Farewell, Pete Shelley

Buzzcocks were one of the first bands to find a direct link between legit punk and sweet-as-candy pop, and they did it better than most that would follow with songs that looked at adolescent sexuality and isolation with humor and true emotion. The band's face and voice was Pete Shelley, who also penned or co-penned their post enduring smashes. He drooled his way through "Orgasm Addict", got mopey with "What Do I Get?" and "Ever Fallen In Love (with Someone You Shouldn't've)", raved with "Everybody's Happy Nowadays" and never lost his wit or way with a tune no matter how much the tempo sped . He was also one of the first original punks to embrace electronic music and to open up about his bisexuality, which he did on his 1981 solo classic "Homosapien". Sadly, Pete Shelley has died of a suspected heart attack at the age of 63.