X-Ray Spex

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This article is about the punk band. For other uses, see X-Ray Specs .

X-Ray Spex
Origin	London, England
Genre(s)	Punk rock, New Wave
Years active	1976–1979 1991 1995–1996 2008
Label(s)	EMI, Receiver
Website	www.x-rayspex.com
Former members
Poly Styrene Lora Logic Jak Airport Paul Dean Rudi Thompson BP Hurding

X-Ray Spex are an English punk band from London formed in 1976.

1 Career
2 Reformation
3 Discography
- 3.1 Albums
- 3.2 Singles
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Career

Initially, the band featured singer Poly Styrene (born Marian Joan Elliott) on vocals, Jak Airport (Jack Stafford) on guitars, Paul Dean on bass, Paul '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's other distinctive musical element was Poly Styrene's voice, which has been variously described as "effervescently discordant"^[1] and "powerful enough to drill holes through sheet metal".^[2] 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, of Somali-English parentage, Poly Styrene became the group's public face, and remains one of the most memorable front-women to emerge from the punk movement.^[3] Not conventionally attractive, she wore thick braces on her teeth and once stated that "I said that I wasn't a sex symbol and that if anybody tried to make me one I'd shave my head tomorrow".^[4] She later actually did at Johnny Rotten's flat prior to a concert at Victoria Park. Mark Paytress recounts in the liner notes for the 2002 compilation, The Anthology, that Jah Wobble, Rotten's longtime friend and bassist for his post-punk venture PiL, once described Styrene as a "strange girl who often talked of hallucinating. She freaked John out."^[5] Rotten, known more for his outspoken dislike of things than actual praise and admiration, recently said of X-Ray Spex in a retrospective punk documentary, "Them, they came out with a sound and attitude and a whole energy - it was just not relating to anything around it - superb."^[6]

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.^[7]^[2] 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 sort of proto-grrrl catch-phrase.^[8]^[9] Opening with the line, "Some people think little girls should be seen and not heard - well I think, oh bondage, up yours!", the song could be interpreted as a premonition of the riot grrrl movement a good 15 years later, although Styrene herself insists it was more intended as an anti-consumerist/anti-capitalist jingle, and wasn't exclusively feminist in nature. The song was not originally on the album, although later CD releases added it as the final track.

The group played a fortnight's residency at New York's CBGB's, even though 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 Logic, who left the band aged 16 in 1977 to form a new group called Essential Logic).

Without Styrene, the group lost its momentum and split up. Hurding and London went on to form Classix Nouveaux, while Paul Dean and Rudi Thompson went on to form Agent Orange with Anthony (Tex) Doughty, who later become a founding member of Transvision Vamp.

[edit] Reformation

In 1991 re-grouped X-Ray Spex played a surprise sell-out gig at the Brixton Academy. Uniquely, this version of the group did not include Poly Styrene, and according to an interview with Lora Logic^[2]: "... that was a mistake. They put that together with another singer and I played with them for a tour but you can't really have it without Poly."

The group reformed more successfully in 1995 with a line-up of Styrene, Dean and Logic to release a new album Conscious Consumer. Although heralded as the first in a trilogy, the album was not a commercial success. Styrene later explained^[10] that touring and promotional work suffered an abrupt end when she was run over by a fire engine in central London. The group disbanded, but subsequent releases include a compilation of the group's early records, a live album, and an anthology of all the aforementioned.

Jak Airport later worked for the BBC's Corporate and Public Relations department under his real name, Jack Stafford; he died on August 13, 2004 of cancer.^[2]

During the first week in 2008 the X-Ray Spex announced that they will be playing The Roundhouse in Camden on September 6th.^[11]^[12] This reformation will include Poly Styrene, Syd Truelove on drums, Ed Ball on bass, Flash on sax, The Great Saxby on guitar, with guest appearances from some ex members of the band, to include Paul Dean.^{[citation needed]}