Germ Free Adolescents

Product Information

A spokesperson for Styrene confirmed her death this morning, saying everyone around her was saddened by the news. A full statement is expected later today. Robbins, Ira (7 August 1992). "Germfree Adolescents". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on 17 November 2016 . Retrieved 5 September 2016. Probably the best release from all the first wave of UK punk bands (and I'm including the Clash and the Pistols in that), this is a blistering set of classic tunes that really epitomise the mood of the time. There are tons of great riffs and clanging rhythms, underpinned by some incessant sax lines that provide a slyly melodic counterpoint to all the noise going on around them. Poly Styrene's harsh, shrill, almost atonal vocals set it all off brilliantly, and the lyrics - taking pot-shots at consumerism and the difficulty of creating personal, alternative identities in what was/is fundamentally a conservative and conformist society - are bang on the money.

Staunton, Terry (May 2009). "X-Ray Spex – Germ Free Adolescents: Deluxe Edition". Record Collector. No.362 . Retrieved 5 September 2016. MercuryPrize (15 September 2014). "FKA twigs Q&A – 2014 Mercury Prize". Archived from the original on 13 December 2021 – via YouTube. BOFH: Oh Bondage Up Yours! (article demonstrating the use of the song title as a catchphrase)". The Register . Retrieved 23 May 2008. X-Ray Spex weren’t revolutionary fellow travelers like the Sandinista fans in The Clash, nor were they indiscriminate nihilists like the Sex Pistols. X-Ray Spex were political in the way that Marshall McLuhan was political, less concerned with whoever’s in power at the moment than the capitalist system, and the insidious ways it controls ordinary peoples’ lives. This dystopian, almost sci-fi streak is most prevalent on “The Day The World Turned Dayglo”; opening with chugging power chords and a wailing sax riff, the song lives up to its B-movie title with Poly’s vision of a world where even the trees are artificial: “The X-rays were penetrating / Through the latex breeze / Synthetic fiber see-thru leaves / Fell from the rayon trees.” During their first incarnation (1976–1979), X-Ray Spex released five singles and one album. [1] Their 1977 single " Oh Bondage Up Yours!" and 1978 debut album Germfree Adolescents are widely acclaimed as classic punk releases. [sources 1] The band has briefly reformed several times in the 1990s and 2000s.

You may also like

Germfree Adolescents (November 1978: EMI International, INT 3023) – No. 30 UK Albums Chart, [41] No. 56 AUS [42] Murray, Charles Shaar (1978). "No Pop, No Style Poly Styrene is Still Strictly Roots". NME (published 13 May 1978). Archived from the original on 27 October 2009 . Retrieved 19 January 2008. Thompson, Dave (2000). Punk . Ontario: Collector's Guide Publication. p.102. ISBN 1-896522-27-0. It was a tremendous record… Whatever else X-Ray Spex might achieve, Oh Bondage had already done more than most groups manage in an entire career Dolan, Jon (May 2001). "The 50 Most Essential Punk Records – 5. X-Ray Spex: Germfree Adolescents". Spin. Vol.17, no.5. p.108 . Retrieved 23 October 2020.

Oh Bondage Up Yours!" featured on The Roxy London WC2 (24 June 1977: Harvest Records SHSP4069) – No.24 UK Albums Chart [41] On 28 April 2008, Poly Styrene gave a performance of "Oh Bondage Up Yours!" in front of more than 10,000 people at the Love Music Hate Racism free concert in Victoria Park, East London. [ citation needed]

Follow Us

From Concrete Jungle Festival to X-ray Spex live at the Roundhouse". symondlawes.blogspot.co.uk. 19 March 2011 . Retrieved 20 October 2015. In public, Poly Styrene and her bandmates put forth a playful image of happy pigs heading to the self-aware synthetic slaughter. But in private, the band’s meteoric rise to fame was starting to weigh on its leader. In 2017, Poly’s daughter, Celeste Bell, wrote in The Guardian, “I wonder if my mum might have had a happier life if she hadn’t had that level of fame,” a question that’s all but answered by this classic introvert statement Poly made in 1978: “You feel all the time that people are draining you, draining off your energy all the time until you think, ‘Blimey, I haven’t got anything left to give. Leave me alone.’” X-Ray Spex played at 'Front Row Festival', a three-week event at the Hope and Anchor, Islington in late November and early December 1977. [24] This resulted in the band's inclusion, alongside the likes of Wilko Johnson, 999, The Only Ones, the Saints, The Stranglers, and XTC, on a double album of recordings from the festival. Then, in February 1978, before the release of their second single, X-Ray Spex recorded the first of two sessions for John Peel at BBC Radio 1. [31] Their profile was further enhanced by playing a fortnight's residency at New York's CBGB's, even though the album Germ Free Adolescents was not released in America until 1992.

Larkin, Colin (1994). All Time Top 1000 Albums . Enfield: Guinness Publishing. p.236. A colourful explosion of sound The first incarnation of X-Ray Spex existed from mid-1976 to 1979, during which time they released five singles—"Oh Bondage Up Yours!", "Identity", "The Day the World Turned Day-Glo", "Germfree Adolescents", and "Highly Inflammable"—and one album, Germfree Adolescents. [17] [32] One retrospective review described the singles as "not only riveting examples of high-energy punk, but contained provocative, thoughtful lyrics berating the urban synthetic fashions of the 70s and urging individual expression". [33] a b "Poly Styrene, X-Ray Spex frontwoman and punk icon, subject of new documentary". 29 March 2017. Poly Styrene died of spinal and breast cancer on 25 April 2011 in East Sussex, England, at the age of 53. [38] Documentary and biography [ edit ]When you look in the mirror do you see yourself?/Do you see yourself on the T.V. screen?/Do you see yourself in the magazine/When you see yourself does it make you scream? In 2020, Rolling Stone ranked the album at number 354 in their list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. [23] Cover versions and cultural references [ edit ] In 1994, The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music named Germfree Adolescents the eighth best punk album of all time. [19] Seven years later, in May 2001, Spin magazine ranked the album at number five on its "50 Most Essential Punk Records" list. [20] In March 2003, Mojo magazine ranked the record at number 19 on its "Top 50 Punk Albums" list. [21] Germfree Adolescents is listed in the reference book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. [22] NOFX – Germ Free Adolescents (X-Ray Spex cover) Lyrics – SongMeanings". SongMeanings . Retrieved 4 July 2018.

The Guardian (November 2007). 1,000 Albums To Hear Before You Die . London. {{ cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher ( link) Christgau, Robert (26 April 2011). "Poly Styrene, Punk Pioneer, Dies at 53". NPR . Retrieved 23 October 2020. The same reviewer in The Virgin Encyclopedia of Popular Music sums up the band's 1970s contribution as "one of the most inventive, original and genuinely exciting groups to emerge during the punk era". [33] Reformation [ edit ]

Recommendations

Christgau, Robert (26 February 1979). "Christgau's Consumer Guide". The Village Voice . Retrieved 23 October 2020.