John Waddington Founding Guitarist of The Pop Group Dead at 63

John Waddington, a founding guitarist of post-punk greats the Pop Group, has died, the band announced on social media. No cause of death was given. Waddington was 63 years old.

Born on January 1, 1960, John Waddington was 17 when he started his first band, serving as vocalist, guitarist, and principal songwriter for the punk group The Boyfriends. The band was short-lived and he went on to co-found influential Bristol outfit, The Pop Group in 1977, serving as one of their guitarists, along with Gareth Sager. Waddington played on the band’s landmark debut single, “She Is Beyond Good And Evil”, released by Radar Records – the label that also signed Elvis Costello and Nick Lowe – in early 1979.

The Pop Group released their landmark debut, Y, in 1977. Led by Mark Stewart, the band mixed dadaist lyrics and anti-Thatcher agitprop with compositions that expanded the prevailing punk sound. Frantic riffs combined with reggae legend Dennis Bovell’s production to channel dub and funk into style that defined the postpunk era, as well as influencing early 2000s dance-punk revivalists like Liars.

In 1980, the Pop Group released the ambitious and political—For How Much Longer Do We Tolerate Mass Murder? on Rough Trade, before disbanding, leaving Stewart to work with dub producer Adrian Sherwood on 1983’s Learning to Cope With Cowardice. Though Waddington did not join subsequent reunions, he played with Maximum Joy on their 1981 debut, Station MXJY, also produced by Sherwood, and contributed guitar to New Age Steppers and Judy Nylon records the same decade.

In a statement, the Pop Group called Waddington “an influential musician, and an integral member of the group.” The statement continued, “His energy and friendship will be sorely missed, and his unforgettable musicianship will always be remembered.”