TeachRock

X-Ray Spex

Members: Poly Styrene, Jak Airport, Paul Dean, BP Hurding, Lora Logic, Rudi Thomson
Origin: London, England, UK
Years Active: 1976 – 1979, 1991, 1995 – 1996, 2008

English band X-Ray Spex were one of the first Punk bands not only led by a woman, but by a biracial woman, whose stage name was Poly Styrene. With Styrene leading the group, X-Ray Spex brought a different, more expansive and inclusive, Punk message and sound to the masses.

Born Marianne Joan Elliott-Said in 1957 in Bromley, England to a Somali father and Scottish-Irish mother, Styrene began her music career in her teens. Already experimenting with songwriting and recording her own music, in 1976 she decided to form a band after seeing the Sex Pistols. Styrene placed an advertisement in the British music magazine, Melody Maker, and formed the initial lineup of X-Ray Spex. Her bandmates included saxophone player Lora Logic, guitarist Jak Airport, bassist Paul Dean, and drummer BP Hurding. Their debut single “Oh Bondage Up Yours!” was released in 1977 on Virgin Records and their first album, Germfree Adolescents debuted on EMI Records in 1978.

X-Ray Spex’s music was not the fast, aggressive Punk that many of their white, male counterparts in the scene were creating. Rather, the band offered a more snarky, socially aware sound that was upbeat and contained Pop stylings that connected it to New Wave music. X-Ray Spex addressed issues like identity, consumer culture, and the role of women in the songs Styrene wrote. However, Styrene broke up the group in 1979 as she wasn’t fully comfortable being in the spotlight, especially with attacks on her body image by the media and having to endure blatant sexism and racism.

Styrene released her debut solo record Translucence in 1980. Although X-Ray Spex had disbanded, they played a surprise show in 1991 at Brixton Academy in London. The band released their second album, Conscious Consumer in 1995. They also toured in support of the record, but had again disbanded by 1996.

Through the next several years, Styrene lived quietly raising her daughter, Celeste Bell. Over the years, she released more solo records, including Generation Indigo in 2011 amid a breast cancer diagnosis. Later that year, Poly Styrene died. Celeste Bell co-wrote a biography about her mother, Day Glo: The Poly Styrene Story that was published in 2019 and co-directed a documentary, Poly Styrene: I Am A Cliché that premiered in 2021. The book and film have allowed Styrene’s story and legacy to endure and reach new fans.

X-Ray Spex were widely influential. Artists like Neneh Cherry, Kathleen Hanna of Bikini Kill, and Shamir credit Styrene for cementing the idea that women and people of color belong in and can lead groups in the Punk music scene. X-Ray Spex and Styrene’s work is still celebrated and enjoyed today.