Autonomy: Portrait of a Buzzcock

From bass player to lead guitarist, singer to last remaining founding member, Steve Diggle has been the driving force keeping Buzzcocks alive since he first met Pete Shelley in 1976. Together they would ignite the Manchester music scene, kickstart indie and become one of the best loved and most influential punk groups of all time.

Following Shelley’s untimely death in 2018, Autonomy is Diggle’s definitive, inside account of their shared musical legacy. The narrative captures the complexities of Diggle and Shelley’s friendship – a bond that endured through the band’s rise, fall, and rise again. This book details the Buzzcocks’ origins, from supporting the Sex Pistols with original singer Howard Devoto, to Top of the Pops, the excess of success, the break-up, reformation and life beyond bereavement.

Funny, honest and touchingly philosophical, it is also Diggle’s very personal story of working-class escape, dreams, redemption and loss – an ultimately heroic survivor’s tale from an irrepressible rock’n’roll spirit.