Seeing the Buzzcocks live at the Santa Monica Civic around 1979 was utterly amazing. Another Music in a Different Kitchen (1978), Love Bites (1978), and A Different Kind of Tension always were in the air so seeing them live was so exciting. The Spiral Scratch (EP) was a favorite of mine. The lyrics of Break Down are phenomenal and so infused in my DNA. Maybe a whole generation in their early 60s are experiencing melancholy right now!
Watercolor by Hudley Flipside
Pete: Drunk in our blood of a generation
When falling into. and mad about- the world of Punk Rock, Pete Shelly’s voice framed this new experience with innovative songs and lyrics. “Ever Fallen In Love….” is one of the songs that I fell in love with. I fell in love with the Los Angeles Punk Scene at the same time as the first time I heard the song. The people, places and record stores everywhere did loudly play the Buzzcocks beyond our fast-thrashing hearts. You would find us running from the Whisky A Go Go on the Sunset Strip to the infamous record store smelling of vinyl Licorice Pizza and then down to the alley for cut-rate canned beer. Three points of forward movement forming a hurricane of friends, music, and pogoing. Pete’s voice and music are the fresh anthem of a growing punk scene. Pete Shelley’s voice and guitar set the stage for a sensitive and poetic revolution of mindset not inspired by many bands to this day. He is always saturated English angelic youth gone wild. Pete Shelly’s voice never grows older though his body did age and die. His music will be at that place where the new-wave-punk-rock-experience is eternal. Unclassified music that is wonderfully bliss!
“Oh mum can I grow out of what’s too big for me?
I’ll give up that ghost before it gives up me
I wander loaded as a crowd, a nowhere wolf of pain
Living next to nothing, my nevermind remains
I’m gonna breakdown, I’m gonna breakdown yes
I’m gonna breakdown, I’m gonna breakdown yes”
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