Homosapien was Buzzcocks

Buzzcocks

Buzzcocks are an English punk rock band formed in Bolton in 1976, led by singer–songwriter–guitarist Pete Shelley.They are regarded as an important influence on the Manchester music scene, the independent record label movement, punk rock, power pop, pop punk and indie rock. They achieved commercial...

 frontman Pete Shelley

Pete Shelley

Pete Shelley is an English singer, songwriter and guitarist, best known as the leader of Buzzcocks.-Biography:...

's 1981 debut solo album, the title-track of which was released as a UK

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 single the same year. The single was banned

Ban (law)

A ban is, generally, any decree that prohibits something.Bans are formed for the prohibition of activities within a certain political territory. Some see this as a negative act and others see it as maintaining the "status quo"...

 by the BBC

BBC

The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

, but was nevertheless a hit in several countries.

The album began as a collection of studio demos recorded by Shelley (and produced by Martin Rushent

Martin Rushent

Martin Rushent was an English record producer, best known for his work with The Human League, The Stranglers and The Buzzcocks.- Early life :Rushent was born on 11 July 1948 in Enfield, Middlesex. His father was a car salesman...

) for the next Buzzcocks

Buzzcocks

Buzzcocks are an English punk rock band formed in Bolton in 1976, led by singer–songwriter–guitarist Pete Shelley.They are regarded as an important influence on the Manchester music scene, the independent record label movement, punk rock, power pop, pop punk and indie rock. They achieved commercial...

' album. In the process, Shelley and Rushent grew enormously fond of the sound they had created in the studio, which featured an interesting blend of drum machines, synthesizers and sequencers coupled with guitars. Shelley, weary of the Buzzcocks' financial state, decided to leave the band after Island Records' Andrew Lauder

Andrew Lauder (music executive)

Andrew Lauder is a record company executive and former A&R manager. Initially noted for his adventurous signings of bands as diverse as Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, Can, Hawkwind and Brinsley Schwarz to Liberty Records and United Artists Records in the 1960s and 70s, he went on to form numerous...

 offered him a solo record deal based on the demos.

Released at the start of the home computer

Home computer

Home computers were a class of microcomputers entering the market in 1977, and becoming increasingly common during the 1980s. They were marketed to consumers as affordable and accessible computers that, for the first time, were intended for the use of a single nontechnical user...

 boom, the album cover featured Shelley in a stylised 'office' leaning on a Commodore PET

Commodore PET

The Commodore PET was a home/personal computer produced from 1977 by Commodore International...

 computer.

As was typical in the era, Homosapien had a different track listing in the United States, with three songs being excised and three single b-sides being added in their place.

In The Mid 1980's Homosapien Was Originally Issued On Compact Disc By Arista Records
In 1997, Razor & Tie Entertainment reissued the US version on CD with five bonus tracks taken from Shelley's follow-up album, XL1

XL1

XL1 was Buzzcocks frontman Pete Shelley's second solo album. The single "Telephone Operator" charted at #66 in the United Kingdom, making it his biggest single release there...

. In 2006, the original UK version was reissued on CD by Varep Records. It includes all the songs from the US version as bonus tracks, as well as two other b-side "dub" mixes.

Original UK Track Listing

1. "Homosapien
   Homosapien (song)
   "Homosapien" is a song by Pete Shelley. It was banned by the BBC for "explicit reference to gay sex", e.g. the words "homo superior / in my interior"....
   
   "
2. "Yesterday's Not Here"
3. "I Generate a Feeling"
4. "Keat's Song"
5. "Qu' Est-Ce Que C' Est Que Ça"
6. "I Don't Know What It Is"
7. "Guess I Must Have Been in Love with Myself"
8. "Pusher Man"
9. "Just One of Those Affairs"
10. "It's Hard Enough Knowing"

2006 CD Bonus Tracks

1. "Witness the Change"
2. "Maxine"
3. "In Love with Somebody Else"
4. "Homosapien (Dub)"
5. "Witness the Change/I Don't Know What Love Is"
6. "Love in Vain"

• Track 5 is an unspecified instrumental "dub" mix of both songs.

US Track Listing

1. "Homosapien"
2. "Yesterday's Not Here"
3. "Love in Vain"
4. "Just One of Those Affairs"
5. "Qu' Est-Ce Que C' Est Que Ça"
6. "I Don't Know What It Is"
7. "Witness the Change"
8. "Guess I Must Have Been in Love with Myself"
9. "I Generate a Feeling"
10. "In Love with Somebody Else"

1997 CD Bonus Tracks

1. "Telephone Operator"
2. "If You Ask Me (I Won't Say No)"
3. "You Know Better Than I Know"
4. "(Millions of People) No One Like You"
5. "XL1"

Personnel

• Pete Shelley - vocals, multi-instruments
• Barry Adamson
  Barry Adamson
  Barry Adamson is a British rock musician who has worked with rock bands such as Magazine, Visage, The Birthday Party, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, and the electronic musicians Pan sonic and Depeche Mode. Adamson created the seven-minute opus "Useless " remix for the latter band in 1997...
  
   - bass
• Martin Rushent
  Martin Rushent
  Martin Rushent was an English record producer, best known for his work with The Human League, The Stranglers and The Buzzcocks.- Early life :Rushent was born on 11 July 1948 in Enfield, Middlesex. His father was a car salesman...
  
  - keyboards
• Jim Russell - drums

Audio sample

Associated Flexidisc

'New Sounds, New Style' magazine offered a free givaway yellow flexidisc featuring an extended version of "Qu' Est-Ce Que C' Est Que Ça". Halfway through the album version an obvious edit was made into a dubbed version of the track. This version has never been re-released.