Straddling the lines between power pop and punk rock, The Buzzcocks were at the forefront of the British punk movement alongside The Damned, The Sex Pistols, and The Clash. Their initial run from the mid-to-late ‘70s only resulted in three records, but also contained the building blocks of a legacy that lasts today (including songs like “Orgasm Addict,” “What Do I Get” and “Ever Fallen In Love”).
The band’s co-founder, original bassist/guitarist and now vocalist Steve Diggle, has finally turned in his autobiography, and it’s a perfect time capsule of what it was like to be at the very beginning of one of the most impactful genres of rock in generations. Autonomy is a mostly frank look into Diggle’s early life in Manchester, starting out as a mod before morphing into a punk and going on to start of the most important British bands in the genre. There is a remarkable, fate-filled story about him joining what would become The Buzzcocks by answering an ad in a paper looking for a bassist. He arrived in front of a venue waiting for his future band mate before a guy with crazy red hair (Malcolm McLauren) nabbed him and ushered him into the club (where The Sex Pistols were playing) and introduced him to a group of guys inside who were coincidentally looking to meet up with another bass player to audition for their band. No idea what happened to that bass player or the guy who was supposed to meet up with Diggle.
The book is crammed with great stories from ground zero of punk rock, including the band’s frustrating efforts to break through in America, their ever-evolving lineup and their very un-punk rider request of champagne backstage for every show. Diggle is open about his drug and alcohol use at the time, frontman Pete Shelby’s bisexuality (something Diggle saw as no big deal even in the prudish 1970s) and his inability to stay faithful while on the road. Oddly, there is only a brief reference to having a son—what would seem to be a monumental, life-changing moment—but it is never mentioned again (maybe out of respect for his son’s privacy?). He also touches on the 2018 death of longtime friend and band mate Shelby in an emotionally affecting passage.
Autonomy is stellar look into a punk rock founding father and a peek into a band that remains one of the most important bands in British punk rock.
