LIKE many of his generation, the 1970s punk explosion coloured Steve Diggle’s life.

“It was like splitting the atom, it brought everybody alive for a while,” said Diggle, who celebrates the Buzzocks' 40th birthday with an anniversary show in Manchester next month.

“It blew our whole concept of music sky high, and when those early punk records came out it raised your whole consciousness of what music was and what it was doing to you, it wasn’t just entertainment.

“It was political too, there was a whole attitude and there are people I still meet who are artists or writers who say they wouldn’t have been who they are if it wasn’t for punk.

“It wasn’t just a case of tapping your foot to the songs, people were involved in it in all kinds of ways – it’s an attitude, and made you think differently about the world.”

It is four decades, give a take a year or two, since the Buzzcocks debut album Another Music in a Different Kitchen, spent months in the charts and the group enjoyed a marathon run of three-chord classic pop-punk tunes and Top of the Pops appearances including Ever Fallen in Love and Harmony in My Head.

The opening song on the Buzzcocks first LP – Fast Cars – was penned by Diggle, as were many others, and his buzzsaw guitar sound became a part of the punk revolution.

“That track changed my life, it really did,” said Diggle.

“I’d already written Fast Cars before I joined the Buzzcocks which is a very personal song to me.

“I remember sat home in a little box room in Chadderton trying to make sense of the world at 16 and I came up with that.

“I’d always put stuff down on paper as a kid, and when punk came along it was just the perfect thing because you wrote about things you had personal experience of, rather than things you made up.

“A lot of our songs are about relationship issues, not an idealised, romantic vision of love, but a more down to earth kind.

“We sing about the human condition, tragedy, comedy and life.

“We don’t sell our fans an illusion because the everyday is something everybody goes through and shares.”

Diggle says he is proud of the Buzzcocks legacy – they were one of the first punk groups to form their own independent label – New Hormones – and announced themselves to the world with the legendary Spiral Scratch EP.

“It is really strange, we didn’t do it to be celebrated, but I’m getting used to it a little bit now,” he said.

“I did a little spoken word talk to some teenagers in London.

“I brought along some old artefacts, tickets, posters, record covers and they were just amazed that we did it all ourselves, with no backing.

“It just came from the street, and that’s what made our music accessible and human.

“I don’t think people are bothered about DIY music now, they just want it on demand and that stifles creativity.

“Music from another era can often sound dated and irrelevant, but when one of those kids stood up and said that our song Harmony in my Head was one of the best pop tunes he had ever heard then that was very special indeed.”

The Buzzcocks, Manchester Albert Hall, Friday, October 7. Details from the box office on 0161 817 3490.