Pete Shelley - Homosapien 12''

Cool tune, but no upright-walking creature with opposable thumbs needs to dance to the entire "Elongated" version.

Pete Shelley’s opening gambit on his solo music career was off to a good start anywhere else in the world except the UK. The Beeb banned the single for is explicit reference to gay sex! Comon, it’s 1981 and the world hadn’t changed all that much from the Dark Ages. Written before Buzzcocks became sentient Homosapien became one of the biggest club hits of the year in America and Europe, with a decent showing down under to boot. Coming after the final Buzzcocks album ‘A Different Kind Of Tension’ Pete and producer Martin Rushant settled into London's Genetic studios to demo some new material and something unexpected happened. Pete and Martin fell in love with the cheesier, one-man-and-a-boop-beep-boop drum machine demos in a time when electro-pop disco was taking over. Tired of Buzzcock's sorry financial state, Pete abruptly disbanded the band via an insensitive lawyers' letter mailed to his bandmates. Homosapien's release followed a few months later, before his fans' shock had dissipated. It can now be listened to in a different light than the inconsolably sad emotions that originally surrounded it. Despite the utterly ridiculous, aforementioned "drum" sound, the album Homosapien is one Pete Shelley solo effort worth investigating.

Ripped from a 12” single to MP3

Pete Shelley; Homosapien 12”

A.     Homosapien (Dance Version)

B.     Homosapien (Elongated Dancepartydubmix)