Witnessing the Sex Pistols at Hastings pier in July 1976 was a game changer for Marianne Joan Elliott-Said aka Poly Styrene. With an 'if they can do it so can l' attitude, she put W an ad in Melody Maker for "young punx who want to stick it together" and from it X-Ray Spex were born. Their debut single, Oh Bondage Up Yours!, arriving in October 1977, is one of punk's great subversive 45s, both anti-consumerist protest and feminist warrior cry. Its thrilling, "Some people think little girls should be seen and not heard but I think..." intro and seditionary sax honk from a 15-year-old Susan Whitby, alias Lora Logic, remain unbeatable.
Yet the group were short-lived, Logic gone after that first single and the group all wound up by 1979 leaving behind just five singles and one album, 1978's Germfree Adolescents, when Poly, a genius tormented, retreated into the Hare Krishna community.
She'd return to music-making sporadically, most notably reuniting with Logic for one final X-Ray Spex album, 1995's Conscious Consumer, and 2011's Generation Indigo, her solo album, which she completed just before her death from breast cancer aged 53.
Gone too soon, yet a part of her survives the part that inspired Luscious Jackson and Bikini Kill, Kim Gordon and Big Joanie, Beth Ditto and Neneh Cherry and her own daughter Celeste Bell; the part that echoes in protests for gender equality and environmental sustainability and the part that echoes in those recordings of a voice full of wit and joy calling out "the plastic way of life".
"Poly Styrene's voice on Oh Bondage Up Yours! was the most exhilarating voice I ever heard - it was all body," said Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth, one of many who provided testimony after she passed.
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der March 2024-Ausgabe von Record Collector.
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Diese Geschichte stammt aus der March 2024-Ausgabe von Record Collector.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
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WINDOWS ON THE WORLD
At the peak of their powers in the early 70s, by 1975 there were signs that Led Zeppelin were burning out, and their legendary appetite for excess, not to mention stadium-straddling, mythically charged, epically inclined hard rock, might be waning.
HI-FIDELITY?
Running a record shop is a dream for many music aficionados. Steve Burniston investigates how to run a successful one
THE ENGINE ROOM
The unsung heroes who helped forge modern music
UNDER THE RADAR
Artists, bands, and labels meriting more attention
45 SHEFFIELD 45s
Continuing our celebrations of RC's 45th birthday and following on from our look at the best 45s to come out of Manchester, Liverpool, Bristol and Glasgow, we focus on the urbanisation formerly known as Steel City: Sheffield. Close to the (Nether) Edge: Jeremy Allen
Finished Symphonies
In the late 80s, Shelleyan Orphan made rarefied, ravishing, precious (both meanings) baroque pop, all chamber quartet accompaniment and literary reference points, like an 18th century Cocteau Twins.
"BLACK BRITISH PEOPLE HAD SOMETHING TO SHOUT ABOUT"
Breaking new ground for black music in Britain from his teenage years in Matumbi in the early 70s, Dennis Bovell went on to become one of reggae's most highly regarded producers, helping popularise lovers rock. He also played a pivotal role in post-punk's experimental incorporation of dub influences on records like The Slits' Cut and The Pop Group's Y. As new compilation, Sufferer Sounds, reaches back to his early days to compile some of his best early dub plates, Lois Wilson gets the full backstory from one of British music's most enduring forces.
FRENZY REUNITED
Swindon's finest musical export, XTC were also one of the most quietly influential British bands, setting a template for Britpop while pioneering a brand of left-field guitar pop – from herky-jerky invention to consummate craftsmanship – that has spawned many imitators.
Paperback Blighters - The books every record collector should read.
The books every record collector should read. Vinyl, you may have heard, has made a big comeback. In 2022, sales of vinyl albums surpassed compact discs (CDs) for the first time in more than three decades in terms of global revenue, racking up more than $1.2bn.
"Beware the Savage Lure/of 1984..." - David Bowie is one of the most venerated musicians ever. But even he had his bad periods.
David Bowie is one of the most venerated musicians ever. But even he had his bad periods. For many, 1984 remains the nadir of his Phil Collins” phase; an artistic/sartonial/tonsorial disaster area. But was it really that awful? Forty years on, Matt Phillips explores Bowie's so-called annus horribilis.
