X Ray Spex
| X Ray Spex | |
|---|---|
| General information | |
| origin | London , UK |
| Genre (s) | Punk , new wave |
| founding | 1976, 1991 |
| resolution | 1979, 1995 |
| Website | x-rayspex.com |
| Last occupation | |
| Poly Styrene † | |
| Paul Dean | |
| former members | |
| Jak Airport † (until 1979) | |
| BP Hurding (until 1979) | |
| Lora Logic (1976/77, 1995) | |
| Steve Thompson (1977-1979) | |
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X-Ray Spex were an early British punk band around singer Poly Styrene and were founded in London in 1976 .
Career
Characteristic was the haunted, penetrating, hysterical singing of Poly Styrene alias Marianne Joan Elliott-Said (1957-2011), as well as the saxophone , which otherwise did not belong to a classic punk line-up. Poly Styrene was the flagship of the group. She demonstratively wore braces and said in an interview that she would immediately shear her head if she became a sex symbol. The band released songs like Oh Bondage Up Yours , Identity , Germ Free Adolescents . It existed until 1979. The texts dealt partly critically and partly ironically with modern life.
In 1979 Poly Styrene released another solo album, Translucence , and then joined the Hare Krishna movement. 1995 found the founding members Poly Styrene, Paul Dean and Lora Logic again for the second studio album Conscious Consumer , but could not build on earlier successes and X-Ray Spex broke up shortly afterwards.
Guitarist Jak Airport alias Jack Stafford died of cancer on August 13, 2004.
On September 6, 2008, Poly Styrene and Paul Dean played as X-Ray Spex with guest musicians in a one-off concert at The Roundhouse in London .
Poly Styrene released their last solo album Generation Indigo on March 28, 2011 , on which their daughter Celeste also participated.
On April 25, 2011, the singer died of breast cancer at the age of 53.
Discography
Studio albums
- 1978: Germ Free Adolescents
- 1995: Conscious Consumer
Compilations
- 1991: Obsessed with You: The Early Years
- 2001: The Anthology
- 2005: Germ Free Adolescents (Expanded Edition) (with bonus tracks and John Peel Sessions)
- 2006: Let's Submerge (The Anthology)
- 2019: I Am a Cliché
Live albums
- 1991: Live at The Roxy
- 2009: Live @ The Roundhouse London 2008
Singles
- 1977: Oh Bondage, Up Yours
- 1978: The Day The World Turned Day-Glo
- 1978: Identity
- 1978: Germfree Adolescents
- 1979: Highly Inflammable
Others
- 1977: Virgin Records Demo (demo recordings 1977)
- 1990: Logical Demos (demo recordings 1977)
Individual evidence
- ↑ BRIT Certified on BPI.co.uk
- ↑ X-Ray Spex: Full Official Chart History on OfficialCharts.com (accessed August 4, 2020)
- ↑ Punk icon Poly Styrene dies at 53 , accessed on April 27, 2011 (English)
Web links
- Images of Poly Styrene, CBGB's, New York, 1978 ( Memento of March 26, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
- Overview ( English )
- Lyrics
- Felix Bayer: Punk icon Poly Styrene is dead , Spiegel Online , April 26, 2011
- Daniel Fersch; Markus Schneider: Poly Styrene Obituary - The founder of X-Ray Spex died at the age of 53 , Spex , April 26, 2011