The Buzzcocks’ Pete Shelley, dead at 63.
While I appreciated the Buzzcocks’s brief initial splash — and often mention that bands who wouldn’t be bands without The Buzzcocks are now getting into the Hall of Fame — I enjoyed Pete Shelley’s and Howard Devoto’s solo/post Buzzcocks careers much more.
With amazingly crafted albums that boasted of arty, emotional, synthetically charged songs that one could often dance to, these were among “my guys,” artists (male or female) that few people who I knew were into. They occupied another plane of visibility, past Duran Duran or the Human League.
Shelley, of course, being the more visible of the two in the 80s with relative hits such as “Homosapien” and “Telephone Operator.” Staples amongst the hippest of club DJs, back in the day.
Pete Shelley, writer & singer of the classic power-pop/post-punk paradigm “Ever Fallen In Love (With Someone You Shouldn’t Have)”, creator of the incredible Heaven & The Sea album, was just flat-out cool. This cruel felling by way of an apparent heart attack makes me feel very, very old.
My favorite Pete Shelley number. Turn it waaay up.
