57 - Buzzcocks with Steve Diggle (Manchester)

57 - Buzzcocks with Steve Diggle (Manchester)

Author: Rock n Roll Book Club March 29, 2025 Duration: 1:06:33

This week we welcome Steve Diggle, original founder member of Buzzcocks, to discuss his memoir 'Autonomy: My Life as a Buzzcock'. The conversation explores Steve's early life in Manchester - growing up in the suburb of Bradford, the influence of music in the 60s, and the formation of Buzzcocks amidst the early UK punk scene.


Steve shares personal anecdotes about his childhood, the impact of hearing bands like The Beatles, The Kinks and The Rolling Stones, and the magic of performing live for the first time at the Lesser Free Trade Hall in Manchester.


We go into on the early days of the Buzzcocks with Pete Shelley, Howard Devoto & John Maher following their remarkable meeting at the first Sex Pistols gig at the Manchester Free Trade Hall. The recording of their iconic Spiral Scratch EP with Martin Hannett, the impact of Howard Devoto's departure from the band & Steve switching to guitar, the White Riot Tour with the Clash, the Slits & the Jam, the Screen on the Green gig in Islington with the Sex Pistols & signing to United Artists with the guidance of Andrew Lauder & more.



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Hosted by Mark Hart & Simon Cardwell

Written & Produced by Simon Cardwell

Edited, mixed & spruced up by Andy Maxwell 


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The Music Maps Podcast from the Rock n Roll Book Club isn't your typical music show. It's an audio expedition where geography is the guide. Every episode starts with a specific location-a city, a venue, a forgotten roadside attraction-and uses that place as a launchpad to explore the sounds, stories, and scenes connected to it. You might find yourself deep in the blues clubs of Chicago one week and tracing the underground punk threads of a small European town the next. The conversations are wide-ranging, connecting the dots between iconic artists and obscure movements, all anchored to a point on the map. Listening to this podcast feels like adding a new, richly detailed pin to a global atlas of musical influence. It’s about the context behind the chords and the cultural soil from which genres grow. The result is a continuously evolving, deeply human portrait of how music and place are inextricably linked, one fascinating destination at a time.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 100

Music Maps Podcast
Podcast Episodes
67 - Isle of Wight Festival & more with John Giddings [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 59:11
Join us & legendary promoter and agent John Giddings to discuss the Isle of Wight Festival, its history, and the challenges of managing such a significant event and the evolving dynamics between the festival and the loca…
66 - Greenwich Village & Bob Dylan with Rolling Stone's David Browne [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:28:26
This week we welcome David Browne, a senior writer at Rolling Stone, to talk about his book Talkin' Greenwich Village & to explore the musical history of Greenwich Village from its heyday in the 50s & early 1960s through…
64 - Mudhoney & Superfuzz Bigmuff with Steve Turner [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 43:21
In this episode we welcome back Mudhoney guitarist Steve Turner & pick things up with the formation of Mudhoney - first Mark Arm joins Steve’s band The Thrown Ups & they meet drummer Dan Peters soon after. Matt Lukin joi…
63 - New York City with Photographer,  Musician & Writer Ali Smith [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 59:32
This week we welcome Ali Smith, a New York photographer, musician, and writer of the memoir 'The Ballad of Speedball Baby.' The conversation explores Ali's formative musical influences growing up in New York, her experie…
62 - The Fall with Funky Si [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 50:49
In this episode of Music Maps, we welcome back Simon Wolstencroft, the former drummer of The Fall. His book You Can Drum But You Can't Hide is out now on Route Publishing.Funky Si joined The Fall in 1986 after his previo…
61 - The Rolling Stones with Gered Mankowitz [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:12:03
This week we are joined by legendary photographer Gered Mankowitz to discuss his time with the Rolling Stones, focusing on 1965 to 1967. Gered shares how he entered the world of music photography via a meeting with Peter…
60 - The Spice Girls with Michael Cragg (Maidenhead) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 49:00
In this episode of Music Maps we are joined by Penderyn Prize winning writer Michael Cragg to dig into the history and impact of the Spice Girls.We explore their formation in 1994 via an audition process & their early da…