The Buzzcocks, along with the Sex Pistols and The Clash, makes up the holy trinity of British punk. But the Buzzcocks took a different approach to its music. Instead of anger and politics, the band made pop songs dealing with love and boredom and played them faster then anyone else. Now most of the band is back on its new album Modern (Go Kart). While it may not reach the heights of the group’s earlier work, Modern shows the Buzzcocks isn’t out of steam.
Only Pete Shelley and Steve Diggle remain from the original lineup. Unlike most bands, where the replacement of half the band would lead to major changes in the band’s sound, as long as Shelly is there, the Buzzcocks will always sound like the Buzzcocks. Shelly’s distinct voice – a sneering, slippery sound – and his lyrics always have been the band’s trademark.
Still, some things have changed. The album opens with Soul on a Rock, which has a modern and completely un-punk synthesizer riff. This song sounds like classic new wave. It goes back to the 1980s without sounding dated. Other songs, such as Speed of Life and Thunder of Hearts, forsake the traditional punk sound of fast, thin guitars for a harder, thicker sound. Again, it just sounds more like an updated version of the Buzzcocks’ sound than an attempt to completely change.
Why Compromise, Have You Ever Fallen In Love and Orgasm Addict will go down as some of the band’s best songs of all time. On Why Compromise, Shelley sings in a voice dripping with menace and scorn for the passing of time and the bands of today. The song is set to an incredibly catchy riff.
Some foibles keep Modern from becoming a great album. The biggest is allowing Diggle to sing on half of the tracks. Shelley’s distinctive voice is one of the Buzzcocks’ greatest strengths. Diggle only has an average voice, and usually it just sounds old. With the hard-rock sound most of Diggle’s songs have, the Buzzcocks goes from being one of punk’s legends to just an above-average bar band.
Another flaw of the album is when the band strays too far from its power-punk-pop style. On songs like Phone, which moves dangerously close to ska, the band sounds as if it is playing catch-up rather than setting the pace.
Modern isn’t like the Buzzcocks’ early albums – the albums that were landmarks and indispensable. But Modern is a strong, at times wonderful, album from a band that knows how to age gracefully. Just having the ability to keep making good music is something to be admired.
