Artist: Pete Shelley
LP: 7" single
Song: "(Millions of People) No One Like You"
[ listen ]
Another December death I was sad to hear about on the radio was former Buzzcocks frontman Pete Shelley. I never saw Pete at Jazz Alley or anything, and to be honest over the past several years I've always been on the verge of tossing his records out of my collection. You see, I'd actually not been that familiar with him, and yet I've got a bunch of his LPs, 12" singles and 45s. So multiple times as I've gone rummaging through records to make more space over the years, I'm like, "These Pete Shelley records sure are taking up a lot of room. Maybe I'll get rid of them!" But then I listen to them and they're brilliant, so back on the shelf they go.
I vow in 2019 to stop listening to my Pete Shelley records for discard pile consideration, and instead will be listening to them for pure enjoyment. "(Millions of People) No One Like You" was unfortunately not a hit for Pete, peaking at #93 on the UK singles charts in 1983.
Pete Shelley was kinda different from other rockers in the British punk movement of the 1970s in that he didn't take on a rebellious persona. In fact, he reportedly said at some point when he was with Buzzcocks, "I won't be nasty. We're just four nice lads, the kind of people you could take home to your parents." Indeed, I wish I had.
I've also just learned from Wikipedia that Pete Shelley was a pioneer of sorts in the LGBTQ movement by speaking openly about his bisexuality early on—you know, before it was popular. His song "Homosapien" (lyrics below) was actually banned by the BBC for its "explicit reference to gay sex." I don't get that from his lyrics, which seem sad and romantic more than anything else. But I do remember how much the morality patrol loved banning things in the '80s after insisting that the lyrics were actually code for cunnilingus or whatever. Anyway, you can read more about Pete Shelley's work with Buzzcocks and his subsequent solo career (more synth, less guitar) on Wikipedia here and go here to find his obituary in The Guardian.
I vow in 2019 to stop listening to my Pete Shelley records for discard pile consideration, and instead will be listening to them for pure enjoyment. "(Millions of People) No One Like You" was unfortunately not a hit for Pete, peaking at #93 on the UK singles charts in 1983.
Pete Shelley was kinda different from other rockers in the British punk movement of the 1970s in that he didn't take on a rebellious persona. In fact, he reportedly said at some point when he was with Buzzcocks, "I won't be nasty. We're just four nice lads, the kind of people you could take home to your parents." Indeed, I wish I had.
I've also just learned from Wikipedia that Pete Shelley was a pioneer of sorts in the LGBTQ movement by speaking openly about his bisexuality early on—you know, before it was popular. His song "Homosapien" (lyrics below) was actually banned by the BBC for its "explicit reference to gay sex." I don't get that from his lyrics, which seem sad and romantic more than anything else. But I do remember how much the morality patrol loved banning things in the '80s after insisting that the lyrics were actually code for cunnilingus or whatever. Anyway, you can read more about Pete Shelley's work with Buzzcocks and his subsequent solo career (more synth, less guitar) on Wikipedia here and go here to find his obituary in The Guardian.
"Homosapien" - lyrics by Pete Shelley
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
And I think of your eyes in the dark
And I see the star
And I look to the light
And I might wonder right where you are
All the Gods in the sky, way up high
See the world spinning 'round
But the sun and the moon
And the stars are so far from the ground
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
And the worlds built of age are a stage
Where we act out our lives
And the words in the script seem to fit
'Cept we have some surprise
I just want this to last
Or my future is past and all gone
And if this is the case
Then I'll lose in life's race from now on
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
And I just hope and pray
That the day of our love is at hand
You and I, me and you
We will be one from two, understand?
And the world is so wrong
That I hope that we'll be strong enough
For we are on our own
And the only thing known is our love
I don't wanna classify you
Like an animal in the zoo
But it seems good to me to know
That you're Homosapien too
I'm the shy boy, you're the coy boy
I don't wanna classify you
Like an animal in the zoo
But it seems good to me to know
That you're Homosapien too
I don't wanna classify you
Like an animal in the zoo
But it seems good to me to know
That you're Homosapien too
I don't wanna classify you
Like an animal in the zoo
But it seems good to me to know
That you're Homosapien too
Pete Shelley
[ April 17, 1955 — December 6, 2018 ]
We will miss you, Pete.
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