10 Near Perfect Post Punk Albums

Magazine were directly birthed out of the original punk movement. Lead singer of the Buzzcocks, Howard Devoto, formed the group after he felt the punk thing had run its cause. His new group, still snarled with a Johnny Rotten attitude at times, but paid far more heed to melody. Utilising the synthesiser, they created a more pop savvy sound, that became a landmark in the development of UK post punk.

Their debut album flicks between sinister synth lines and more traditional pop sounds. There's a playful nature to their instrumentation, which almost makes tracks like Definitive Gaze feel like parody take on pop music. In contract, Shot By Both Shot, is punk rock through and through, and indeed was written when Devoto was still in the Buzzcocks.

This album creeps up on you. The first listen may leave you thinking, this is just another late '70s record with one foot in the wold of punk and one in the world of pop. But there's so many catchy moments that burrow into your mind, you can't resist to come back again and again.