The late 1970s in the UK, as in much of the world, were a time of turmoil politically, socially and economically. The Vietnam War had ended in abject failure for the USA, countries in South America had overthrown elected governments and wars started in Angola, Lebanon and the Cold War was at a high point. The enthusiasm and sense of hope that people had felt throughout the 60s was fading as the entire world seemed to be heading toward depression.
Throughout the 70s there was a growth in what would become the dominant form of music, at least in the singles charts, club scene and amongst the young and racially and sexually mixed younger generation of the time. The hedonistic and borderline solipsistic influence of disco presaged the direction the world would take in the coming decade, but in the 70s it was the abandonment of the dominant morals of the time, even if all it amounted to was people dancing and drinking on the deck of a sinking ship; but coming over the horizon were a bunch of bad tempered, ill-mannered buccaneers keen on tearing everything apart.
Punk arrived like a boot to the crotch of society and a lot of people with a vested interest in the status quo felt the pain. Punk shared some elements of the approach to society of disco, and even the hippy movement that went before that, in that it was inclusive, non-discriminatory and wanted to change the society in which it was created, but that was where the common threads ended. Punk lacked the hedonistic sense of the previous sub-culture, chose confrontation rather than peace and an aesthetic of the used, cheap and torn over designer labels and glamour, and few bands would ever express this attitude more than X-Ray Spex.
X-Ray Spex were a political statement as a band, regardless of the music that they would produce. Five teenagers possessing various levels of musical ability fronted by the gloriously named Poly Styrene, a mixed race woman with very obvious braces on her teeth, as a collective they looked like the kids who had become friends because there was no-one else who would be friends with them, possibly because they had something to say and they were damn well going to say it.
The first song that brought the band to the attention of the public was the provocatively titled “ Oh Bondage, Up Yours! ” which started with Poly Styrene speaking the line “Some people think little girls should be seen and not heard but I think; oh bondage up yours!”, with the name of the song yelled into the microphone. This was not a reference to the style of clothing that would become associated with the punk movement, but more to do with a sexual practice favoured by right wing members of parliament; it was also the statement of a rejection of the restrictions placed on women and their place in society. Curiously this track would not feature on their debut album “Germfree Adolescents” but the tone of their debut single would continue throughout.
From the opening track “Art-i-ficial”, with its themes of consumerism and identity, through the final track “The Day the World Turned Day-Glo”, with its imagery of fake products and waste, there is a continuous focus on consumerism, misogyny, authoritarianism and the mental states these factors can induce. “Obsessed With You” turns the normal focus of obsession on its head, foreshadowing the tracking of digital identity across multiple platforms, with the notion that it is those in control who are obsessed with the commercial activities of individuals, an idea that is extended in “Plastic Bag” to the ubiquity of advertising affecting the way people think and see themselves, once again an idea that we would be all too familiar with today. “Identity” expands on these ideas, drawing on representation in media and how that reflects back on those who consume it, often resulting in people adopting false personas in the hope of fitting in or impressing others, as alluded to in “Warrior in Woolworths” and “I Am A Poseur”, the latter being possibly the most self-explanatory of all their titles.
Several tracks on the album, though still dealing with the notions of identity and consumerism, take a darker turn. "Germ Free Adolescents" is about the repressive effects of obeying societal norms, but also reads like a description of OCD, while "I Live Off You" is quite blunt about the way modern society needs to exploit people for gain. “I Can’t Do Anything” speaks of someone who is stuck, unable to progress, with a suggestion of attempted suicide; a description that today would be easily recognised as depression, while “Let’s Submerge” employs imagery of hell, as an allusion to night life and the underground, that would not be out of place in Paradise Lost or The Divine Comedy. “Genetic Engineering” has a strong dystopian, Brave New World influenced feel, but the way the song starts, with Poly Styrene counting to four in German, suggests that there may be a different meaning to a song about science creating “a perfect race”.
“Germfree Adolescents” would be the only album that X-Ray
Spex would release, the group breaking up due to the negative attention that
fame, however minor, would bring, yet this album would go on to influence bands
in the years that followed; not least of which was the Riot Grrrl movement over
a decade later, though how much it was an influence is open to debate. They
were a different voice in the early punk movement, not as aggressive or
confrontational as The Sex Pistols or extremely political as Crass, with much
wider musical influences than most punk bands of the time, but what they had to
say is still very much relevant to this day
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