The Buzzcocks - Peking Hooligan

Artist: The Buzzcocks

Song: Peking Hooligan

Album: Screen On The Green (bootleg, 1976)

 

Buzzcocks are an English punk rock band formed in Manchester in 1975. They have been led by singer/songwriter/guitarist Pete Shelley for nearly their entire existence.

 

Whilst many archive recordings are best left in the can, the Buzzcocks' first demos--previously widely available as a bootleg--are an exception to that rule. TIME'S UP marks the brief moment that Howard Devoto fronted Buzzcocks, before forming Magazine and passing the reins to Pete Shelley. The group's subsequent flurry of perfect, lovelorn punk-pop singlesis well known, but their early abrasive edge was only captured on one classic EP, "Spiral Scratch". Early versions of "Boredom" and "Breakdown" included on TIME'S UP pound along seemingly on pure adrenaline, with Devoto drinking from a well of frustration and sarcasm, whilst articulating himself ina most non-punk fashion.
Ragged, impatient, exciting versions of songs Shelley would later make his own, like "Orgasm Addict" and "Love Battery", are heard in all their raw, bloodied glory. Covers of Captain Beefheart and the Troggs aredeftly dismantled with a mix of reverence and contempt. TheBuzzcocks were arguably the first band to catch on to punk after hearing the Sex Pistols--these recordings are so early, they aren't even out of bed yet. And as for Devoto, he wasn't long for punk, but he lent it more in an instant than countless pretenders ever did.

 

Screen On The Green [BOOTLEG]

Red Vinyl 7 inch (Apr 1995 UK) Time's Up Records SHELL1 (33 1/3 RPM)

NOTES:

Their London debut gig.

Gez notes: 'This very day [Apr 25, 1995], i've received a red vinyl 7" bootleg entitled "Screen on the Green". Photo on the front is of a very young looking Buzzcocks wearing the same clothes as used on the Time's Up Document LP/CD (but not the same photo). On the back is written in red `Live at the Screen on the Green 29th August 1976' and

`Limited edition of 500 copies'. Interestingly enough it features, to my knowledge the first appearance of any kind for Peking Hooligan apart from home made bootleg tapes. It's the same track from the bootleg '76 tape I've got where the lyrics don't seem to square at

all with those given for Peking Hooligan in the Devoto book, so i'm still a bit perplexed on that one.'

Andrew Brown report the full set list: Breakdown, Friends Of Mine, Times Up, Orgasm Addict, Peking Hooligan, Lester Sands, Oh Shit!, You Tear Me Up, Love Battery, I Can't Control Myself.

Recorded live at the Screen On The Green, Aug 29, 1976 in Islington, north London

01) orgasm addict

02) peking hooligan

03) lester sands

04) oh, shit

 

You know me ‘cos I hang around the bicycle sheds
kicking over the traces in my fancy footwear
as I go wrecking and stealing
around Tiananmen Square

I'm a Peking hooligan
I'm a social problem
I'm a Peking hooligan

I just finished at the city schools
I don't want to go back to the fields
I paid no heed to Mao's words
I heard after every meal

I'm a Peking hooligan ...