When Howard Devoto and Pete Shelley met at the Bolton Institute of Technology in Manchester, England, they were looking to put a band together. After witnessing a Sex Pistols concert, they recruited bassist Steve Diggle and drummer John Maher. They christened themselves Buzzcocks and opened the second Sex Pistols appearance in Manchester. They went on to be a part of the ill-fated Anarchy in the UK Tour, in which the majority of shows were canceled due to the fallout from the Sex Pistols’ appearance on London’s Today TV show with Bill Grundy in which a slew of obscenities were uttered and the host later suspended.
Videos by American Songwriter
Shelley and Devoto borrowed money to record the EP Spiral Scratch. United Artists signed the Buzzcocks and released their first album in September 1979. The band delivered a version of punk rock that included pop hooks and a brilliant sense of humor. Let’s take a look at the story behind one of their songs, “Ever Fallen in Love (With Someone You Shouldn’t’ve)” by Buzzcocks.
You spurn my natural emotions
You make me feel I’m dirt, and I’m hurt
And if I start a commotion
I run the risk of losing you, and that’s worse
Living the Life
The band was in the eye of the hurricane as it was swept up into the emerging punk rock scene. The Damned, The Clash, X-Ray Spex, and The Vibrators were all making noise and spreading their message. Another Music in a Different Kitchen was the debut Buzzcocks album, which spawned the single “I Don’t Mind” and reached No. 15 on the British charts. The second album, Love Bites, would be their most successful. “Ever Fallen in Love (With Someone You Shouldn’t’ve)” was the lead single and peaked at No. 12 on the British charts. That would be the band’s biggest success.
In 2006, Shelley told The Guardian newspaper, “The song dates back to November 1977. We were on a roll. It was only six months since we’d finished the first album. Up in Manchester this was what we used to dream of … a whirlwind of tours, interviews, TV. We were living the life.”
Ever fallen in love with someone
Ever fallen in love in love with someone
Ever fallen in love in love with someone
You shouldn’t have fallen in love with?
Adelaide
In 2018, Shelley shared more of the story with the Edinburgh Evening News, “We were in the Blenheim Guest House with pints of beer, sitting in the TV room half-watching Guys and Dolls. One of the characters, Adelaide, is saying to Marlon Brando’s character, ‘Wait till you fall in love with someone you shouldn’t have.’ “I thought, ‘Fallen in love with someone you shouldn’t have? Hmm, that’s good.’”
I can’t see much of a future
Unless we find out what’s to blame, what a shame
And we won’t be together much longer
Unless we realize that we are the same
Who Was the Song About?
Continued Shelley, “The next day, the van stopped outside a post office, and I wrote the lyrics there. I did have a certain person in mind, but I’ll save that for my kiss’ n’ tell. The music just seemed to follow, fully formed.”
Shelley later revealed the song was about a man named Francis Cookson, whom he lived with for about seven years.
Ever fallen in love with someone
Ever fallen in love in love with someone
Ever fallen in love in love with someone
You shouldn’t have fallen in love with
Likely to Offend
The first Buzzcocks single was “Orgasm Addict.” It was a catchy pop/punk number representing the band perfectly but faced scrutiny because of the subject matter. Shelley learned from the experience. In March 2008 he told Uncut magazine, “The opening line was originally You p–s on my natural emotions, but because ‘Orgasm Addict’ hadn’t been getting radio play because of its title, I needed something a bit subtler. So I came up with ‘spurn.’ It had the same sort of disregard but wasn’t so likely to offend!”
You disturb my natural emotions
You make me feel I’m dirt, and I’m hurt
And if I start a commotion
I’ll only end up losing you, and that’s worse
It Needed One More Element
The song’s producer, Martin Rushent, recalled: “Pete played me ‘Ever Fallen in Love (With Someone You Shouldn’t’ve)’ for the first time, and my jaw hit the floor. I felt it was the strongest song that they had written: clever, witty lyrics, great hook lines. I suggested backing vocals to highlight the chorus and make it even more powerful. No one could hit the high part—so I did it. I’d sung in bands in my youth, and I also worked as a backing singer.”
Ever fallen in love with someone
Ever fallen in love in love with someone
Ever fallen in love in love with someone
You shouldn’t have fallen in love with?
Ever fallen in love with someone
Ever fallen in love in love with someone
Ever fallen in love in love with someone
You shouldn’t have fallen in love with?
Olympic Studios
Continued Rushent: “We cracked the formula to record them very early on—drummer on a riser, the band all around him—just like they were onstage, playing as they did live. We got off to a false start with “Orgasm Addict” because we used a small room—TW Studios in Fulham. The Buzzcocks needed a big acoustic; their whole sound was about reverberating noise, so the guitars could blur and spin together. Compared to everything we did afterwards, “Orgasm Addict” sounds s–t. As soon as we went to Olympic Studios in Barnes, where the Stones, Beatles, and Zeppelin had done a lot of recording, we knew it was where they belonged.”
Ever fallen in love with someone
Ever fallen in love in love with someone
Ever fallen in love in love with someone
You shouldn’t have fallen in love with?
Fallen in love with
Ever fallen in love with someone
You shouldn’t have fallen in love with?
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Photo by Samir Hussein/Getty Images
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