Artist · chart history · #368 in indie & aaa artist polls
The Buzzcocks
Band Bolton United Kingdom Formed 1976 English punk band
The Buzzcocks formed in 1976 in Bolton, United Kingdom. The Buzzcocks has 68 chart appearances on 39 radio countdowns from 14 stations on RockLists, spanning 1977–2023. The most successful song on radio countdowns is “Ever Fallen in Love”, which appears on 33 lists with a best position of #19. The station that charted The Buzzcocks most often is Fred (XM 44) (XM Satellite Radio (national)), with 20 appearances. The artist’s biggest year on year-end countdowns was 1977.
Buzzcocks were born in Bolton in 1976, when Pete Shelley and Howard Devoto figured punk's fury could carry a tune, and they proved it early with the Spiral Scratch EP in 1977, "Boredom" and all. Devoto bailed that same year to start Magazine, which left Shelley as the chief songwriter and voice, and that turned out to be the making of them.
With Steve Diggle on guitar, Steve Garvey on bass and John Maher on drums, the classic lineup made the first three albums: Another Music in a Different Kitchen and Love Bites in 1978, then A Different Kind of Tension in 1979. But the real action was the singles, short, fizzing bombs where the buzzsaw guitars came with lovesick pop hooks attached: "Orgasm Addict", "What Do I Get?", "Ever Fallen in Love", "Everybody's Happy Nowadays". Gathered up on Singles Going Steady, they laid down the blueprint for power pop and pop punk.
A row with their record label broke the band up in 1981. They came back in 1989 and made six more albums before Shelley died in 2018, and Diggle, the one constant, has kept the name going since, taking over the lead vocals with Danny Farrant on drums and Chris Remington on bass.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs by The Buzzcocks on radio countdowns
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s | Peak year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ever Fallen in Love | 33 | #19 | – | – | |
| 2 | What Do I Get? | 7 | #8 | – | – | |
| 3 | Orgasm Addict | 3 | #255 | – | – | |
| 4 | Boredom | 4 | #12 | – | – | |
| 5 | Everybody's Happy Nowadays | 2 | #781 | – | – | |
| 6 | I Don't Know What To Do With My Life | 2 | #849 | – | – | |
| 7 | Something's Gone Wrong Again | 3 | #337 | – | – | |
| 8 | Why Can't I Touch It? | 3 | #1378 | – | – | |
| 9 | I Believe | 2 | #592 | – | – | |
| 10 | Why Can't I Touch This? | 1 | #426 | – | – | |
| 11 | Fast Cars | 1 | #505 | – | – | |
| 12 | Moving Away from the Pulsebeat | 1 | #30 | – | – | |
| 13 | Harmony in My Head | 1 | #658 | – | – | |
| 14 | You Say You Don't Love Me | 1 | #1776 | – | – | |
| 15 | Whatever Happened To | 1 | #59 | – | 1977 | |
| 16 | Different Kind of Tension | 1 | #478 | – | – | |
| 17 | Just Lust | 1 | #1976 | – | – |
Albums with charting songs
Where each song was first released, from MusicBrainz.
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