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X-Ray Spex

X-Ray Spex

Since 1976 · United Kingdom

X-Ray Spex formed in London in 1976 around Poly Styrene, born Marianne Elliott-Said, whose braces, day-glo wardrobe and piercing voice made the band impossible to mistake for anyone else on the scene. Their story

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Who they shaped

In front, left to right: Sleater-Kinney, FKA twigs, Bikini Kill.

The bigger the face, the stronger the proof: they said it themselvesreporteda critic, or widely accepted

Germfree Adolescents cover

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Germfree Adolescents (1978)

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Germfree Adolescents pairs Poly Styrene's yelped, theatrical vocal with a squalling saxophone line that gives the whole record a cartoonish, almost carnival energy other punk bands never attempted. "Identity" turns anxiety about self-image and consumer culture into a genuinely catchy chant, Styrene's voice cracking between defiance and real vulnerability. The band's tightness belies how quickly it was all over; this is the only album X-Ray Spex made in their original run. It remains one of punk's most distinctive records precisely because nothing else from the era sounds like it.

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X-Ray Spex

Germfree Adolescents · 1978

X-Ray Spex formed in London in 1976 around Poly Styrene, born Marianne Elliott-Said, whose braces, day-glo wardrobe and piercing voice made the band impossible to mistake for anyone else on the scene. The addition of a saxophone, unusual in a punk context, gave their songs a squalling, almost cartoonish edge that matched Styrene's lyrics about consumerism, plastic culture and the pressure to conform to a single idea of identity.

Germfree Adolescents, their only album from the band's original run, arrived in 1978 on the back of the earlier single "Oh Bondage Up Yours!" Styrene left the music industry not long after, later joining the Hare Krishna movement and stepping away from performing for long stretches before occasional returns. She died in 2011, having spent barely two years as a recording artist but leaving behind one of punk's most singular voices.

Since 1976 · United Kingdom