Warrior in POLLworths: X-Ray Spex "Germ Free Adolescents" (1991 CD Edition)

went back and forth on whether to do the original LP track list or the CD, but it seemed silly to have an x-ray spex poll without "oh bondage."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLbF1V4OkBA&feature=related

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ue5jyj_nosc&feature=related

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSrOJ1ig6tI&feature=related

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2NYrIUG518&feature=related

this was my no. 1 '70s album as well! impossible to pick just one but i've always been partial to "Identity," so that, just for the hell of it.

yeah whole album is close to perfect imo. she was really amazing. i wish she hadn't gotten bored with it all so quickly.

wish she hadn't gone off the deep end as that Lydon bio suggests.

i don't know much about it except that she landed in hare krishna for a while, right?

yeah, that and apparently having some kinda ufo experience while on tour in the UK. if anyone deserves a decent rock bio it's her, imo.

"oh bondage" always gets the critics' attention, but that's mostly for its target-rich lyrics. The song itself usually annoys me. If I had to choose a song, I'd choose from "I Can't Do anything,""Genetic Engineering,""I Live off you," "Poseur," "Germ Free," and "Day Glo." Basically the more sing-songy numbers. Side two is one of the great sides, isn't it? Since I also love their propulsion, I'll narrow it down to "Live off you" and "poseur." And since "live off you" is a touch catchier and has a lingering bittersweetness (compared to the swagger of "poseur")that stays with me longer, I'll go with that (and feel bad about not choosing all those other great songs).

hate this tracksequence compared with the original LP!

(see also Big Star's Sister Lovers, which I only love one version of: starts "Stroke It Noel" to ends "Thank You Friends")

very hard to pick among X-Ray Spex faves here

I feel a bit conflicted about voting for "Germ Free" since it's so atypical of the album, but I do think it's my favorite song here.

hate this tracksequence compared with the original LP!

i can understand that, tho this is the way i first heard it. i should try programming the original tracks in original order and see the difference.

Some of my favorite sax playing on a rock record. I picked "I Am a Cliché" because it's truer than I (and they) think.

i know what you mean, but i don't know if it's truer than poly thought. she was a sharp cookie. probably my favorite punk or postpunk lyricist. (she got there before gang of four, and she's funnier.)

here's a funny little q&a with poly from 2008. she sounds pretty level-headed. except for the ufo thing...

My life in seven words... I'm a poseur 'n' I don't care!

"Cleans her teeth ten times a day" "Scrub away Scrub away Scrub away the Esso* way."

She's running out of breath and her strong voice is cracking. I love the repetitive guitar. eno, Television, little girl in bloom style.

*I guess this is a toothpaste brand. I'd wondered about this for years. I've always like my misheard lyric "the years away" instead.

It was called "S.O." the brand in question.

I tried to google a pic, but that one's impossible.

the S.R. way

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSSpugVNQD4

Ah OK - I was just thinking I don't remember an S.O. toothpaste but I remember one called Gibbs S something from my childhood - that'll be it then.

I have never been able to decipher any of the words to "The Day The World Turned Day-Glo" outside the chorus, but this impinges on my enjoyment of the song not at all. I like to play it in my car and bellow wordlessly along with Polly.

i have the lyric sheet but i still just pretty much just go I BLAH DE BLAH DE BLAH DE BLAH DE POLYSTYRENE WHOOOAA

actual words:

I clambered over mounds and mounds
Of polystyrene foam
Then fell into a swimming pool
Filled with fairy snow

And watched the world turn
Day-glo you know you know
The world turned day-glo you know

I wrenched the nylon curtains back
As far as they would go
Then peered through perspex window panes
At the acrylic road

I drove my polypropolene car
On wheels of sponge
Then pulled into a wimpy bar
To have a rubber bun

The x-rays were penetrating
Through the latex breeze
Synthetic fibre see-thru leaves
Fell from the rayon trees

love the sneery way she sings "rrrrubber bun."

I relistened to this yesterday - and realized how hard it is to pick just one of these.

Mind you, "Silly Billy" is shockingly bad.

Day-Glo

The lyrics to that song are great actually! Have to decide whether to learn them or carry on wordlessly bellowing.

i cant do anything reminds me of the muppet babies theme song

Can't really pick one, but I think I'll go with "Let's Submerge."

All time classic, can't decide between Obsessed and Identity and Plastic Bag.

Time for a new screen name.

Nobody's gonna vote for "Art-I-Ficial"?

somebody should. monster riff, and the hiccupping time signature on the chorus gets me every time.

all this and you get also get great lyrics about, um, alienated, mechanical man, much better than any Pink Floyd or Supertramp song on the subject.

and a little bit better than "905" by John Entwistle.

Anyone seen the movie Young Soul Rebels from 1991? It made great use of "Identity."

Can't really pick one, but I think I'll go with "Let's Submerge."

that song is a perfect balance of celebrating the punk scene and mocking it. "dagger glares from richard hell." (and by extension all hip scenes, i guess. "the vinyl vultures are after it.")

Sometimes I think this is the best punk LP ever. Definitely better than the Clash's first and Never Mind the Bullocks.

gratified by this placing. was starting to worry.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Come on, kids, don't hesitate.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

A year after Spex split, the sax player (Rudi) and the bassist (Paul) fetched up in a band called The Outpatients with someone I worked with (whose brother was in The Members, as it happens). I met them when they supported TV Smith at The Nashville in spring 1980, and was totally starstruck. A single came out on Albion called "New Japanese Hairstyles". It was alright!

I'm surprised that Poseur didn't get votes.

Who knew ILX was so Day-Glo-centric?

I mean I like that song plenty but sometimes I think the title is the best thing about it.