The albums follow the Domino re-releases of their debut EP, Spiral Scratch and Time's Up, a collection of demos, from 1976.Famously taking their name from "It's the buzz, cock," a headline from a Time Out review of 1970s TV music drama Rock Follies, Buzzcocks formed in Bolton in 1976 by Pete Shelley and Howard Devoto, who have a strong claim to have kick-started a musical revolution in Manchester having organized and played at the now infamous Sex Pistols show at Manchester's Lesser Free Trade Hall in 1976, a show which inspired and spawned the likes of Joy Division, The Fall and The Smiths.
Having recorded their debut EP, Spiral Scratch, in October 1976 for a cost of £45 (the single would go on to sell 16,000 copies in the first six months of release on their own New Hormones label), the band soon underwent personnel changes with founder Howard Devoto leaving before they signed to United Artists and embarked on the recording of their debut album. Recorded at Olympic Studios in London between December 1977 and January 1978 with producer Martin Rushent and featuring the line-up of Pete Shelley (vocals / guitar), Steve Diggle (guitar / vocals), Steve Garvey (bass) and John Maher (drums), Another Music In A Different Kitchen was released in March 1978 featuring a distinctive cover by Malcolm Garrett whose work would become inextricably linked with the band.
Within six months of their debut album release, the band had recorded and released its follow up. Again working with Martin Rushent at Olympic Studios, Love Bites was recorded in late July 1978 and released in September of that year. It featured their highest charting single, and arguably best-known song, Ever Fallen In Love (With Someone You Shouldn't've). By the end of 1978 with the release of these albums not only had Buzzcocks established themselves as one of the leading-lights of punk but proved themselves as deft songwriters capable of producing three-minute-mini-masterpieces that would endure long after the initial spark of punk had faded.
After releasing a third album, A Different Kind Of Tension, in 1979 the band continued for a couple of years before finally disbanding in 1981. The band would re-form in 1989 for a number of shows and they have continued to play live and record albums since featuring original members Pete Shelley and Steve Diggle. Seminal release from British punk pioneers, lovingly restored and re-mastered from the original ¼ tapes Packaged in the original Malcolm Garrett designed sleeves with lavish 8-page booklets containing unseen images and extensive liner notes by famed writer, broadcaster, music journalist and punk rock commentator Jon Savage.
