Thirty years on...
by Stephen Miller
posted 2006-09-25
Finally, The Buzzcocks! What can you say when one of your heroes take the stage before you? I never got the chance to see the band in their heyday, and the 10 year hiatus of the 80’s left a void in the alternative music world, mirrored by my assimilation into the working world of adult responsibilities: work, wife, family, mortgage, taxes. This void was filled by the senseless pabulum bands of the New Wave, i.e., The B-52’s (who did have one decent song, and no, it wasn’t Rock Lobster), Missing Persons, and the endless parade of mindless music for mindless people. Anyone who is nostalgic for the 80’s obviously was in a drug induced haze through the decade. The band did have a few releases in the late 90’s and into the 21st. century, the lads have hit their stride.
Photo courtesy of The Buzzcocks
Anyhow, so here it is, summer 2006, and rising from the ashes like a glorious Phoenix is the Buzzcocks. They opened the show with a few of their newer numbers, “Sell You Anything” was an amazing sing-along, very typical of what good tunesmiths are capable of, regardless of era or genre.
Steve Diggle and Pete Shelley are the only original members left, sharing singing and guitar duties, with Diggle handling most of the lead work, with Danny Farrant on the drums and Tony Barber holding down the bass duties. The experience and time together really shows in the songs; a little different phrasing here, an extra flourish here, but tight! Tight! Tight! The sound has always been on the bright side, which is appropriate for the type of power pop/punk hybrid the Buzzcocks are known for. About six minutes into gig, I gave up trying to keep track of the tunes, but several standouts were “I Don’t Know What To Do With My Life”, “What Do I Get?”, “Orgasm Addict”, all got great responses from the crowd.
Photo courtesy of The Buzzcocks
A very pleasant surprise was the inclusion of “Breakdown”, from their first release, when Howard Devoto, one of the founding members and later of the band Magazine, was still in the group. My only disappointment with the song list was the lack of my personal favorites, “You Say You Don’t Love Me”, and “I Believe”. Despite my yelling the titles from the back of the room, the boys decided not to play the songs. But this was their gig, not mine, this is definitely a group here to see their heroes rise from the faded pages of their scrapbooks, but it’s more than that. It’s a celebration of a period of rock music that still echo in today’s music. Listen to any of the alt/rock power pop being put out these days, and you will hear touches of the Buzzcocks, as well as many of their contemporaries, i.e., Joy Division, Gang of Four, Ramones, Magazine, to name a few.
What am I trying to say here? The more things change, the more things stay the same? Not exactly, but all music draws the preceding era. The Buzzcocks were drawing from the deep well of teen angst and adolescent heartache, putting a new spin to it and mutating the songs into middle-aged anthems of yearning for a period of life long gone, but not forgotten. How can you ever listen to “Say You Don’t Love Me” and not feel, even more as an adult, the loss and resignation that is so overwhelming from an unrequited love? The themes of rebellion and loss still strike a chord in our adult lives, and that is what makes music so integral to most of us.
