Pete Shelley's premature passing, just a couple of days back is a sad one for many of my generation. A clever and talented soul, he was a distinctive and impressive figure on Top of the Pops shows in the late seventies, signalling a specific and proudly individualistic voice on the landscape of pop, punk and new wave.
Of course Buzzcocks were a wonderful, sparkling pop band but Shelley made them much more than that because of his particular obsessions with love and romance and a sharp but determined honesty which placed them apart and above so much of their competition. His sexual projection, so odd for a thirteen year old like myself who had no inkling of that side of life, was one reason. But more than this he put across a wry, but acute sensitivity that made space for Edwyn Collins, Morrissey and so much that followed. They were also the first banner wavers for all that wonderful music that came out of Manchester over the coming decades. Buzzcocks came first and paved the way.
Ultimately, his passing seems sad because he takes a part of many peoples' youths with him. Singles Going Steady, the compilation of Buzzcocks A and B sides is an ultimate glowing epitaph to him and the band he led. But more than that, they also produced some fine albums, (Love Bites and Another Music in a Different Kitchen particularly), which showed how you could channel a love of the avant gard and outre into pop classicism. They had the tunes, the lyrics and the attitude, decked out in outfits that seemed irrepressibly and brazenly Burtons. Shelley is owed a definite, unresolvable debt.
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