Buzzcocks' Steve Diggle: Today's Bands Are 'Defeated' by Corporations

Buzzcocks co-founding member Steve Diggle says that the punk revolution of the mid-1970s was an artistic renaissance that impacted society as greatly as any literary or visual arts movement. "It inspired people to have more confidence in themselves and be imaginative," Diggle tells Spinner. "Our lyrics are intellectual and poetic in their way. Not that we thought about it like that back then, but we'd read books that influenced us. So, our singles are like books in a way," he says, laughing. "Little ones."

"When those records were made," the co-singer and guitarist adds, "they was made in a live situation with all those emotions flying around and all the distortion as well. They are very real records. They come at you and assault you to a certain extent -- in a good way."

"In our case, we just wanted to vent our f---ing anger on society, throw things out there. You don't see that these days. It's like they've been defeated," he says of young bands now. "They are up against these corporations who don't know about art. It's crushing the simple spirit of a band just getting up and playing. Everything is carefully planned and marketed. There's no reality."

In 1978, the Buzzcocks released two albums in the same year, an act of artistic fervor few bands can manage nowadays. "Looking back, it's amazing. Yeah, you wouldn't be able to do it now," Diggle says. "You need two years for them to market it and tell [everyone] how great it is before it comes out. We were very prolific and on tour most of the time. It was a constant cycle -- absolute madness but exciting madness. It was this massive thing that you embraced."

2010 has been another amazing year for the Buzzcocks, who spent most of it touring on the reissues of their groundbreaking early albums, 'Another Music in a Different Kitchen,' 'Love Bites' and 'A Different Kind of Tension.'

"It's amazing they have stood the test of time," says Diggle. "It's because they have lyrics that people can relate to, because they deal with a whole range of emotions and the human condition."