Pete Shelley and Howard Devoto formed Buzzcocks in Bolton in February 1976. The band, completed by the addition of Steve Diggle and John Maher, opened for the Sex Pistols in Manchester on July 20th,

A follow up to the now (in)famous Lesser Free Trade Hall gig which Devoto and Shelley had organised the month before.

Gigs in Manchester and London followed, and by the end of 1976, Buzzcocks became one of the first groups to form their own independent record label – New Hormones – on which they released the now-legendary and seminal Spiral Scratch E.P.