SuperSuper’s editor in chief meets the queen of British punk 

 

X Ray Spex defy most, if not all of the postcard punk stereotypes you will have heard about – Lead singer Poly Styrene (Marian Joan Elliot) is a magnificent half Somalian lady, and in 1976 when the legendary band burst onto the burgeoning punk scene she was just 18 years old and a trained opera singer. Sex Pistols frontman John Lydon, not known for his particularly generous praise of his peers, was completely won over by The Spex; “They came out with a sound and attitude and a whole energy - it was just not relating to anything around it - superb.” With her brightly coloured homemade outfits and braces on her teeth, Poly’s band were truly standout from a crowd that were forever trying to stand out, This true punk queen never needed to prove herself with cliché safety pins and a leather jacket, because X- Ray Spex’s lead singer’s uniqueness was effortless, intrinsic – it was apparent in everything she did, wore and said from her acid green turban, and turquoise suit ensembles to that unlikely punk instrument the saxophone that bluesily whined throughout her wonderfully direct poetic musings about the plasticity and lack of humanity in modern life– ‘I am a Cliche’, ‘Warrior in Woolworths,’ Plastic Bag’, The Day the World Turned Day Glo’ and their incredible chart topping ballad ‘Germ Free Adolescent’ to name a few. But mostly the spirit de la punk was there in her unimpressed, relentlessly, tough choir sweet but relentless vocal – a shrill high pitched note perfect irrepressible scream – that attempted by anyone other than Poly would be utterly hideous, but it was tremendous and amazing. Poly took the whole idea of punk and made it her own without so much as a blink. She knew all the rules about singing and then broke them so deeply, femininely and stylishly the result was beautiful proto pop that would be continually referred back to in years to come. When Simon Cowell says “make the song your own” to the contestants on X Factor – this is what we all wish he really meant, X Ray Spex broke all the rules, the rules that existed pre-punk and the rules that punk itself created, not just for the sake of anarchy but for the sake of future music.

It comes as no surprise then, that the music hasn’t dated one bit. In fact XRS back catalogue remains spookily symbiotic with our complex 21st century dilemmas – Poly’s predictive lyrics ringing ever truer in the age of cyberspace, plastic surgery, weird wars and even faster food. With this post-millennial decades obsession with looking back, listening to XRS clearly demonstrates how looking forward is the only way to be timeless, and to be remembered. In 1976 X Ray Spex seemed to land briefly, and brilliantly, on earth only to fly back off to outer space after only 2 brilliant albums in 1979 never to perform on our planet again. Until last year for an epic 30th anniversary gig complete with brand new tracks! What a legacy to behold!!! 

 SS: So nice to meet you Poly! Wow! I have so much that I want to ask you and you have been such an inspiration to me in both the creation of this magazine and my own music and style. Where do I start??!! Ok, why do you think that you stood the test of time and why do you think so many young people still relate to your music?

PS: I think it’s probably the lyrics - well it seemed like that at last year’s show because everyone was singing along, and there’s a good sound to the music; a good guitar sound, a good sax sound, you know upbeat, dance-y, high energy, it’s quite uplifting, but lyrically it’s probably the main attraction. And you know there’s the title of the album as well “Germ Free Adolescents” - the fact that it’s called Germ Free Adolescents means that every new generation of adolescents seem to relate to it. It seems like it’s a rite of passage for teenage girls and also young guys.

SS: Your lyrics have always been very direct and conjure up images of plasticity and blank consumerism in a highly thoughtful way. You always seem to be commenting about society and you’re not very ‘me-centric’ at all often swapping obvious personal feelings about ‘self for social insights.’ Tell us more about your writing?

PS; Yeah well, when I was writing them it was almost like a diary painting pictures with words, but there was also some kind of social commentary as well, but I don’t think I was really saying whether it’s right or wrong, I was just putting it in there for something to debate. I just like to write what’s around me. I don’t go out of my way to upset the government and I’m not trying to be political really, they just come out that way, you can’t help but notice and comment especially when you’re being bombarded with it. I’m a news junkie, so I watch news 24/7 – always have.

SS: Poly, tell us about your stance on the documented story of punk – the destroy, rip it up ethos – how did you feel about that and how did you relate to it?

PS: You mean the ‘anarchic’ thing?

SS: Yeah the anarchy thing…

PS: Well, I think that wasn’t an X-Ray Spex message. We were actually more into the consumerism and plastic living and sort of laughing about it. I mean we weren’t really into ‘destroy’ as an idea. On ‘Conscious Consumer’ I have got one song that goes ‘met a guy, his t-shirt read destroy,’ which is kind of funny. I have written a little bit about it, but not much. It wasn’t really our thing but there was that nihilistic anti-Christ thing but that’s more to do with the [Sex] Pistol’s lyrics, Ya know “Anarchy in the UK”…and all that.

SS: So did you distance yourself from it?

PS: The ideology of it, yeah. I found it a bit negative. I think even John [Lydon] found it a bit negative because it came back to haunt him in a negative way. He meant something quite positive really.

SS: I do feel that people like you [Poly] and John Lydon, even though hugely different from one another, were very positive in what you were trying to do, always focusing on the world and the greater good. And you always seemed to do things a bit differently to what everybody else did, even with the colourful clothes that you wore….

PS: Yeah because they were into that whole black thing and safety pins…

SS: Yeah and you were BIG into colours. Tell us about your unique take on punk style?

PS: Yeah well I just always thought that because I grew up in the Seventies, and there were a lot of creative influences around and the whole idea was to be an individual - an original, not to go out and copy! But I didn’t think it was ‘punk’ to wear a uniform particularly. The idea that you should have a punk uniform was idiotic, I think even Lydon found it a bit stupid…

SS: Because it goes against everything punk is supposed to be as an ideology?

PS: Yeah we thought it was about DIY and being creative and making your own stuff, not really copying, but being original. That’s what we were trying to do at the time…

SS: But then everyone started to copy the innovators when the original point was to what the hell you personally wanted, and the whole intellectual standpoint lost its power?  What about definitions – did labelling the movement ‘punk’ help or hinder it in your opinion?

PS: Well I never liked the word at the time, because it was a sort of derogatory name – to be called a punk, although I liked it at the very beginning, but then I saw that there was a backlash of the general public not liking it and that made it a bit difficult and I was a bit ashamed to be, you know, to be like, ‘oh god I’m a punk!’ [Poly hides in her jumper looking embarrassed].

SS: Haha! Sounds a lot like New Rave! What would they say to you? What kind of things?

PS: Well you’d just be embarrassed if you were around really straight conservative people, if you ever came into that environment. Although, there was a really eccentric posh lady who invited me to be woman of the year in ’79, and she wrote on my badge, (because I had to wear a badge!) ‘Punk Pioneer.’ Which is kinda sweet -I mean she’s not alive anymore, but she was founder of ‘Woman of the Year.’ Then you had all the “shock horror” attitudes from people who thought we were the spawn of the devil. They thought ‘here’s the generation that’s going to destroy everything’ and were genuinely really worried about punks and anarchy!

SS: The time when punk happened was kind of similar to now, you know in economic terms with the recession, and I was watching a documentary about all of the rubbish in the streets and the winter of discontent with the dole queues and the miners strikes. What was it like back then?

PS: I left school and I worked in the fashion industry so I had a job which was lucky. I wasn’t highly paid but it was my first job. I didn’t have a lot of money but I wasn’t really suffering, so maybe that’s why X-Ray Spex came out as being more of a fun band.  And also my manager had a house and he didn’t have a mortgage. We could rehearse in his house and I had a flat downstairs, so I wasn’t really suffering hard like maybe some were. I remember I had little jobs typing here and there, so I was getting by. But I don’t think you can compare now to how it was in the seventies, because even though we’re having a bit of a recession, and maybe people are in more debt now than they used to be in, it’s different because people can borrow…

SS: It seems we expect more and get depressed more easily…

PS: Yeah, and you didn’t have all these designer Gucci bags where it’s normal to spend thousands of pounds, or even have the aspiration to do that. Yeah ours were lean times, but you’d go to Lawrence Corner, the army surplus store, and make something. And you didn’t really think you were struggling as long as you had something to eat.

SS: Do you think that at time people were more creative then?

PS: They say that necessity is the mother of invention. So I suppose that if you can just buy everything, you make it. I mean I suppose there will be some people more into design than others, but because times were leaner… I mean I remember speaking to George O’Dowd (Boy George from post punk band Culture Club) and he said that his mother used to make bondage trousers for him because he couldn’t afford to buy them in Seditionaries. People were just more DIY. Some of the things I was making were from retro clothes because I could pick them up really cheaply. You could buy vintage stilettos for £1 a pair. And going down to the army surplus is not really future thinking, but I would go down there and buy things and dye them different colours and decorate the neck with curtain rings. It was really simple but really effective. I used to sell them too.  So yeah, I do believe that necessity is the mother of invention. Although we do struggle, but we’re kind of closeted here in England because of the nature of the socialistic government, whereas if you were in other countries and you were on your last legs, you’d really be struggling and if you don’t work you don’t eat - that doesn’t happen here.

SS: Do you find young people rebellious today?

PS: No. I find that my daughter’s generation just aren’t rebellious at all. (She’s 28). I don’t know whether it’s because we spoilt them in the Eighties?

SS: Do you think it’s because they had everything and previous generations had done a lot for them so they ended up talking the good life for granted?

PS: They seem like a nice generation and astrologically my daughter’s generation and younger are called ‘Generation Indigo’. They’re meant to be this really amazing forward thinking generation of people. In fact I’ve written a song called ‘Generation Indigo’! They’re all over the world. It’s the global generation.

X Ray Spex Live at The Roundhouse 2008 on CD/DVD now on Future Noise imprint Year Zero available from x-rayspex.com futurenoisemusic.com

Words by: Namalee Bolle

Article by supersupertv