Buzzcocks need little introduction to anyone who's followed punk since 1977, when the Manchester band's self-released Spiral Scratch EP essentially kickstarted the entire DIY label movement in the UK. What followed was a run of melodic, hook driven punk pop and three landmark albums before the band split in 1981, only to reform in 1989 and keep going ever since. Pete Shelley's death in 2018 could have ended the story, but founding member Steve Diggle has carried the band's name forward, and Attitude Adjustment, released in early 2026, is proof he's nowhere near finished. Produced by Lawrence Loveless and Diggle himself, the album packs fourteen new tracks that Diggle has described as punk rock with a Motown vibe, a description that tracks across cuts like "Queen of the Scene" and "Poetic Machine Gun," both released ahead of the album as singles. Songs like "Seeing Daylight," "Heavy Streets," and the two part "One of the Universe" show a band still writing with real melodic instinct, closing out with "The Greatest of Them All" in a fitting note of defiance. The record's artwork comes courtesy of Malcolm Garrett, the same designer behind the band's classic era sleeves, tying the whole package back to Buzzcocks' original run. Released via Cherry Red Records, this vinyl edition brings a genuine new chapter from one of punk's founding institutions to wax, still swinging nearly fifty years on.
