1976 — 1985
Melody Maker. NME. Sounds.
For ten years the back pages of the UK music weeklies were a job centre for everyone who wanted to be in a band. Mick Jones placed an ad. Stewart Copeland placed an ad. Steve Harris placed dozens. These are the classifieds that built half the records you still listen to. The wording on each card is paraphrased from documented sources and marked as a draft until a curator confirms it against an archive scan.
1976
Melody Maker · London
Lead guitarist (ex-London SS) seeks musicians to form band. Influences: NY Dolls, MC5, Mott. No hippies. No careerists.
Through this and a string of similar ads — plus manager Bernie Rhodes' networking around the London SS scene — Jones assembled the lineup that became The Clash. The band debuted in July 1976…
1976
Melody Maker · London
Drummer (ex-London SS auditions) seeks musicians for new band. Influences: NY Dolls, Stooges, MC5. London area.
Brian James answered the ad. The two recruited Captain Sensible and Dave Vanian to complete The Damned, who released 'New Rose' in October 1976 — the first British punk single. They have since gone…
1976
Sounds · London
East London band, Iron Maiden, requires drummer. No timewasters. Heavy.
Harris cycled through dozens of musicians via classifieds before settling on the classic lineup. Iron Maiden broke big with The Number of the Beast (1982); over four decades the band has sold north…
1977
Melody Maker · London
Drummer seeks bassist and singer for new wave power trio. Influences: reggae, free jazz, Talking Heads. Must be reliable. — S. Copeland.
Copeland's networking via Melody Maker led him to guitarist Henry Padovani first, then a Geordie schoolteacher named Gordon Sumner who called himself Sting. The Police became one of the biggest bands…
1977
Manchester Evening News · Macclesfield
Drummer wanted for band. Own kit essential. Influences: Iggy, Velvets, Bowie. Macclesfield / Manchester area.
Stephen Morris answered. The band then called Warsaw soon renamed themselves Joy Division. Two albums and Ian Curtis's death in May 1980 later, the surviving three reformed as New Order and…
1978
Melody Maker · Sheffield
Sheffield band seeks second guitarist. Twin lead style. Influences: Mott, Bowie, Queen, Aerosmith. Own gear and the will to graft essential.
Steve Clark answered the ad and joined Def Leppard. The Clark / Pete Willis (later Phil Collen) twin-guitar attack defined the band's sound on Pyromania (1983) and Hysteria (1987), which sold over…
1979
Melody Maker · Notting Hill
Want to be part of the Killing Joke? Total exploitation. Total publicity. Total anonymity.
Jaz Coleman's deranged ad attracted guitarist Geordie Walker and the rest of what became one of post-punk's most uncompromising bands. Their self-titled debut arrived in 1980; 'Eighties' (1984) was…
1984
Sounds · East Kilbride
Young guns required for new group. Looks not important. Attitude essential. East Kilbride, willing to travel.
The Reid brothers' ad brought in Douglas Hart on bass. The Jesus and Mary Chain's debut single 'Upside Down' arrived later that year on Creation, followed by Psychocandy in 1985 — feedback as a love…