Germ Free Adolescents

Germfree Adolescents
Studio album by X-Ray Spex
Released November 1978
Recorded 1978, Essex Studios
Genre Punk rock, New Wave
Length 45:30
Label EMI
Producer Falcon Stuart
X-Ray Spex
X-Ray Spex chronology
Germfree Adolescents
(1978)		 Conscious Consumer
(1995)
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic [1]

Germfree Adolescents is the debut album of English punk rock band X-Ray Spex. It contained the UK hit singles: "The Day The World Turned Day-Glo" (No. 23 in April 1978), "Identity" (No. 24 in July 1978) and "Germfree Adolescents" which reached No. 18 in November 1978.

The album received wide acclaim upon its release.[2] In his February 1979 Consumer Guide in the Village Voice, critic Robert Christgau bemoaned the fact that Germfree Adolescents had not been released in the US and praised Poly Styrene's "cheerfully moralistic nursery rhymes", strong melodies, and the "irresistible color" of the band's "dubiously tuned one-sax horn section".[3] Trouser Press called it "a masterpiece!"[4] The Rough Guide to Rock calls it a "storming album".[5]

In 1994, The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music named Germfree Adolescents the eighth best punk albums of all-time.[6] Seven years later, in May 2001, Spin magazine ranked the album number 5 in its "50 Most Essential Punk Records". In March 2003, Mojo magazine ranked the LP number 19 in its 'Top 50 Punk Albums'.[7]

Contents

Track listing

All songs written by Poly Styrene.

Side one

  1. "Art-I-Ficial" - 3:24
  2. "Obsessed with You" - 2:30
  3. "Warrior in Woolworths" - 3:06
  4. "Let's Submerge" - 3:26
  5. "I Can't Do Anything" - 2:58
  6. "Identity" - 2:25

Side two

  1. "Genetic Engineering" - 2:49
  2. "I Live Off You" - 2:09
  3. "I Am a Poseur" - 2:34
  4. "Germfree Adolescents" - 3:14
  5. "Plastic Bag" - 4:54
  6. "The Day the World Turned Day-Glo" - 2:53

Additional Tracks

The 1991 Caroline release features four additional tracks and a rearranged song order.

  1. The Day The World Turned Dayglo" - 2:50
  2. "Obsessed With You" - 2:26
  3. "Genetic Engineering" - 2:46
  4. "Identity" - 2:21
  5. "I Live Off You" - 2:06
  6. "Germfree Adolescents" - 3:10
  7. "Art-I-Ficial" - 3:21
  8. "Let's Submerge" - 3:23
  9. "Warrior In Woolworths" - 3:03
  10. "I Am A Poseur" - 2:30
  11. "I Can't Do Anything" - 2:55
  12. "Highly Inflammable" - 2:32
  13. "Age" - 2:36
  14. "Plastic Bag" - 4:51
  15. "I Am A Cliche" - 1:52
  16. "Oh Bondage Up Yours!" - 2:48

The 2005 CD reissue includes the following bonus tracks not on the original release.

  1. "Oh Bondage Up Yours!" - 2:51
  2. "I Am a Cliché" - 1:55
  3. "Highly Inflammable" - 2:35
  4. "Age" - 2:38
  5. "Genetic Engineering" - 2:49
  6. "Art-I-Ficial" - 3:24
  7. "I Am a Poseur" - 2:34
  8. "Identity" - 2:25
  9. "Germfree Adolescents" - 3:05
  10. "Warrior in Woolworths" - 3:06
  11. "Age" - 2:38

Personnel

Additional personnel

Notes

  1. ^ Allmusic review
  2. ^ For example, critics at the NME ranked the album number 9 in their albums of the year list.
  3. ^ Consumer Guide, Feb. 26, 1979
  4. ^ Trouser Press
  5. ^ The Rough Guide to Rock, p.1194
  6. ^ Larkin, Colin (1994). All Time Top 1000 Albums. Enfield: Guinness Publishing. pp. 236. ISBN 0-85112-786-X. ;
  7. ^ Mojo Issue 112 (March 2003) Top 50 Punk Albums;
X-Ray Spex
Poly Styrene • Jak Airport • Paul Dean • B. P. Hurding • Rudi Thomson • Lora Logic
Studio albums
Germfree Adolescents · Conscious Consumer
Singles
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