| Spiral Scratch | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| EP by | ||||
| Released | 29 January 1977 | |||
| Recorded | 28 December 1976 | |||
| Studio | Manchester, England | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 10:01 | |||
| Label | New Hormones | |||
| Producer | Martin Hannett | |||
| Buzzcocks chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [1] |
| Entertainment Weekly | B[2] |
| Mojo | [3] |
| Pitchfork | 9.5/10[4] |
| Q | [5] |
| The Rolling Stone Album Guide |  [6] |
| Spin Alternative Record Guide | 9/10[7] |
| Uncut | [8] |
Spiral Scratch is anEP and the first release by the Englishpunk rock bandBuzzcocks. It was released on 29 January 1977. It is one of the earliest releases by a British punk band (preceded bythe Damned's "New Rose" in October 1976).Spiral Scratch and the albumTime's Up are the only Buzzcocks studio releases with original singerHoward Devoto, who left shortly after the EP's release to form one of the firstpost-punk bands,Magazine.
When reissued in 1979, it reached number 31 in theUK singles chart.[9] In 2017, it was at the top of the UK Physical Singles Chart after being re-issued on its 40th anniversary.[10]
Buzzcocks recorded the tracks on 28 December 1976 at Dave Kent-Watson's Indigo Sound Studios in Manchester on16-track Ampex tape. According to Devoto, "It took three hours [to record the tracks], with another two for mixing."[11] Produced byMartin Hannett (credited as "Martin Zero"), the music was roughly recorded, insistently repetitive and energetic.
The band, having no record label support, had to borrow about £750 from their friends and families to pay for the record's production and manufacture.[12] The EP was released on 29 January 1977 on the band's own New Hormones label, making Buzzcocks the first English punk group to establish anindependent record label. Despite this, the disc quickly sold out its initial run of 1,000 copies, and went on to sell 16,000 copies, initially by mail order, but also with the help of the Manchester branch of the musicchain storeVirgin, whose manager took some copies and persuaded other regional branch managers to follow suit.[13]
"Boredom", probably the EP's most well-known song, announced punk's rebellion against the status quo while templating a strident musical minimalism (the guitar solo consisting of two notes repeated 66 times, ending with a singlemodulated seventh).[14] At the same time, the lyrics already showed boredom with the movement itself ("You know the scene is very humdrum" and "I'm already a has-been!") Indeed, Devoto left the band on the eve of the record's release, saying, "I get bored very easily, and that boredom can act as a catalyst for me to suddenly conceive and execute a new vocation." He added that punk rock had already become restrictive and stereotyped.[15]Richard Boon, the band's manager, says that "Boredom" was asatirical song.[11]
Simon Reynolds, in his bookRip It Up and Start Again, writes that some considerSpiral Scratch to be a more important record than the Sex Pistols' "Anarchy in the U.K." because, whereas the Sex Pistols' single showed that anyone could be in a rock band (a novel idea at the time),Spiral Scratch proved that anyone could release a record without needing an establishedrecord label.[16] Reynolds also contends that the EP was "a regionalist blow" by the Manchester band against the London-based music industry.[1]Jon Savage says that it was instrumental in helping to establish the small labels and scenes in both Manchester andLiverpool.[17]
It is often said that the many small DIY labels that sprang up across the UK in 1977 tookSpiral Scratch as their inspiration.[18]
The EP was also an exercise in the demystification of the record-making process (for example, its title was taken from the music's being recorded literally as a spiral scratch on each side of the vinyl; also, the listing of take numbers and overdubs on the record sleeve). This was a landmark event for many, Reynolds adds. "People were buyingSpiral Scratch [...] for the sheer fact of its existence, its existence as a cultural landmark and portent of revolution."[19]
Bob Last founded theFast Product record label afterSpiral Scratch came out. "I had absolutely no idea there'd been a history of independent labels before that.Spiral Scratch turned my head around."[20]
"Boredom" was placed at number 11 inMojo magazine's list of "100 Punk Scorchers" in 2001.[21]
The 1980sindie bandOrange Juice mentioned "Boredom", used a line from it and adapted the guitar solo on their 1982 single "Rip It Up".[22]
The self-publication ofSpiral Scratch is cited as an event which led to the rise of independent record labels and ultimately resulted in the name "indie" being used to describe a style of music as well as a publishing model.[23]
"Boredom" was featured in the 2021 movie,Ghostbusters Afterlife.[24]
The EP was reissued in the United Kingdom in 1979, having been deleted when Buzzcocks signed to United Artists in 1977.[12] Remaining on the New Hormones label, but credited to "Buzzcocks with Howard Devoto", the record was distributed byVirgin Records and reached number 31 in the charts, staying in for six weeks.[25] As a consequence of Buzzcocks' signing to UA, and later EMI, none of the tracks onSpiral Scratch appeared on subsequent EMI compilation albumsSingles Going Steady,Product orOperator's Manual: Buzzcocks Best.
The EP was reissued as a CD byMute Records in 1999. The original EP was priced at £40 byRecord Collector in its 2008 price guide.[26]
In 2017,Spiral Scratch was reissued on vinyl byDomino Records to commemorate its 40th anniversary. On the week of 3 February the EP entered the top spot on the UK physical singles chart.
All songs written by Howard Devoto and Pete Shelley.
Spiral Scratch helped to codify the DIY-or-die fervor that resulted in so many scrappy English 7"s over the next few years
| Studio albums | |
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| Compilation albums | |
| EPs | |
| Singles | |
| Related articles | |
