by Janette Beckman
What must it have been like to be a young American in the autumn of 1979? You had your choice of seeing Apocalypse Now or Nosferatu in the movie theater, a six pack of beer cost $3, and Singles Going Steady by the Buzzcocks came out.
How jarring would it be to pick up the first official Buzzcocks U.S. release to hear a band sounding so fully formed? Listening to Singles Going Steady now it feels like a punk rock jukebox delivering one perfect hit of adrenaline after another.
The album compiled the British band’s first eight singles and b-sides recorded from 1977-1979. You had the juvenile rush of “Orgasm Addict,” followed by the energetic gang anthem “What Do I Get.” Side one ended with a “Harmony in My Head” that perfectly melds urgent angst with a sing-along-melody like a 1970’s ancestor of a Pixies song.
You had to get to side two for the tune that has probably aged the best in “Why Can’t I Touch It.” More glam rock than punk, it stretches out the groove, building up the listener’s anticipation as frontman Pete Shelley emotes each lyric with more longing than is probably healthy. At six minutes — jam-band length compared to the Buzzcocks’ customary three minutes — it still feels too short.
South Florida can relive the kinetic feeling of all these classics when the Buzzcocks play their first South Florida show since a local date in 2003 and a Warped Tour flyby in 2006. With Shelley having died in 2018, fellow singer-guitarist Steve Diggle is the one constant from the band’s nearly fifty-year existence.
Recent set lists from their European tour in February show a band that doesn’t skimp: They perform a couple dozen songs each evening, including tracks from a new album, Attitude Adjustment, that came out in January. But all the oldies are represented, too, reminding long-time listeners that they fell in love with the punk rock band they should’ve.
Buzzcocks with special guests Redd Kross and opener Conan Neutron & the Secret Friends play 7:30pm Thursday, April 2 at Culture Room in Fort Lauderdale. buzzcocks.com ~ David Rolland
