Brainiac 5 are an oddball entity in the annals of punk, post-punk and New Wave, but they left their mark on me with their 1978 Mushy Doubt EP. (more…)

Big in Japan became better known for the subsequent successes of their band members than for their own music. Or, as the Liverpool Echo put it, they were “a supergroup with a difference – its members only became super after they left.” (more…)

Wire’s debut single Mannequin is one of the mellower and more melodic songs to be taken from their landmark debut album Pink Flag. (more…)

In many ways this is the prototype for punk. Which is odd, since Wire have come to be regarded as the progenitors of post-punk. (more…)

The 12th and final edition of the first punk fanzine, Sniffin’ Glue, came out in August 1977 and included this flexi-disc by Alternative TV. (more…)

The Boomtown Rats enjoyed their second hit with Mary Of The Fourth Form – a song that would surely be judged controversial by today’s standards. (more…)

Television: Marquee Moon – 45th Anniversary Reappraisal

It’s funny the things you find when you look through your old stuff. This was lurking among my singles. It was the cover that caught my eye. The song – not so much. (more…)

It’s November 1977 and there’s a new female voice in punk when Penetration release their debut single with singer Pauline Murray. (more…)

At the start of 1977 the US punk scene was almost exclusively centred on the East Coast in general, and New York in particular. But things were slowly beginning to stir on the West Coast. (more…)