Rewind: 1979 Buzzcocks Reissue Spiral Scratch EP

Side one
    "Breakdown" – 1:58
    "Time's Up" – 3:07

Side two
    "Boredom" – 2:51
    "Friends of Mine" – 2:15

 
All songs written by Howard Devoto and Pete Shelley.    

Howard Devoto – vocals
    Pete Shelley – guitar, backing vocals
    Steve Diggle – bass
    John Maher – drums

 

Originally released on 29th January 1977 on New Hormones it is the record that set the ball rolling for a lot of bands to DIY. It was the first Punk record to be issued without the backing of a label (The Damned had Stiff, The Pistols (well between labels!).

Howard Devoto said that it took three hours to record and two hours to mix it. Producer was Martin Hannett (credited as Martin Zero). Having no money the band borrowed £500 from friends and families for the manufacture of the record. The first thousand copies sold out rather quickly and eventually some 16,000 copies of it would be sold. A lot of the sales were from mail order, though some stores were selling it. I got mine at HMV in Oxford Street.

The Reissue was released on this day back in 1979 (obviously in response to the success that the band had been enjoying at United Artists). Surprisingly the EP stayed on the charts for six weeks and peaked at #31.

Mute Records would reissue the EP twenty years later on CD.

Spiral Scratch Set With Howard Devoto (Manchester 25/05/12).