Paul Hanley’s Sixteen Again: How Pete Shelley & Buzzcocks Changed Manchester Music [and me] is a delightfully refreshing, passionate, poignant and frequently funny biography of Buzzocks, and particularly Pete Shelley. It also includes some personal memoir and recollections from Hanley, which - if anything - enhance the book and add weight to the truth that Buzzcocks, and Shelley, matter.
It feels like this shouldn’t need saying really but, of all the first generation UK punk bands, Buzzcocks do seem to have been particularly neglected when it comes to books, films, and the general public acknowledgement of their genius and legacy.
What I particularly like about Hanley’s book is the tone, especially the way in which he isn’t afraid to puncture a few egos and expel a few myths along the way. Yes, he is passionate about his subject, and yes he really loves Buzzcocks, but he’s also not afraid to demonstrate in unforgiving detail the moments when some members of the band, or those around them, were behaving like total arses. Similarly, when the band released a duff record, he acknowledges that.
Maybe it’s a Mancunian thing, maybe it’s a Paul Hanley thing, but, having been party to some of his in conversation events at successive Louder Than Words festivals, I can attest to his no nonsense writing tone being well matched by his skill as a seasoned racconteur.
Long may he continue
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