Magazine biography
Magazine are an English post-punk group active from 1977 to 1981, then reformed in 2009. Their debut single, "Shot by Both Sides", is now acknowledged as a classic and their debut album, Real Life, is still widely admired as one of the greatest albums of all time. The band was formed by Howard Devoto after leaving punk band Buzzcocks in early 1977. Devoto had decided to create a more experimental and less punk band. Their style and lyrical preoccupations later influenced many musicians. Magazine reunited for a tour through Britain in February 2009, with almost all the most remaining and "classic" line-up during their brief time, with the exception of guitarist John McGeoch who died in 2004 and was replaced by Noko, who had played with Devoto in Luxuria. Magazine released an album of new material, No Thyself, in October 2011, followed by a short UK tour.
Biography
Howard Devoto formed Magazine in Manchester shortly after he left Buzzcocks in early 1977. In April 1977 he met guitarist John McGeoch, then an art student, and they began writing songs, some of which would appear on the first Magazine album. They then recruited Barry Adamson on bass, Bob Dickinson on keyboards and Martin Jackson (previously of The Freshies) on drums, to form the first line-up of the band. After signing to Virgin Records, Magazine played their debut live gig at the Rafters, in Manchester, on 28 October 1977.
Dickinson, co-writer of "Motorcade" and whose background was in classical and avant-garde music, left shortly after a number of gigs in late 1977. In early 1978 the band released their first single "Shot by Both Sides", a song Magazine recorded as a four-piece which featured a guitar-bass-drums sound similar to punk rock. Shortly after the single's release, Dave Formula, who had played with a 1960s shortly famed rock band from Manchester called St. Louis Union, joined as keyboardist. "Shot By Both Sides", the chorus of which shared the same chord progression as Buzzcocks' "Lipstick," fractionally missed the UK Top 40. The band, with Formula on keyboards, made its first major TV appearance on Top Of The Pops in February 1978, performing the single.
Following a British tour to promote their critically acclaimed debut album Real Life (which made the UK Top 30), Jackson left Magazine in late July, and was replaced briefly by Paul Spencer, who performed with the band for gigs across Europe and some television appearances, including the Old Grey Whistle Test, where they played "Definitive Gaze". Spencer quit partway through the tour, joining The Speedometors shortly afterwards, and he was replaced in October by John Doyle, who completed the Real Life promotional tour and remained in the band.
In 1979 Magazine's second album, Secondhand Daylight was released, reaching the UK Top 40. The record features more experimental, synthesiser-based material. That same year, McGeoch, Adamson and Formula joined electronic project Visage, recording and releasing the single "Tar".
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