By the time they recorded their first single, Shot By Both Sides, Dickinson had left the band, with Dave Formula coming in to replace him. Shot By Both Sides, written by Devoto and former Buzzcocks partner Pete Shelley, peaked at a very credible Number 41 in February 1978 in the UK, which would turn out to be Magazine’s biggest hit and best-known song (indeed, Radiohead have covered it live).

When debut album Real Life followed in April 1978, its tight, dynamic sound made it clear that Devoto was looking beyond punk’s fairly limiting parameters, and it would become one of the defining albums of the post-punk era. After the accompanying tour, Jackson left the band to be replaced, first by Paul Spencer, then by John Doyle.

Second album Secondhand Daylight followed in 1979 and found the group shifting direction by making greater use of Formula’s bleak, glacial keyboard sound. Around this time, the members of Magazine were doing plenty of moonlighting, with McGeoch adding guitar nous to Siouxsie & The Banshees, as well as – with Adamson and Formula – being members of the nascent Visage.

When The Correct Use Of Soap, Magazine’s third album, was released in 1980, it signified a move back to the warmer, less harsh sounds of Real Life and is perhaps their most accessible album, spawning the moderately successful single Sweetheart Contract.

After Sweetheart Contract, McGeoch left to join Siouxsie & The Banshees full-time, with Robin Simon replacing him. Simon can be heard on the 1980 live album Play. Recorded in Australia in 1980, it is inessential. Simon didn’t last long, being replaced by Ben Mandelson for final album Magic, Murder And The Weather (1981), which came as a slight disappointment and found Formula’s keyboards to the fore again.

After the band split, Devoto pursued an underwhelming solo career, released two albums with Luxuria and guested with This Mortal Coil, before becoming a photo archivist.