Buzzcocks [2003]
by Buzzcocks
  • Record Label: Merge
  • Release Date: Mar 18, 2003
Metascore
70

Generally favorable reviews - based on 16 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 11 out of 16
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 16
  3. Negative: 1 out of 16
  1. Pitchfork
    67
    They've still got angst to spare, but their wit has been ground down by 'maturity,' or whatever you want to call it, into a bitter thing that saps a lot of that reckless energy.
  2. Neumu.net
    80
    May well be the best of its seven studio albums, one that even approaches the heights of the stellar Singles Going Steady collection.
  3. Magnet
    80
    Even at their most obvious, the Buzzcocks can smoke the young guns. [#58, p.83]
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  5. Q Magazine
    70
    Back to basics. [May 2003, p.100]
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  6. AllMusic
    80
    Hard to imagine Green Day or Rancid having anything this interesting up their sleeve 27 years down the line from their first recording.
  7. Entertainment Weekly
    83
    It's nice to hear that middle-age hasn't diminished [their] songwriting skills. [28 Mar 2003, p.69]
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  8. Blender
    40
    They still spit nervous energy, but Shelly's melodies have suffered, and his pubescent whines have unfortunately matured into apologies for bad behavior. [#15, p.121]
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  9. Mojo
    70
    At times positively fizzes into life. [Jun 2003, p.110]
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  10. Alternative Press
    80
    A smart, slashing set of B-plus-level pop-punk. [Apr 2003, p.78]
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  11. Junkmedia
    80
    This is an absolutely satisfying listen and a feat of songwriting that few acts could match.
  12. Uncut
    60
    Their love batteries have all but corroded and instead we've hangovers and metropolitan psychosis over the kind of guttural guitars you'd expect from their bastard American offspring. [May 2003, p.89]
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  13. Stylus Magazine
    32
    This album is flat boring musically and sonically.
  14. Billboard
    90
    Seamless without being monotonous, "Buzzcocks" is punk rock for grownups, teenagers, and everyone in between, without pandering or becoming a caricature of itself.
  15. Filter
    87
    Coherent and musically mature even as it kicks you around a bit. [#5, p.88]
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  16. PopMatters
    60
    The album is good -- remarkably so considering how late it comes in a group's life span -- but it's still a late-era release and suffers from many of the same problems so common to that milieu.
  17. Dusted Magazine
    40
    Granted, Buzzcocks sounds very '77/'78, albeit with better production, but it's largely devoid of the hooks, the melodies, and the anxious, deconstructed bubblegum pop feel that made the band's early material so memorable.

User Reviews

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User Score
5.8

Mixed or average reviews- based on 4 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2 out of 4
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 4
  3. Negative: 1 out of 4
  1. Thekeith
    Sep 15, 2014
    10
    My review is the brand new 2014 release of the NEW Buzzcocks album "The Way" since this metacritic site is too lame to actually keep up withMy review is the brand new 2014 release of the NEW Buzzcocks album "The Way" since this metacritic site is too lame to actually keep up with anything that isn't force fed music, and most of it isn't written by the people who appear on the covers and titles of the music. So lame. So, anyway. The Buzzcocks ( Yes , The Beatles of Punk Rock) just put out another album. It's A BLAST ! It's fun, fun, fun, fun, stuff. Being you are reading this review, you might actually get it, where most here are brainwashed into thinking arcade fire, or U2, or coldplay deserve any attention. That stuff is what I like to refer to as musical diarrhea. Back to the Buzzcocks 2014 release of "The Way" Each song contains a tasty bit of the original sound the Buzzcocks discharged into the minds of so many unsuspecting people three decades ago, and it continues today. It's a blast. My cravings for pop/punk goodness were fulfilled. It's a well written, great sounding CD with a lot of driving melodic songs that should be shared on many radio stations, but will never get any attention there. How sad, here we have this wonderful brand new CD from one of the best bands in recent history, and no one knows its here. But, lucky for you, you now do. I am going to see The Buzzcocks this week, and this time around, I actually hope they play a few from this new album. You know how it is when you go to see a band you love, and they kind of punish you with some of their new songs, that's not the case here. These new songs are great. More fun stuff from "The Beatles of Punk Rock, The Buzzcocks. Yes, coldplay, and U2 and Arcade Fire are just musical Diarrhea, so there.… Full Review »
  2. MilesD
    Mar 24, 2006
    8
    Dense and loud!
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