Where has the Orgasm Addict gone? The Buzzcocks on tour are older, wiser and apparently still able to whip up a frenzy — but is Viagra at the root of their continuing musical and masturbatory melodies?

Born in the aftermath of a 1976 Sex Pistols concert in Manchester, the Buzzcocks are among the last bands standing after contemporaries such as the Clash and the Ramones succumbed to the trials of time and hazardous living. Pondering the demise of the aforementioned luminaries — along with the Jam and an epidemic amount of start-up outfits from the early days of punk — Buzzcocks lead guitarist Steve Diggle is well-aware that his band has defied the odds. "Out of all those bands, we're the only ones that are left," marvels Diggle, who also contributes vocals. "With Joe Strummer dying, and most of the Ramones, well ..." He laughs nervously.

The Buzzcocks' most well-known work was their early, characteristically catchy pop-mod-punk tunes like "Ever Fallen In Love," "Harmony in My Head" and "Orgasm Addict" ("You tried it just for once found it all right for kicks/ but now you found out that it's a habit that sticks"). Their spastically upbeat songs had either anthemlike, oversexed jingles or indelible hooks that gave structure to simply stated truisms. The tunes mixed high-energy pointed wit with a punked-up '60s-mod backup chorus. Pete Shelley's vocals and lyrics rounded out the sound with a neurotic, highly irritated man-from-Manchester twang, often culminating in an adrenaline-fueled romanticism.

Diggle, citing Henry Miller's book Black Spring, prefers to look at the world from the local level. "Forget James Dean, forget Marilyn Monroe — everyone in your street is a hero," he says. "Junkie John, Pale Mickey ... you know. I mean, let's face it, you could start a punk band, make 1,000 singles and change more people's lives than Tom Cruise has ever changed with those boring blockbusters. Those big movies are for sleepwalkers. Whereas Buzzcocks' music deals with consciousness — trying to get people to realize their surroundings, who they are, awakening the consciousness inside themselves."

The effect the Buzzcocks had on not just punk but music in general has been ingested, imbibed, and worked into several different mutations, unabashedly mirrored by groups ranging from the arena-rocking Green Day to the lesser-known but extremely dedicated '77-style band the Briefs.

With all the current aping and homage, the Buzzcocks went into the studio inspired by ... themselves. "Everyone's trying to sound like the Buzzcocks nowadays, so we will, too," Diggle says. "On the new album [Flat Pack Philosophy], we took all the classic hallmarks of the old stuff but also put in how we are as the modern Buzzcocks of today."

Even car companies are catching on, using the Buzzcocks' "What Do I Get" to sell must-have mobiles to the hip motoring masses. When other possibilities for penetrating the advertising market are suggested to Diggle, he doesn't seem averse to the idea. "I don't normally need Viagra, but ['Orgasm Addict' is] a great song for the jingle," he says. "That's a great idea. Yeah, I've never thought of that one."