Anyone who thinks the first wave of English punk was an all-lads affair has never listened to X-Ray Spex. Band vocalist and songwriter Poly Styrene spit as much bile as anyone, but she came at it from a woman’s point of view; the famed first words out of her mouth on the band’s 1977 debut single were “Some people think little girls should be seen and not heard/But I think… oh bondage up yours!” And from there on X-Ray Spex one-upped most of the bands in punk’s boys’ club. And they did it with the assistance of a very unpunk instrument, the saxophone.
X-Ray Spex were self-described “deliberate underachievers,” which helps explain why they only released four excellent singles and one album, 1978’s Germfree Adolescents. (Almost two decades later they released a second album, 1995’s Conscious Consumer, but I’ll be damned if I’ll count it.)
The only problem with Germfree Adolescents is it doesn’t include the singles, which include “Oh Bondage Up Yours!” This is a serious omission, but Caroline Records corrected things in 1991, when they re-released Germfree Adolescents with singles included. Who says record labels are all spawn of the devil?
It’s hard to escape the suspicion that X-Ray Spex didn’t receive the same acclaim as their as their contemporaries because they were fronted by a woman unafraid to express her opinions and keep up with the boys, Punk—and later hardcore—were primarily the preserves of the males of the species, although X’s Exene Cervenka certainly held her own.
Styrene, same deal; one listen to that thick accent and the band’s pure punk thrust belies any such prejudices. And anyone who doubts the band’s ferocity need only listen to 1977’s Live at the Roxy (which wasn’t released until 1991) and the band’s 2008 reunion LP Live @ the Roundhouse London—one of the small handful of reunion LPs I’ve ever loved.
Unlike Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols, Germfree Adolescents isn’t a nonstop blast of primal energy. The title track and “Warrior in Woolworths”—as well as 1991 additional track “Highly Inflammable”—make clear that X-Ray Spex had a touch of pop in their veins. But this distracted not a whit from the punk aesthetic, the signifiers of which extended to politics (or lack thereof), fashion, and most of all attitudes. Punks scared people despite the fact they weren’t significantly more dangerous than hippies, and inspired fear and loathing in rock fans forced to stand back and watch in horror as their musical fiefdom was overrun by a raving horde of talentless Huns.
Compared to the band’s two live outings Germfree Adolescents is a tad too polished, but this is a common problem—I’ve wracked my brain and the Stooges’ Funhouse is the only record I can think of that tears off the shackles of studio restraint and lays waste to the sound booth. “Art-I-Ficial” packs as much punch as anything by the Pistols, as do “I Am a Cliché” and “Identity.” But the Pistols aren’t the only points of comparison; the studio versions of “Obsessed with You” and “I Am a Cliché” have the same kick as those by X—a band they strongly remind me of.
Most of X-Ray Spex’ songs leave no doubt Styrene was a feminist. But many are critiques of consumerism, as well as the many style poseurs on the London punk scene. “Warrior in Woolworths” says it all, as does “I Am a Poseur.” She lays some of the blame on materialism run amok; “I was raised with appliance,” she sings, “in a consumer society.” “Identity” critiques the physical attributes by which women are judged—”Do you see yourself on the T.V. screen? Do you see yourself in the magazine?”
The title cut equates cleanliness with godliness, or more to the point, your odds of getting laid by someone who shares your exacting standards in hygiene. If I have one caveat it comes to the banal prediction of a dystopian future that is “Genetic Engineering.” Seems drones are going to eliminate us, and every time I hear it I find myself rooting for the drones.
I think it’s fair to say X-Ray Spex never got the kudos due them. Attribute it to sexism, or the band’s status as deliberate underachievers, but don’t write it off to lack of talent, passion, originality, or sheer chutzpah. Poly Styrene, who went on to become a Hare Krishna only to die at only 51, defined punk as well as anyone, Johnny Rotten not excluded. Poser and cliché she wasn’t. Fearless gender bomb thrower, different story.
GRADED ON A CURVE:
A
