Late Seventies

Setting the scene before The Distractions appeared...

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The late Seventies punk/new wave scene was sparked off by a seminal Sex Pistols gig at the Lesser Free Trade Hall in Peter Street on 4.6.76. promoted by Howard Devoto and Pete Shelley.  The Buzzcocks made its official debut when the Pistols returned to the same venue on 20.7.76.  Most of the audience were inspired to form bands of their own.

Earliest groups on the punk scene included the Buzzcocks, Slaughter & The Dogs, The Fall, Warsaw (later Joy Division), Ed Banger & The Nosebleeds, and The Drones.

Hot on their trail were Durutti Column, Magazine, The Passage, Ludus, Manicured Noise, The Negatives, Spherical Objects, Dislocation Dance, Jilted John, The Diagram Brothers, V2, The Decorators, Bette Lynch's Legs, The Tiller Boys and John Cooper Clarke - not to mention Alberto Y Los Trios Paranoias, who were the bridge between hippies and punks.

Best late Seventies city centre club was the Electric Circus in Collyhurst Street, off Rochdale Road - which was the primo punk venue until the authorities closed it over "fire regulations".  The Buzzcocks played there in November '76, and in July '77 signed their United Artists contract on the bar.  The Sex Pistols played there in December '76, on the notorious Anarchy tour.  Warsaw (billed as The Stiff Kittens) made their debut there in May '77.  Magazine played there the night it closed in October '77...

(c) Pete Frame's Rockin' Around Britain, Pete Frame (1999)

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