I’VE never understood why there’s such a widespread belief that punk rock broke into the mainstream into the early ’90s. It must drive Pete Shelley crazy, since he was writing punk hits back in 1976. To say that the Brit-bred Buzzcocks made pop-punk that was both poppier and punker than Green Day or any of the bands that would come later is not a dis; Billie Joe would no doubt second that emotion. The Buzzcocks’ songs are so perfectly constructed they would likely have been hits in any era, and ironically that songcraft is likely why it’s only recently that they’ve been recognized as the punk legends they are. It just didn’t used to be cool for punk bands to admit they could play their instruments, or use pop-music production values to make their songs sound better. Now, of course, it’s the norm, but the Buzzcocks were way ahead of their time. Maybe Shelley (and original co-conspirator Howard Devoto, who left after one album to form Magazine) simply knew what he had: songs like “Ever Fallen In Love (With Someone You Shouldn’t’ve)” are now among the most covered in the punk canon. Even Pete Yorn’s training-wheels version on the Shrek 2 soundtrack makes it obvious—and the original as well as other classics like “Why Can’t I Touch It,” “What Do I Get” and of course “Orgasm Adict” confirm it: pound for pound, the Buzzcocks wrote better teen angst anthems that any band in punkdom.
THE BUZZCOCKS play Friday (Feb. 19) at 9pm at the Blank Club, 44 S. Almaden Ave, San Jose. Tickets are $30. (408.29.BLANK)
