X-Ray Spex
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This article is about a punk band. There is also a comic strip known as X-Ray Specs.
X-Ray Spex were a UK punk band formed in 1976. The band featured singer Poly Styrene (born Marion Elliot) on vocals, Jak Airport (Jack Stafford) on guitars, Paul Dean on bass, B. P Hurding on Drums, and Lora Logic (born Susan Whitby) on saxophone. This latter instrument was an atypical addition to the standard punk instrumental line-up, and became one of the group's most distinctive features.
X-ray Spex' other distinctive musical element was Poly Styrene's voice, which has been variously described as "effervescently discordant" [1] (http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:g1320r5ai48j) and "powerful enough to drill holes through sheet metal". [2] (http://www.comnet.ca/~rina/poly.html) As Mari Elliot, Poly had released a reggae single for GTO Records in 1976, "Silly Billy", which had not charted. Born in 1957 in Brixton, London, of Somali-English parentage, Poly Sytrene became the group's public face, and remains one of the most memorable frontwomen to emerge from the punk movement. [3] (http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/fridayreview/story/0,12102,951567,00.html) Not conventionally attractive, she wore braces on her teeth and once stated that "If anybody tried to make me a (sex symbol) I would shave my head tomorrow". [4] (http://lists.ibiblio.org/pipermail/typicalgirls/2004-July/000168.html)
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", "Germ Free Adolescents", and "Highly Inflammable" - and one album, Germ Free Adolescents. [5] (http://www.hiljaiset.sci.fi/punknet/xraysp_e.htm) [6] (http://www.comnet.ca/~rina/themusic.html#Xray) The album and title single reached 30 and 19 in their respective charts, although "Oh Bondage, Up Yours" is regarded as their most enduring artifact, both as a piece of music and as a phrase. [7] (http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3693/is_200211/ai_n9126077) [8] (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2002/04/08/bofh_oh_bondage_up_yours/) The song was not originally on the album, although later CD releases added it as the final track. The group were never promoted outside the UK, and Germ Free Adolescents was not released in America until 1992. Exhausted by touring, Poly Styrene left the band in 1979 to release a solo album, Translucence, before joining the Hare Krishna movement (as did Lora Logic, in a coincidental move, after first forming a new group called Essential Logic).
Hurding and London went on to form Classix Nouveau, whilst Paul Dean retired from musical activities. Slimmed to a three-piece consisting of Styrene, Dean and Logic, the group reformed briefly in 1995 to release a new album Conscious Consumer. Although heralded as the first in a trilogy, the album was not a commercial success, and the group disbanded thereafter. Subsequent releases include a compilation of the group's early records, a live album, and an anthology of the all the aforementioned.
Jak London later worked for the BBC's Corporate and Public Relations department under his real name, Jack Stafford; he passed away in August, 2004. [9] (http://www.comnet.ca/~rina/xrayspex.html)
Discography
Singles
- Oh Bondage, Up Yours, 1977
- The Day The World Turned Day-Glo, 1978
- Identity, 1978
- Germ Free Adolescents, 1978
- Highly Inflammable, 1979
Albums
- Germ Free Adolescents, 1978
External links
- A fan page, last updated in 1997 (http://www.terrapin.co.uk/xrayspex/)
- Pictures of Poly Styrene at CBGB's, New York, 1978 (http://www.cbgb.com/shrine/shriners/polystyrene.htm)
- An overview of the band (http://www.comnet.ca/~rina/xrayspex.html)
- Punk77's feature on the band (http://www.punk77.co.uk/groups/xrayspex.htm)
- Poly Styrene in Britain's National Portrait Gallery (http://www.npg.org.uk/live/search/person.asp?LinkID=mp60786)