IN OUR POLARIZED CONSTITUENCY.....

    

In today's political and cultural climate there are two types of people:  the toilet trainers and the toilet trainees.  Without sounding too glib, I would like to wish all of you a mostly dry new year.

EVER FALLEN IN LOVE (WITH A BAND YOU SHOULDN'T'VE) ?

    

Pete Shelley died a few days ago of a heart attack.  From what I've seen and read Shelley was not into drugs or alcohol and so I doubt that had to do anything with his untimely demise at age 63.  Even though he wrote songs like "Totally From The Heart", I understand he had recently married and was very happy so dying of a broken heart would be a stretch although broken hearts of all kinds figured into most of his songs.
     I am a huge Buzzcocks fan.  They took the theme of the awkward part of love and romance and sex and turned it into an art form.  Nothing about young love was easy for Pete and he channeled it straight into his lyrics with songs like "What Do I Get", "I Don't Know What To Do With My Life" and of course their signature tune "Ever Fallen In Love?" The idea that the music was made for adolescents (you know; the youngsters) is to sell this music short.  These songs would make for a great midlife crisis mixtape stuck in a '89 Camaro.
     His solo work was much more complicated and sometimes not the most hummable music but, then again, that's why he made it by himself.  When bisexuality was not a subject for a pop song in 1981, he came out with "Homosapien" to break down that barrier.
     The Buzzcocks were a punk band in the way they operated as a band with a very strong DIY ethic.
Mohawks and safety pins were for other guys.  These fellas wore whatever they liked whenever they liked.  One of their last songs, "I Believe", is a manifesto that foreshadowed the original breakup of the band as well as Shelley declaring 'I believe in my Mum and my Dad' before repeatedly chanting 'There is no love in this world anymore!" before his voice breaks off into the void.  Was he serious?
Maybe.  Or just maybe 'this world' meant the Buzzcocks band was over and that he would soon go it alone.  He wouldn't have to jump into the real world alone. It just felt like it.  Pete was always telling you how he was feeling.  No abstract storytelling or metaphors here.  Just pure and simple words totally from his heart.















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