not forgetting Spiral Scratch of course, such a perfect standalone work of art in its own right, in so many ways.
The reformed / reconfigured group were not too shabby either - 'Innocent' is one of my favourite shoulda-coulda lost singles - and I like the fact Pete and co continued to write and perform new stuff right through to the end.
RIP Pete Shelley - another one gone too early.
Ignore Alien Hors d'oeuvres
Re: Pete Shelley
JohnS wrote: ↑06 Dec 2018, 10:49pmI got some text messages about this earlier tonight and couldn't believe it. I've been revisiting some Buzzcocks tunes just now and as CK says, that original (well, post-Devoto) line-up created stuff that is just timeless. Three albums and a string of singles that any band would give their eye teeth to have done.
Not forgetting Spiral Scratch of course, such a perfect standalone work of art in its own right, in so many ways.
The reformed / reconfigured group were not too shabby either - 'Innocent' is one of my favourite shoulda-coulda lost singles - and I like the fact Pete and co continued to write and perform new stuff right through to the end.
RIP Pete Shelley - another one gone too early.
I actually had an email exchange about 20 years ago with Martin Rushent. He contacted me after he saw something I'd written about him on the old CCS page on Jeff Dove's site. Really a very nice and humble guy. Had no idea how admired he was by a lot of gear-oriented music nerds.
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Re: Pete Shelley
Great point. The Buzzcocks were really important to me during my shy, awkward teen years. The first run of the group came apart when I was only 4 - so I missed that - but I'd always heard of them and when they got back together in '89 - that was right as I was turning 13 and so I really got into their old & new music. They just had something about them that really spoke to me...maybe it was Shelley's writing - which I think was some of the best of the era. They just made this shy, awkward teen feel not just okay about being shy & awkward...they also made me feel cool and hip along the way.IkarisOne wrote: ↑06 Dec 2018, 8:01pmBuzzcocks were so incredibly great in their first incarnation it's almost mind-numbing. Maher and Garvey were hands-down the best rhythm section in the first wave of Punk and Martin Rushent really polished those gems. That stuff still sounds futuristic. Incredible players, great songwriting. Amazing how far they could stretch the punk template, just ridiculous creativity. Maher was clearly the model for drummers like Tre Cool and Travis Barker but they don't go anywhere near his sophistication and subtlety.
Shelley not only was a great melodicist but he had a real knack for killer riffs too. I was in a club once and I heard Homosapien-- a song I never really cared for-- and I couldn't believe how punchy and crisp it was. I remember hearing Venus Records or someone blasting Why Can't I Touch It onto Eighth Street one fine day in the early 90s and just being agog by how magic it sounded.
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Re: Pete Shelley
It was such a weird mix- Shelley's Merseyside love songs and that pile-driving beat and Rushent's alternate-future production. You had every right to feel cool and hip.WestwayKid wrote: ↑07 Dec 2018, 10:20amGreat point. The Buzzcocks were really important to me during my shy, awkward teen years. The first run of the group came apart when I was only 4 - so I missed that - but I'd always heard of them and when they got back together in '89 - that was right as I was turning 13 and so I really got into their old & new music. They just had something about them that really spoke to me...maybe it was Shelley's writing - which I think was some of the best of the era. They just made this shy, awkward teen feel not just okay about being shy & awkward...they also made me feel cool and hip along the way.IkarisOne wrote: ↑06 Dec 2018, 8:01pmBuzzcocks were so incredibly great in their first incarnation it's almost mind-numbing. Maher and Garvey were hands-down the best rhythm section in the first wave of Punk and Martin Rushent really polished those gems. That stuff still sounds futuristic. Incredible players, great songwriting. Amazing how far they could stretch the punk template, just ridiculous creativity. Maher was clearly the model for drummers like Tre Cool and Travis Barker but they don't go anywhere near his sophistication and subtlety.
Shelley not only was a great melodicist but he had a real knack for killer riffs too. I was in a club once and I heard Homosapien-- a song I never really cared for-- and I couldn't believe how punchy and crisp it was. I remember hearing Venus Records or someone blasting Why Can't I Touch It onto Eighth Street one fine day in the early 90s and just being agog by how magic it sounded.
Re: Pete Shelley
Merseyside? Steady on, you could start a Manchester/Liverpool riot!IkarisOne wrote: ↑07 Dec 2018, 10:04pmIt was such a weird mix- Shelley's Merseyside love songs and that pile-driving beat and Rushent's alternate-future production. You had every right to feel cool and hip.WestwayKid wrote: ↑07 Dec 2018, 10:20amGreat point. The Buzzcocks were really important to me during my shy, awkward teen years. The first run of the group came apart when I was only 4 - so I missed that - but I'd always heard of them and when they got back together in '89 - that was right as I was turning 13 and so I really got into their old & new music. They just had something about them that really spoke to me...maybe it was Shelley's writing - which I think was some of the best of the era. They just made this shy, awkward teen feel not just okay about being shy & awkward...they also made me feel cool and hip along the way.IkarisOne wrote: ↑06 Dec 2018, 8:01pmBuzzcocks were so incredibly great in their first incarnation it's almost mind-numbing. Maher and Garvey were hands-down the best rhythm section in the first wave of Punk and Martin Rushent really polished those gems. That stuff still sounds futuristic. Incredible players, great songwriting. Amazing how far they could stretch the punk template, just ridiculous creativity. Maher was clearly the model for drummers like Tre Cool and Travis Barker but they don't go anywhere near his sophistication and subtlety.
Shelley not only was a great melodicist but he had a real knack for killer riffs too. I was in a club once and I heard Homosapien-- a song I never really cared for-- and I couldn't believe how punchy and crisp it was. I remember hearing Venus Records or someone blasting Why Can't I Touch It onto Eighth Street one fine day in the early 90s and just being agog by how magic it sounded.
Re: Pete Shelley
Heh. I was referring to Shelley's 60s British Invasion roots.laxman wrote: ↑08 Dec 2018, 8:57amMerseyside? Steady on, you could start a Manchester/Liverpool riot!IkarisOne wrote: ↑07 Dec 2018, 10:04pmIt was such a weird mix- Shelley's Merseyside love songs and that pile-driving beat and Rushent's alternate-future production. You had every right to feel cool and hip.WestwayKid wrote: ↑07 Dec 2018, 10:20amGreat point. The Buzzcocks were really important to me during my shy, awkward teen years. The first run of the group came apart when I was only 4 - so I missed that - but I'd always heard of them and when they got back together in '89 - that was right as I was turning 13 and so I really got into their old & new music. They just had something about them that really spoke to me...maybe it was Shelley's writing - which I think was some of the best of the era. They just made this shy, awkward teen feel not just okay about being shy & awkward...they also made me feel cool and hip along the way.IkarisOne wrote: ↑06 Dec 2018, 8:01pmBuzzcocks were so incredibly great in their first incarnation it's almost mind-numbing. Maher and Garvey were hands-down the best rhythm section in the first wave of Punk and Martin Rushent really polished those gems. That stuff still sounds futuristic. Incredible players, great songwriting. Amazing how far they could stretch the punk template, just ridiculous creativity. Maher was clearly the model for drummers like Tre Cool and Travis Barker but they don't go anywhere near his sophistication and subtlety.
Shelley not only was a great melodicist but he had a real knack for killer riffs too. I was in a club once and I heard Homosapien-- a song I never really cared for-- and I couldn't believe how punchy and crisp it was. I remember hearing Venus Records or someone blasting Why Can't I Touch It onto Eighth Street one fine day in the early 90s and just being agog by how magic it sounded.
Re: Pete Shelley
Nice save! :)IkarisOne wrote: ↑08 Dec 2018, 11:34amHeh. I was referring to Shelley's 60s British Invasion roots.laxman wrote: ↑08 Dec 2018, 8:57amMerseyside? Steady on, you could start a Manchester/Liverpool riot!IkarisOne wrote: ↑07 Dec 2018, 10:04pmIt was such a weird mix- Shelley's Merseyside love songs and that pile-driving beat and Rushent's alternate-future production. You had every right to feel cool and hip.WestwayKid wrote: ↑07 Dec 2018, 10:20amGreat point. The Buzzcocks were really important to me during my shy, awkward teen years. The first run of the group came apart when I was only 4 - so I missed that - but I'd always heard of them and when they got back together in '89 - that was right as I was turning 13 and so I really got into their old & new music. They just had something about them that really spoke to me...maybe it was Shelley's writing - which I think was some of the best of the era. They just made this shy, awkward teen feel not just okay about being shy & awkward...they also made me feel cool and hip along the way.IkarisOne wrote: ↑06 Dec 2018, 8:01pmBuzzcocks were so incredibly great in their first incarnation it's almost mind-numbing. Maher and Garvey were hands-down the best rhythm section in the first wave of Punk and Martin Rushent really polished those gems. That stuff still sounds futuristic. Incredible players, great songwriting. Amazing how far they could stretch the punk template, just ridiculous creativity. Maher was clearly the model for drummers like Tre Cool and Travis Barker but they don't go anywhere near his sophistication and subtlety.
Shelley not only was a great melodicist but he had a real knack for killer riffs too. I was in a club once and I heard Homosapien-- a song I never really cared for-- and I couldn't believe how punchy and crisp it was. I remember hearing Venus Records or someone blasting Why Can't I Touch It onto Eighth Street one fine day in the early 90s and just being agog by how magic it sounded.
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Re: Pete Shelley
In CK’s defense, that’s how I read it.laxman wrote: ↑08 Dec 2018, 11:43amNice save! :)IkarisOne wrote: ↑08 Dec 2018, 11:34amHeh. I was referring to Shelley's 60s British Invasion roots.laxman wrote: ↑08 Dec 2018, 8:57amMerseyside? Steady on, you could start a Manchester/Liverpool riot!IkarisOne wrote: ↑07 Dec 2018, 10:04pmIt was such a weird mix- Shelley's Merseyside love songs and that pile-driving beat and Rushent's alternate-future production. You had every right to feel cool and hip.WestwayKid wrote: ↑07 Dec 2018, 10:20am
Great point. The Buzzcocks were really important to me during my shy, awkward teen years. The first run of the group came apart when I was only 4 - so I missed that - but I'd always heard of them and when they got back together in '89 - that was right as I was turning 13 and so I really got into their old & new music. They just had something about them that really spoke to me...maybe it was Shelley's writing - which I think was some of the best of the era. They just made this shy, awkward teen feel not just okay about being shy & awkward...they also made me feel cool and hip along the way.
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Re: Pete Shelley
This to me is the quintessential Buzzcocks song-- weird to the point of sounding alien but hooky as fuck, flanged to the hilt but packing the punch of a bullet train. It's the high contrasts that make this so great- Shelley's deliciously epicene vox and tunesmithing, Maher and Garvey's proto-hardcore hammering, Hannett's streamlined futuristic production bouncing Shelley and Diggle's guitars off each other like a tennis ball.
Just one of the greatest punk rock songs ever recorded.
If the 'Cocks were the Beatles of punk then Martin Hannett was definitely their George Martin.
Just one of the greatest punk rock songs ever recorded.
If the 'Cocks were the Beatles of punk then Martin Hannett was definitely their George Martin.
Re: Pete Shelley
A great performance of "Orgasm Addict" from 2010 in Minneapolis:
Let fury have the hour, anger can be power
D'you know that you can use it?
-- There's no fairytale ending with cocaine.
D'you know that you can use it?
-- There's no fairytale ending with cocaine.
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Re: Pete Shelley
I met Martin and yes a lovely guy and as you say Chris very humble. I also got lucky enough to visit his Genetix studio in Streatley as my aunt was his cleaner. He produced so many great bands Buzzcocks/Generation X/The Stranglers/ Human League and so on.IkarisOne wrote: ↑06 Dec 2018, 11:44pmJohnS wrote: ↑06 Dec 2018, 10:49pmI got some text messages about this earlier tonight and couldn't believe it. I've been revisiting some Buzzcocks tunes just now and as CK says, that original (well, post-Devoto) line-up created stuff that is just timeless. Three albums and a string of singles that any band would give their eye teeth to have done.
Not forgetting Spiral Scratch of course, such a perfect standalone work of art in its own right, in so many ways.
The reformed / reconfigured group were not too shabby either - 'Innocent' is one of my favourite shoulda-coulda lost singles - and I like the fact Pete and co continued to write and perform new stuff right through to the end.
RIP Pete Shelley - another one gone too early.
I actually had an email exchange about 20 years ago with Martin Rushent. He contacted me after he saw something I'd written about him on the old CCS page on Jeff Dove's site. Really a very nice and humble guy. Had no idea how admired he was by a lot of gear-oriented music nerds.
Forces have been looting
My humanity
Curfews have been curbing
The end of liberty
We're the flowers in the dustbin...
No fuchsias for you.
"Without the common people you're nothing"
Nos Sumus Una Familia
Re: Pete Shelley
Cheers, Marky. And to be honest, it's one of the reasons I was never really interested in BCM2. Without Maher and Garvey--the Bonham and Jones of Punk-- and Martin Rushent doing all the treatments it just felt like Page and Plant to me. Only literally nobody likes Page and Plant and the 'Cocks seem to do OK as a heritage act.Marky Dread wrote: ↑10 Dec 2018, 4:49pmI met Martin and yes a lovely guy and as you say Chris very humble. I also got lucky enough to visit his Genetix studio in Streatley as my aunt was his cleaner. He produced so many great bands Buzzcocks/Generation X/The Stranglers/ Human League and so on.IkarisOne wrote: ↑06 Dec 2018, 11:44pmJohnS wrote: ↑06 Dec 2018, 10:49pmI got some text messages about this earlier tonight and couldn't believe it. I've been revisiting some Buzzcocks tunes just now and as CK says, that original (well, post-Devoto) line-up created stuff that is just timeless. Three albums and a string of singles that any band would give their eye teeth to have done.
Not forgetting Spiral Scratch of course, such a perfect standalone work of art in its own right, in so many ways.
The reformed / reconfigured group were not too shabby either - 'Innocent' is one of my favourite shoulda-coulda lost singles - and I like the fact Pete and co continued to write and perform new stuff right through to the end.
RIP Pete Shelley - another one gone too early.
I actually had an email exchange about 20 years ago with Martin Rushent. He contacted me after he saw something I'd written about him on the old CCS page on Jeff Dove's site. Really a very nice and humble guy. Had no idea how admired he was by a lot of gear-oriented music nerds.
Re: Pete Shelley
IkarisOne wrote: ↑09 Dec 2018, 2:12amThis to me is the quintessential Buzzcocks song-- weird to the point of sounding alien but hooky as fuck, flanged to the hilt but packing the punch of a bullet train. It's the high contrasts that make this so great- Shelley's deliciously epicene vox and tunesmithing, Maher and Garvey's proto-hardcore hammering, Rushent's streamlined futuristic production bouncing Shelley and Diggle's guitars off each other like a tennis ball.
Just one of the greatest punk rock songs ever recorded.
If the 'Cocks were the Beatles of punk then Martin Hannett was definitely their George Martin.
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Re: Pete Shelley
That’s Bull!Marky Dread wrote: ↑10 Dec 2018, 4:49pmI met Martin and yes a lovely guy and as you say Chris very humble. I also got lucky enough to visit his Genetix studio in Streatley as my aunt was his cleaner. He produced so many great bands Buzzcocks/Generation X/The Stranglers/ Human League and so on.IkarisOne wrote: ↑06 Dec 2018, 11:44pmJohnS wrote: ↑06 Dec 2018, 10:49pmI got some text messages about this earlier tonight and couldn't believe it. I've been revisiting some Buzzcocks tunes just now and as CK says, that original (well, post-Devoto) line-up created stuff that is just timeless. Three albums and a string of singles that any band would give their eye teeth to have done.
Not forgetting Spiral Scratch of course, such a perfect standalone work of art in its own right, in so many ways.
The reformed / reconfigured group were not too shabby either - 'Innocent' is one of my favourite shoulda-coulda lost singles - and I like the fact Pete and co continued to write and perform new stuff right through to the end.
RIP Pete Shelley - another one gone too early.
I actually had an email exchange about 20 years ago with Martin Rushent. He contacted me after he saw something I'd written about him on the old CCS page on Jeff Dove's site. Really a very nice and humble guy. Had no idea how admired he was by a lot of gear-oriented music nerds.
Note: locale joke for those that have been to Streatley
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Re: Pete Shelley
Yep sank a few in there mate.101Walterton wrote: ↑11 Dec 2018, 12:35amThat’s Bull!Marky Dread wrote: ↑10 Dec 2018, 4:49pmI met Martin and yes a lovely guy and as you say Chris very humble. I also got lucky enough to visit his Genetix studio in Streatley as my aunt was his cleaner. He produced so many great bands Buzzcocks/Generation X/The Stranglers/ Human League and so on.IkarisOne wrote: ↑06 Dec 2018, 11:44pmJohnS wrote: ↑06 Dec 2018, 10:49pmI got some text messages about this earlier tonight and couldn't believe it. I've been revisiting some Buzzcocks tunes just now and as CK says, that original (well, post-Devoto) line-up created stuff that is just timeless. Three albums and a string of singles that any band would give their eye teeth to have done.
Not forgetting Spiral Scratch of course, such a perfect standalone work of art in its own right, in so many ways.
The reformed / reconfigured group were not too shabby either - 'Innocent' is one of my favourite shoulda-coulda lost singles - and I like the fact Pete and co continued to write and perform new stuff right through to the end.
RIP Pete Shelley - another one gone too early.
I actually had an email exchange about 20 years ago with Martin Rushent. He contacted me after he saw something I'd written about him on the old CCS page on Jeff Dove's site. Really a very nice and humble guy. Had no idea how admired he was by a lot of gear-oriented music nerds.
Note: locale joke for those that have been to Streatley
Forces have been looting
My humanity
Curfews have been curbing
The end of liberty
We're the flowers in the dustbin...
No fuchsias for you.
"Without the common people you're nothing"
Nos Sumus Una Familia