Spiral Scratch | ||||
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EP by | ||||
Released | 29 January 1977 | |||
Recorded | 28 December 1976 in Manchester, England | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 10:01 | |||
Label | New Hormones | |||
Producer | Martin Hannett | |||
Buzzcocks chronology | ||||
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Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [1] |
Entertainment Weekly | B [2] |
Mojo | [3] |
Pitchfork | 9.5/10 [4] |
Q | [5] |
The Rolling Stone Album Guide | [6] |
Spin Alternative Record Guide | 9/10 [7] |
Uncut | [8] |
Spiral Scratch is an EP and the first release by the English punk rock band Buzzcocks. It was released on 29 January 1977. It is one of the earliest releases by a British punk band (preceded by The Damned's "New Rose" in October 1976, and both Sex Pistols' "Anarchy in the U.K." and the first two singles by The Vibrators in November 1976). Spiral Scratch and the album Time's Up are the only Buzzcocks studio releases with original singer Howard Devoto, who left shortly after the EP's release to form one of the first post-punk bands, Magazine.
When reissued in 1979, it reached number 31 in the UK singles chart. [9] In 2017, it was at the top of the UK Physical Singles Chart after being re-issued on its 40th anniversary. [10]
Buzzcocks recorded the tracks on 28 December 1976 at Dave Kent-Watson's Indigo Sound Studios in Manchester on 16-track Ampex tape. According to Devoto, "It took three hours [to record the tracks], with another two for mixing." [11] Produced by Martin Hannett (credited as "Martin Zero"), the music was roughly recorded, insistently repetitive and energetic.
The band, having no record label support, had to borrow about £750 from their friends and families to pay for the record's production and manufacture. [12] The EP was released on 29 January 1977 on the band's own New Hormones label, making Buzzcocks the first English punk group to establish an independent record label. Despite this, the disc quickly sold out its initial run of 1,000 copies, and went on to sell 16,000 copies, initially by mail order, but also with the help of the Manchester branch of the music chain store Virgin, whose manager took some copies and persuaded other regional branch managers to follow suit. [13]
"Boredom", probably the EP's most well-known song, announced punk's rebellion against the status quo while templating a strident musical minimalism (the guitar solo consisting of two notes repeated 66 times, ending with a single modulated seventh). [14] At the same time, the lyrics already showed boredom with the movement itself ("You know the scene is very humdrum" and "I'm already a has-been!") Indeed, Devoto left the band on the eve of the record's release, saying, "I get bored very easily, and that boredom can act as a catalyst for me to suddenly conceive and execute a new vocation." He added that punk rock had already become restrictive and stereotyped. [15] Richard Boon, the band's manager, says that "Boredom" was a satirical song. [11]
Simon Reynolds, in his book Rip It Up and Start Again, writes that some consider Spiral Scratch to be a more important record than the Sex Pistols' "Anarchy in the U.K." because, whereas the Sex Pistols' single showed that anyone could be in a rock band (a novel idea at the time), Spiral Scratch proved that anyone could release a record without needing an established record label. [16] Reynolds also contends that the EP was "a regionalist blow" by the Manchester band against the London-based music industry. Jon Savage says that it was instrumental in helping to establish the small labels and scenes in both Manchester and Liverpool. [17]
It is often said that the many small DIY labels that sprang up across the UK in 1977 took Spiral Scratch as their inspiration. [18]
The EP was also an exercise in the demystification of the record-making process (for example, its title was taken from the music's being recorded literally as a spiral scratch on each side of the vinyl; also, the listing of take numbers and overdubs on the record sleeve). This was a landmark event for many, Reynolds adds. "People were buying Spiral Scratch [...] for the sheer fact of its existence, its existence as a cultural landmark and portent of revolution." [19]
Bob Last founded the Fast Product record label after Spiral Scratch came out. "I had absolutely no idea there'd been a history of independent labels before that. Spiral Scratch turned my head around." [20]
"Boredom" was placed at number 11 in Mojo magazine's list of "100 Punk Scorchers" in 2001. [21]
The 1980s indie band Orange Juice mentioned "Boredom", used a line from it and adapted the guitar solo on their 1982 single "Rip It Up". [22]
The self-publication of Spiral Scratch is cited as an event which led to the rise of independent record labels and ultimately resulted in the name "indie" being used to describe a style of music as well as a publishing model. [23]
"Boredom" was featured in the 2021 movie, Ghostbusters Afterlife . [24]
The EP was reissued in the United Kingdom in 1979, having been deleted when Buzzcocks signed to United Artists in 1977. [12] Remaining on the New Hormones label, but credited to "Buzzcocks with Howard Devoto", the record was distributed by Virgin Records and reached number 31 in the charts, staying in for six weeks. [25] As a consequence of Buzzcocks' signing to UA, and later EMI, none of the tracks on Spiral Scratch appeared on subsequent EMI compilation albums Singles Going Steady , Product or Operator's Manual: Buzzcocks Best .
The EP was reissued as a CD by Mute Records in 1999. The original EP was priced at £40 by Record Collector in its 2008 price guide. [26]
In 2017, Spiral Scratch was reissued on vinyl by Domino Records to commemorate its 40th anniversary. On the week of 3 February the EP entered the top spot on the UK physical singles chart.
All songs written by Howard Devoto and Pete Shelley.
Joy Division were an English post-punk band formed in Salford in 1976. The group consisted of vocalist, guitarist and lyricist Ian Curtis, guitarist and keyboardist Bernard Sumner, bassist Peter Hook and drummer Stephen Morris.
The Sex Pistols are an English punk rock band formed in London in 1975. Although their initial career lasted just two and a half years, they became one of the most culturally influential acts in popular music. The band initiated the punk movement in the United Kingdom and inspired many later punk, post-punk and alternative rock musicians, while their clothing and hairstyles were a significant influence on the early punk image.
Buzzcocks are an English punk rock band that singer-songwriter-guitarist Pete Shelley and singer-songwriter Howard Devoto formed in Bolton in 1976. During their career, the band combined elements of punk rock, power pop, and pop punk. They achieved commercial success with singles that fuse pop craftsmanship with rapid-fire punk energy; these singles were later collected on Singles Going Steady, an acclaimed compilation album music journalist and critic Ned Raggett described as a "punk masterpiece".
James Martin Hannett was a British record producer, musician and an original partner/director at Tony Wilson's Factory Records. Hannett produced music by artists including Joy Division, the Durutti Column, A Certain Ratio, Magazine, John Cooper Clarke, New Order, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark and Happy Mondays. His distinctive production style embraced atmospheric sounds and electronics.
Magazine were a British rock band formed in 1977 in Manchester in England by singer Howard Devoto and guitarist John McGeoch. After leaving the punk group Buzzcocks in early 1977, Devoto decided to create a more progressive and less "traditional" rock band. The original lineup of Magazine was composed of Devoto, McGeoch, Barry Adamson on bass, Bob Dickinson on keyboards and Martin Jackson on drums.
Unknown Pleasures is the debut studio album by the English rock band Joy Division. It was released on 15 June 1979 through Factory Records. The album was recorded and mixed over three successive weekends at Stockport's Strawberry Studios in April 1979, with producer Martin Hannett contributing a number of unconventional recording techniques to the group's sound. The cover artwork was designed by artist Peter Saville, using a data plot of signals from a radio pulsar. It is the only Joy Division album released during lead singer Ian Curtis's lifetime.
Howard Devoto is an English singer and songwriter, who began his career as the frontman for punk rock band Buzzcocks, but then left to form Magazine, an early post-punk band. After Magazine, he went solo and later formed indie band Luxuria.
Pete Shelley was an English singer, songwriter and guitarist. He formed early punk band Buzzcocks with Howard Devoto in 1976, and became the lead singer and guitarist in 1977 when Devoto left. The group released their biggest hit "Ever Fallen in Love " in 1978. The band broke up in 1981 and reformed at the end of the decade. Shelley also had a solo career; his song "Homosapien" charted in Australasia and Canada in 1981 and 1982.
Manchester's music scene produced successful bands in the 1960s including the Hollies, the Bee Gees and Herman's Hermits. After the punk rock era, Manchester produced popular bands including Joy Division, New Order, The Smiths and Simply Red. In the late 1980s, the ecstasy-fuelled dance club scene played a part in the rise of Madchester with bands like the Stone Roses, Inspiral Carpets and Happy Mondays. In the 1990s, Manchester saw the rise of Britpop bands, notably Oasis.
Another Music in a Different Kitchen is the first studio album by the English punk rock band Buzzcocks. It was released in March 1978 by the United Artists record label. This was the third line-up of Buzzcocks, with the guitarist Pete Shelley singing following the departure of the original vocalist Howard Devoto and then the firing of the bass guitarist Garth Smith. The album includes the single "I Don't Mind", which reached number 55 in the UK Singles Chart in May 1978.
The High are an English rock group from Manchester, whose sound combines alternative rock with a 1960s pop/psychedelic guitar sound.
Real Life is the debut studio album by English rock band Magazine. It was released in June 1978 by record label Virgin. The album includes the band's debut single "Shot by Both Sides", and was also preceded by the non-album single "Touch and Go", a song from the album's recording sessions.
Stephen E Diggle is an English musician best known as a guitarist and later lead vocalist in the punk band Buzzcocks.
The Roxy London WC2 is a live album of recordings taken from various punk bands that played at The Roxy club in Covent Garden, London between January and April 1977.
"Shot by Both Sides" is a song written by Howard Devoto and Pete Shelley, and performed by the English post-punk band Magazine. It was released in January 1978 as the band's first single, reaching No. 41 on the UK Singles Chart and appearing, a few months later, on their debut album Real Life. The song has been cited as a seminal work of the post-punk genre, as well as of pop punk and new wave.
John Maher is a British musician who was part of the punk and new wave scenes in Manchester, England, most notably as the drummer with Buzzcocks.
James Richard Boon is the former manager of Buzzcocks and boss of the record label, New Hormones.
Post-punk is a broad genre of music that emerged in 1977 in the wake of punk rock. Post-punk musicians departed from punk's fundamental elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a broader, more experimental approach that encompassed a variety of avant-garde sensibilities and non-rock influences. Inspired by punk's energy and do it yourself ethic but determined to break from rock cliches, artists experimented with styles like funk, electronic music, jazz, and dance music; the production techniques of dub and disco; and ideas from art and politics, including critical theory, modernist art, cinema and literature. These communities produced independent record labels, visual art, multimedia performances and fanzines.
New Hormones was a Manchester independent record label founded by Richard Boon and Howard Devoto and Pete Shelley. It was the first independent punk rock label in the UK.
"Rip It Up" is a song by Scottish indie pop band Orange Juice, released in 1983 as the second single from their 1982 album of the same name. The song became the band's only UK top 40 success, reaching No. 8 on the chart. "Rip It Up" signalled a departure from the sound of the band's earlier singles, with Chic-influenced guitars and using a synthesiser to create a more disco-oriented sound.
Spiral Scratch helped to codify the DIY-or-die fervor that resulted in so many scrappy English 7"s over the next few years