Johnny Marr’s lifelong love affair with Buzzcocks
The northwest of England has produced a myriad of acts that have not only made the music of this small island so much better, but that of the whole world too. It might seem an overstatement, but only mentioning groups such as Joy Division, New Order, and Oasis brings this set’s cultural importance into full view. Outside of the aforementioned, two of the most vital groups that emerged from the Manchester area were Buzzcocks and The Smiths, with both boasting their own storied songwriting partnerships. For the former, this was Pete Shelley and Steve Diggle, and for the latter, it was Morrissey and Johnny Marr.
Without Buzzcocks, it is arguable that the region’s eminent musical tradition would not be as well recognised nor be as tangible across the globe. As for The Smiths, they can count almost all of the ensuing indie genre that proliferated over the following decades as their disciples. Although ostensibly of two different musical generations, both Buzzcocks and The Smiths are tied together by an overall DIY spirit and a refusal to cast the idea of pop music into an unreachable fire.
It was Buzzcocks who kicked off Manchester and the northwest’s significance to British music when co-founders Pete Shelley and Howard Devoto booked a hot new London-based band, the Sex Pistols, to play the Lesser Free Trade Hall in 1976. Not only did it commence Buzzcocks’ musical journey, but it also galvanised everyone in attendance, ranging from members of Joy Division and a 17-year-old Morrissey to a certain Mick Hucknall.
Although he wasn’t in attendance, Smiths’ guitarist Johnny Marr became a great fan of Buzzcocks and the broader punk movement following their run of bruising pop-adjacent punk anthems. It was the influence of the movement that had a defining hand in his refusing to parade about on his guitar like an egotistical peacock and underpinned what is now hailed as one of the most influential styles in six-string history. Despite this connection, he wouldn’t call himself a punk guitarist.
“My generation were the wave after post-punk,” Marr explained to Noisey in 2013. “I’ve called myself a post-punk musician because, unusually, there’s been no tag put on the wave that I came out of. One of the legacies of post-punk was no rock, no rockism, no rockism at all. No rockism in your guitar playing, no rockism in your clothes, no rockism in your behaviour or your lyrics or your politics.”
Although Marr is of a different generation to Buzzcocks, he and The Smiths still took a lot from them. When listing his favourite albums of all time for The Quietus in 2015, he named their debut, 1978’s Another Music In A Different Kitchen, as one he cherishes most.
Looking back on the effect Pete Shelley and the band had on him, he recalled initially being pulled in by their intelligence: “I bought the first Buzzcocks album on the day it came out. I still have it in its plastic carrier bag. I knew it was going to be good as the Buzzcocks were already great. There was an excitement about being a youngster and liking the Buzzcocks at that time. Again, they were from my town, and it was unheard of at that time for a band from Manchester to get the kind of commercial attention the Buzzcocks were attracting. They were on Top Of The Pops and were influencing other bands from around the country. And they sounded like they were from Manchester too. They were clever lyrically and clever musically.”
Marr then explained that Buzzcocks “massively” influenced The Smiths, with them transfixed by their unrelenting DIY ethos: “Buzzcocks made modern guitar music that was appropriately punky but sounded razor-sharp on the radio in the middle of such a load of mainstream nonsense, which was a great source of pride for many Mancunians. That, coupled with the aesthetic of the band and the way they did their sleeve artwork and the way they dressed, was a very potent combination. Buzzcocks influenced The Smiths massively in the way we approached our record sleeves and our choice of independent record company – because of the Buzzcocks we took on a Mancunian DIY ethic, whilst being in the charts.”
Johnny Marr should rightly be considered one of the forefathers of the vibrant Manchester music scene, but as he would tell you himself, he was just one thread in a long sonic tapestry that was woven in that particular part of the country.
