Magazine had a near-hit with Shot By Both Sides in January 1978. It’s arguably the first post-punk single – and certainly one of the best of that year.

Post-punk. I was always puzzled by the term, which seems to mean something different now to what it did back then, in the immediate aftermath of punk.

Back then it initially referred to the music made by punk bands once they stopped thrashing and developed more complex and intricate songs, or ones who never quite conformed to that template in the first place (Joy Division, The Fall, Wire; Slits, Banshees).

Then, for a while, it seemed to specifically refer to groups who came out of that came ‘movement’ but had a funky underpinning to their sound (Gang of Four, Delta 5, The Pop Group) and evolved into including bands who wished to expand their boundaries beyond the conventions of the time (PiL, The Cure and, yes, Magazine).

Now, of course, it seems to mean just about anything, but especially a kind of fusion of pop and prog, exemplified by the likes of Squid and Black Midi – a far cry from this seminal moment.

Released in January 1978, Shot By Both Sides preceded Public Image – the oft-stated “first post-punk single” – by nine months. So it is arguably the starting point of post-punk.

It was certainly one of the best singles of that year, if not the​ best. And seeing Magazine on Top of the Pops, with Kid Jensen tapping his cowboy boot in time to the intro, was a special moment. This isn’t it – someone has cunningly compiled and cleverly synced a new video to go with the original audio.

Howard Devoto looks older here than he did when it came out, with his Eno-ish baby face beneath that balding pate with wispy hair dangling down the back. There was something otherworldly about him – a hint of Nosferatu in the sinister way he stalked the stage.

It was a far cry musically from his first band, Buzzcocks, but you can still hear that primal punk energy, especially in the drumming of Martin Jackson, and the frenzied bass runs of Barry Adamson as John McGeoch’s guitar solo reaches a climax, taking Pete Shelley’s minimalist solo on Boredom and elevating it into the stratosphere.

Despite that, it failed to crack the Top 40… by just one place. And, to my surprise, for all their immense influence, Magazine never did have a hit single (or a Top 20 album).