Magazine

Howard Devoto walked out of the Buzzcocks early in 1977 having decided he wanted something more progressive than punk, and before the year was out he had Magazine up and running in Manchester with guitarist John McGeoch. Barry Adamson on bass, Bob Dickinson on keyboards and Martin Jackson on drums completed the original lineup, and what came out was punk's nerve with room to breathe: keyboards, space, menace and a sneer that sounded like it had read a few books.

"Shot By Both Sides" is the sound of it, serrated guitar and paranoid urgency, and Real Life, in 1978, won the critics over and has since been counted among the very first British post-punk albums; "The Light Pours Out of Me" is its slow, shimmering threat. Secondhand Daylight and The Correct Use of Soap followed, the latter home to the arch, twitchy "A Song From Under The Floorboards", before McGeoch left in 1980 for Siouxsie and the Banshees. Magic, Murder and the Weather, with "About the Weather", was the last word in 1981, and every one of the four albums made the UK top 40.

The long tail has been something: Simple Minds, the Smiths, Radiohead, Pulp and John Frusciante have all named them as an influence. Magazine regrouped in 2009 with Noko on guitar and released No Thyself in October 2011.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.