Shelley's debut album Sky Yen was recorded in 1974 but remained unheard until March of 1980 when it was released on 12" vinyl in an edition of 1000 on Shelley's own label, Groovy Records. The original purpose of Sky Yen was as the soundtrack to the experimental film of the same name by Howard Devoto. It was recorded as one continuous piece of music with a purpose-built oscillator and was notable for its use of layered electronics and playback speed manipulation to achieve its experimental feel. Rooted in electronic music, it has garnered comparisons to krautrock.[1] Also released on Groovy Records was the soundtrack LP Hangahar by Sally Timms and Lindsay Lee, which included Shelley as a musician, and an album by artists Eric Random, Barry Adamson and Francis Cookson under the name "Free Agents." After these releases, Groovy Records never released another album. The label was managed by Shelley cohorts Jon Savage and Linder Sterling, who also ran the Buzzcock's own label, New Hormones.

In 1981, Shelley released his first solo single, the song "Homosapien", which had originally been written for the next Buzzcocks LP. On this recording he returned to his original interests in electronic music and shifted emphasis from guitar to synthesizer. The song was banned by the BBC for "explicit reference to gay sex", which didn't stop it from becoming enormously popular in dance clubs in Europe and North America. At this time, Pete Shelley also talked about his bisexuality,[2] which had been implicit in many of the Buzzcocks songs he had written but now came to attention due to "Homosapien" and the BBC ban.

1982 saw the controversial single followed by an LP of the same name. Shelley released his second LP XL1 in 1983 on Genetic Records. It included a computer program for the ZX Spectrum which featured lyrics and graphics which displayed in time with the music, an innovative precursor to the visuals of today's media players. XL1 was produced by Martin Rushent and Shelley. June of 1986 saw Shelley release the darker, edgier Heaven and the Sea, an album that drew comparisons to Love and Rockets, Gary Numan and late period Ultravox. In 1987 he followed the album with a new song, "Do Anything", for the film Some Kind of Wonderful. Several singles, predominately consisting of tracks from his albums, were released by Shelley throughout the years, but standalone singles including "Telephone Operator", a minor hit in 1983, and 1989's "Homosapien II" were also released.

Shelley has also played with various other musicians during his career, including a stint with Pauline Murray of Penetration for her LP Pauline Murray and The Invisible Girls, who backed punk poet John Cooper Clarke. Shelley also collaborated with a band called Tiller Boys, which was comprised of assorted punk veterans, and Zip. He briefly reunited with Howard Devoto to make the LP Buzzkunst, released in 2002.

Shelley co-wrote music for the 2006 film, Brothers of the Head. He also appeared on the 2005 debut EP by the Los Angeles band The Adored (who toured extensively with Buzzcocks the following year.)
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