# Pete Shelley of The Buzzcocks dead at 63. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 6, 2018, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pete-shelley-of-the-buzzcocks-dead-at-63/825716 "2018-12-06T22:28:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2018, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pete-shelley-of-the-buzzcocks-dead-at-63/825716/1 "2018-12-06T22:28:58Z")
[Link.](https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/pete-shelley-dead-63-buzzcocks_us_5c0994dde4b0de79357b193d) Suspected cause is heart attack. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2018, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pete-shelley-of-the-buzzcocks-dead-at-63/825716/2 "2018-12-06T22:33:18Z")
I just saw this news. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2018, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pete-shelley-of-the-buzzcocks-dead-at-63/825716/3 "2018-12-06T23:58:52Z")
Pete Shelley was the best lyricist of the original punk era - funny, painful, sly, knowing, ambiguous - and Buzzcocks were the band that had the finest pop sensibilities. A sad loss. RIP [homosapien](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HwmO_GZfzI). ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2018, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pete-shelley-of-the-buzzcocks-dead-at-63/825716/4 "2018-12-07T00:59:57Z")
Sad news. The Buzzcocks were one of the finest punk bands ever and knew how to write a pop song just the same. No wonder their best album (and one of the best punk albums in general) is a singles compilation, _Singles Going Steady_. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2018, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pete-shelley-of-the-buzzcocks-dead-at-63/825716/5 "2018-12-07T01:55:13Z")
RIP Mr. Shelley; you were consistently brilliant. ---
**Author:** ![Penfeather](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penfeather/32/384_2.png) [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2018, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pete-shelley-of-the-buzzcocks-dead-at-63/825716/6 "2018-12-07T02:08:24Z")
Goddamn. I last saw them a couple of years ago, and Pete still had the fire and energy. Rest in peace, Mr Shelley, I’ll play Harmony In My Head and Fast Cars loudly tonight in your honour. ---
**Author:** ![capybara](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/capybara/32/202_2.png) [@capybara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capybara)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2018, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pete-shelley-of-the-buzzcocks-dead-at-63/825716/7 "2018-12-07T03:13:21Z")
He was great, they were great, I am sad. ---
**Author:** ![Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kolak_of_twilo/32/73_2.png) [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolak_of_Twilo)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2018, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pete-shelley-of-the-buzzcocks-dead-at-63/825716/8 "2018-12-07T07:04:01Z")
I really [like this performance on Old Grey Whistle Test](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHA_Kxwf77U&feature=share&fbclid=IwAR2EZ8RAP_7K7rAkhlrwScNdDs645nzv611Xb9eHCufsIMkM5bp6BcqQzN0&ab_channel=GrahamHammond) from almost exactly 40 years ago (Nov 14, 1978). In particular his singing directly into the camera around the 4:50 mark. ---
**Author:** ![Thing\_Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecb155/32.png) [@Thing\_Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thing_Fish)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2018, 8:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pete-shelley-of-the-buzzcocks-dead-at-63/825716/9 "2018-12-07T08:48:25Z")
RIP. He was one of the greats. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2018, 10:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pete-shelley-of-the-buzzcocks-dead-at-63/825716/10 "2018-12-07T10:51:45Z")
Sad news indeed. _What Do I Get?_ was part of the soundtrack to my teenage angst. Funnily enough, I only discovered them after learning The Fine Young Cannibals version of _Ever Fallen in Love_… was a cover. Which is odd because I was already a huge Magazine fan (I know Devoto was only in Buzzcocks for 1 album). Less easy to make those connections before Wikipedia… ---
**Author:** ![Penfeather](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penfeather/32/384_2.png) [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2018, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pete-shelley-of-the-buzzcocks-dead-at-63/825716/11 "2018-12-07T20:32:21Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > Sad news indeed. _What Do I Get?_ was part of the soundtrack to my teenage angst. > > Funnily enough, I only discovered them after learning The Fine Young Cannibals version of _Ever Fallen in Love_… was a cover. Which is odd because I was already a huge Magazine fan (I know Devoto was only in Buzzcocks for 1 album). Less easy to make those connections before Wikipedia… [“Shot By Both Sides”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybUqM8jf3mU) had the exact same riff as [“Lipstick”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybUqM8jf3mU): it’s basically the same song. ---
**Author:** ![FluffyBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecb155/32.png) [@FluffyBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FluffyBob)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2018, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pete-shelley-of-the-buzzcocks-dead-at-63/825716/12 "2018-12-08T19:42:30Z")
Heard Homosapien on radio today and thought, wow been a long time since I heard this, then I see the news. The track I don’t see mentioned here is “Why can’t I Touch It”. Has to be the most philisophical pop /punk song ever. Sone things will always be out of reach. RIP Pete. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2018, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pete-shelley-of-the-buzzcocks-dead-at-63/825716/13 "2018-12-08T20:40:14Z")
I have _Why Can’t I Touch It_ on **heavy** rotation in the garage, the house, the Jeep and the MP3. It never gets old. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2018, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pete-shelley-of-the-buzzcocks-dead-at-63/825716/14 "2018-12-15T06:28:39Z")
I was not able to fit his obituary into the newspaper that I work for on the day it came across the wire. Even though I don’t think I would ultimately have won the battle, I would nonetheless have relished the opportunity to at least attempt to sneak a headline like “Singer belted ‘Orgasm Addict’” – which would have stacked really well, by the way, in the single column that I had available on the obits page – past the editor. Ah, well.