Voice of London

Tributes to the punk rock icon Pete Shelley have been paid by fellow band members and artists such as Peter Hook, of Joy Division and New Order, Green Day, Duran Duran, Mike Mills, Edgar Wright and more, as well as by the Buzzcocks fans.

The lead singer and guitarist of English punk rock band Buzzcocks, Peter Cambell McNeish, known as Pete Shelley, died on Thursday from a suspected heart attack, at age 63. The artist died in Tallinn, Estonia, where he lived since 2012.

Buzzcocks are best known for their hit Ever Fallen in Love (With Someone You Shouldn’t’ve), that was released in 1978. The band formed in 1970.

As a bisexual Pete Shelley was an inspiration for the whole LGBT community when punk started. And that lays in his words:  “Love songs could be used for any occasion, to work on more levels, I took great pains not to be gender-specific.”

Quoted in the the old interview with The Guardian, Pete Shelley said: “If you bothered about whether people like you or not then you never do anything. You’d be too self-conscious. But we just say, right, this is what I do. Deal with it.” The interview appears in a video obituary by The Guardian.

I’m the shy boy, you’re the coy boy
And you know we’re Homosapien too
I’m the cruiser, you’re the loser
Me and you sir, Homosapien too

Homosuperior in my interior
But from the skin out
I’m Homosapien too
And you’re Homosapien too

And I’m Homosapien like you
And we’re Homosapien too

– words from Pete Shelley’s first solo single Homosapien (1981)

Words: Ugne Maladauskaite | Subbing: Jake Woods