I thought it only appropriate to reply to the silly little jibe that "this is not punk"...As a 55 year old male now, I was 16 in 1976 and a punk right through this true punk era and I can unequivocally state that this most certainly is and X-Ray Spex most definitely were punk...X-Ray Spex epitomise the very essence and spirit of what punk was all about.
+Inner City Unit someone actually thought this wasn't punk? much more truly so than a lot of the stuff that passes as such. I suppose from here some of it (like "Oh Bondage..." can seem cartoonish, but surely the pistols were more cartoonish.
Thanks for posting...as a 14 year old living in Missouri, I had to literally imagone what these bands sounded like when I read about them in books about the time...now. at 48, I get to listen to them live or on the studio, on demand...what a World we live in...
Poly was one of the purest and best artists to come out of the punk era. As another 55 year old bloke I can say that she was what it's all about. She was so so far ahead of her time that if she was 16 now she would be so far ahead of anything today ...the world has never caught up with Poly to be truly honest you can also say that about Siouxsie as well.
+david patterson No true punk forgets Patti...some even call her the godmother of punk. I bought "Horses" when it was released, totally knocked me out. What a brilliant album, one of those life-changers...
i saw polly at erics 1978 she had the red jacket and black conductors style hat on . the tv cameras were there but i havent found the footage ,god they were so great that night /the worlds a duller place without her in it ! r.i,p [polly styrene]
Yes she was! ffs are you still going on? what a complete tool you are Lucius! do you just like being wrong and adamant! and not understanding bugger all?
This was pure punk genius. In those brief few years between when the over-stylized disco sound filled the airwaves, and right before the likes of Madonna came on the scene lamenting us with her teasy love songs and her processed glorification of being shallow and proud of it, there was Poly blasting out the truth with her rocket launcher vocal cords.
I was born in 1999 so way after this came out but I am still listening to this music in 2015! Not because I think it's 'cool' and if you saw me I would be the last person you would expect to listen to this music, but my grandad is the biggest fan of punk/rock type of music and I used to listen to it with him and loved it from that point on I was the 5 year old girl singing 'oh bondage up yours' and wondering why people where laughing (now I understand). But it's some of my favourite music now! :)
+Amelia Porter Grandad is sure cool. Please listen to this if you have time. www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b054pp6c Radio Merseyside is a great institution.. ;)
+Amelia Porter I love the idea of a five year old girl belting out - "Little girls should be seen but not heard - oh bondage up yours!" That must have been something to see :)
I was born in 2000 but listen to a lot of punk. Nobody I know does but my mum did raise me on old 70s music so I guess that has something to do with me liking old music
+Daniela Schwarz I don't actually know if she even liked X-Ray Spex let alone the Sex Pistols but I did grow up listening to old music from my mum, not actually punk though. I don't know if she liked punk, i've never really asked, but I still think that has something to do with me appreciating older music :)
What a lovely woman and talented singer,probably the best female singer EVER,and the lyrics! they just blew me away.she must be the most underrated "singer" ever
Lyrics Identity Is the crisis Can't you see Identity identity When you look in the mirror Do you see yourself Do you see yourself On the t.v. screen Do you see yourself In the magazine When you see yourself Does it make you scream When you look in the mirror Do you smash it quick Do you take the glass And slash your wrists Did you do it for fame Did you do it in a fit Did you do it before You read about it
I'm a 65 year old Australian bloke; and I loved this song when it came out, and still do now in 2021. Poly and the boys knew how to stir up some shit for sure! Remember, this was 1978; and here we are with identity at the center in 2021! Oh bondage, up yours! for sure!!
But that was what punk was about. Many youngsters at the time felt dis-connected from the long haired electronic keyboard super stars of that era and created their own music. Rough as hell but played with real enthusiasm .I wish we had it back now.
I wish the camera person would have let us see the whole stage and the other band members, instead of just a full-on close up of Poly throughout the song.
My Father in Law who served his apprenticeship on the Ark of Noah and his Brother who served as a brickie on the wall around Hadrians grounds tells me the same , I agree ..
Absolutely Excellent Classic Outstanding Genius Of Masterpiece Totally Classic Of All-time, i recorded this amongst all Punk appearances on the TV with my portable tape recorder but sadly lost the exact cassette tapes 😎🔗❤🔒
The only alternative 70's band to incorporate jazz and punk - damn gifted singer at the time, and okay different from main punk - still a statemnt group who knew how to get into the angry consciousness of the masses.
You don't need to have been born before a specific date in order to acknowledge the beauty and the importance of any band - that's what makes them great. That you can listen to them anytime and still appreciate them.
Mark Barrowcliffe Such an erudite argument. Like most punk they were style over substance to a massive degree. Sad that she died but talented? Dictionaries exist to explain such terms.
the voice & saxophone in free interpration - it is so free in forbidden ... garage - psych - punk ? free is the world if this world have music ... TNX X-Ray-Specks ...
Quite right, punk started in the USA, it was being played in New York long before Britain. What became more recognised as punk emerged in Britain but there were so many different styles and the early US scene was important
A great song from a great band from a unique time in music- will never happen again, unfortunatley. She supposedly wrote this song after she saw a girl slash her wrists in a club toilet...
I was only 7 years old when this song was released. Took me another 7 years to fall in love with the band. Same time when Motörhead became my all time favorite band. Good old times! ^^
@japinvt This is the soundboard mix. The vocals and sax are higher in the mix because in smaller venues the guitar and bass, with their own amps, don't need the same boost through the venue speakers that the voice and analog sax need. high vocals, softer guitars are common "features" of board mixes. I'm sure that the mix you'd have heard at the club would have not had the vocals as high in the mix.
The earliest song I've ever been able to identify as punk is 'Demolicion' by Los Saicos from Peru. With Spanish lyrics saying "Let's destroy the railway station ... demolition!" in a gravelly voice across a surf-punk fast guitar, it dates from - incredibly - 1965.
I thought it only appropriate to reply to the silly little jibe that "this is not punk"...As a 55 year old male now, I was 16 in 1976 and a punk right through this true punk era and I can unequivocally state that this most certainly is and X-Ray Spex most definitely were punk...X-Ray Spex epitomise the very essence and spirit of what punk was all about.
Here, here.
+Inner City Unit someone actually thought this wasn't punk? much more truly so than a lot of the stuff that passes as such. I suppose from here some of it (like "Oh Bondage..." can seem cartoonish, but surely the pistols were more cartoonish.
+Inner City Unit ICU, right on! Punk with talent is still punk!
Agreed. In '77, the X Ray Spex fan-base were all punks
+Inner City Unit You say "the punk era" like it's over. Punk Rock is alive, and, well.
Mixing punk aggression with the lament of the saxophone was genius.
So true...
Didn't roxy music do it years earlier?
mixing punk aggression with the lament of *poly styrene was genius
*Corrected
@@chiladdwhitney4926 Hahahaha. Well, I'm not gonna argue.
We got james chance out of this, for instance, and ultimately no wave, which I really love for reasons I may never understand.
Was very unusual for a sax to be used in a punk band, but X-Ray Spex were totally unique in many ways.
Thanks for posting...as a 14 year old living in Missouri, I had to literally imagone what these bands sounded like when I read about them in books about the time...now. at 48, I get to listen to them live or on the studio, on demand...what a World we live in...
Poly was one of the purest and best artists to come out of the punk era. As another 55 year old bloke I can say that she was what it's all about. She was so so far ahead of her time that if she was 16 now she would be so far ahead of anything today ...the world has never caught up with Poly to be truly honest you can also say that about Siouxsie as well.
so true
Another 55 your old here. Yup. This was (and is) some great punk.
Very true
Im heading on 55 in july im from the mod northern soul era
she was fantastic back in the day ❤❤❤💃🦇
60 year old, and still go back to the “classics”
the best female voice in punk.
don't forget Patti smith
don't forget Patti smith
+def ender
Well, she DID have classical training....
+david patterson
No true punk forgets Patti...some even call her the godmother of punk.
I bought "Horses" when it was released, totally knocked me out. What a brilliant album, one of those life-changers...
bjork was best
i saw polly at erics 1978 she had the red jacket and black conductors style hat on . the tv cameras were there but i havent found the footage ,god they were so great that night /the worlds a duller place without her in it ! r.i,p [polly styrene]
This lady was at the front of the total punk movement of the 70s God rest her lovely soul. X
No she wasn't.
Who was?
Yes she was! ffs are you still going on? what a complete tool you are Lucius! do you just like being wrong and adamant! and not understanding bugger all?
TheMeltdown23 No she wasn't. You're the one still on this. You're the one who replied to a comment I made nearly a year ago. Go fuck yourself.
TheMeltdown23 Is that all? Go fuck yourself.
Bought this when I was 14 am 57 was a Indian Punk Rocker in Coventry brilliant RIP polly legend
This was pure punk genius. In those brief few years between when the over-stylized disco sound filled the airwaves, and right before the likes of Madonna came on the scene lamenting us with her teasy love songs and her processed glorification of being shallow and proud of it, there was Poly blasting out the truth with her rocket launcher vocal cords.
"Her processed glorification of being shallow and proud of it". It's even worse now............
Saw X-ray Spex in Eric’s late 78 I’m guessing, great night.
Brilliant band and great vocalist.
Someone said it wasn't punk?
Quick, aggressive and emotional.
If this *isn't* punk, what *is?*
No-one will ever be quite like Poly Styrene. Ever.
haha this kinda sounds like good ol' Hawkwind without the psych effects. Love it!
Funny. My parent's mate Was in Hawkwind lol
RIP MS. Poly and a big kiss up to heaven.
I was born in 1999 so way after this came out but I am still listening to this music in 2015! Not because I think it's 'cool' and if you saw me I would be the last person you would expect to listen to this music, but my grandad is the biggest fan of punk/rock type of music and I used to listen to it with him and loved it from that point on I was the 5 year old girl singing 'oh bondage up yours' and wondering why people where laughing (now I understand). But it's some of my favourite music now! :)
+Amelia Porter Grandad is sure cool. Please listen to this if you have time.
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b054pp6c Radio Merseyside is a great institution.. ;)
+Amelia Porter I love the idea of a five year old girl belting out - "Little girls should be seen but not heard - oh bondage up yours!" That must have been something to see :)
I was born in 2000 but listen to a lot of punk. Nobody I know does but my mum did raise me on old 70s music so I guess that has something to do with me liking old music
+Britpopandindie Did she like the Sex Pistols too?
+Daniela Schwarz I don't actually know if she even liked X-Ray Spex let alone the Sex Pistols but I did grow up listening to old music from my mum, not actually punk though. I don't know if she liked punk, i've never really asked, but I still think that has something to do with me appreciating older music :)
Absolutely love this song! I was 14 when it came out. Such exciting times musically. Rip Polystyrene❤️
What a lovely woman and talented singer,probably the best female singer EVER,and the lyrics! they just blew me away.she must be the most underrated "singer" ever
I can name twenty other no name singers better than her.
Lucius Vibius Calidus then name them, Mr negative ned
@@monsieurlaguillotine3481 doubt it
Because I was a shitty kid who thought he knew everything about everything.
Consider when I made those comments.
Lyrics
Identity
Is the crisis
Can't you see
Identity identity
When you look in the mirror
Do you see yourself
Do you see yourself
On the t.v. screen
Do you see yourself
In the magazine
When you see yourself
Does it make you scream
When you look in the mirror
Do you smash it quick
Do you take the glass
And slash your wrists
Did you do it for fame
Did you do it in a fit
Did you do it before
You read about it
I bumped into a lovely lady in Croydon in 1978 called Polystyrene, Guy Brighton aged 60
I'm a 65 year old Australian bloke; and I loved this song when it came out, and still do now in 2021.
Poly and the boys knew how to stir up some shit for sure!
Remember, this was 1978; and here we are with identity at the center in 2021!
Oh bondage, up yours! for sure!!
I was so happy when I bought the single it had the lyrics on the sleeve
It's like she doesn't get it, that she is the one and only hope. O it makes me so hopeful, how she doesn't get it. Empty beautiful.
A PUNK'S moment of silence...R.I.P Poly Styrene 😔...🤘🎸🖤🎩💯
Can’t dance. Can’t sing. Absolutely wonderful. ♥️
But that was what punk was about. Many youngsters at the time felt dis-connected from the long haired electronic keyboard super stars of that era and created their own music. Rough as hell but played with real enthusiasm .I wish we had it back now.
I disagree with the "can't dance, can't sing" comment, totally agree with Absolutely wonderful!! ❤
I wish the camera person would have let us see the whole stage and the other band members, instead of just a full-on close up of Poly throughout the song.
superb, we adore her forever
No other words except WOW can describe this era of music Think i spent about 5 years of my life in some sort of trouble But it was worth it
polly was clearly ace and her songs are still relevant and dead fucking good. where are today's pollys?
Punk & Sax, perfect combination.
Fan since a teen, she taught us all the lessons. Still listening in 2018
They were brilliant. The lyrics of every single song hits hard with the sarcasm that punk is all about.
Amo tanto que até choro.
Mas é choro de alegria.
Obrigada Poly
Obrigada Punk Rock
Também. É emocionante.O jeito dela...a forma de cantar. Só temos a agradecer.
I love her so much
If this ain't punk, nothing is!!!!
My Father in Law who served his apprenticeship on the Ark of Noah and his Brother who served as a brickie on the wall around Hadrians grounds tells me the same , I agree ..
Absolutely Excellent Classic Outstanding Genius Of Masterpiece Totally Classic Of All-time, i recorded this amongst all Punk appearances on the TV with my portable tape recorder but sadly lost the exact cassette tapes 😎🔗❤🔒
What a gripping story
And me
RIP Marianne Joan Elliott-Said aka Poly Styrene (X-Ray Spex), Love from Somaliland ❤🤍💚
HAHAHAHAHAHAH when the sax starts. god i love this shit
R.I.P Poly xx
whatever this was punk rock, and Poly was a godess.Still is and and always will be.Bless her soul
Shine on you crazy diamond 💎
This is punk , and poly was a puck rock queen !
The Hope & Anchor … brilliant place
I don't know if anyone has pointed this out but the sax bit sounded the like the same tune used in "My Favorite Game" by The Cardigans?
Bless her ..... she is my 'Warrior in Woolworths' . Rock on Poly xxx
Αιώνια της η μνήμη
Ο Θεός ας την αναπαύσει
Awesome
There songs have such meaning.
great song in 2020...greets from germany
So lucky i saw them a few years back at the roundhouse, still as sharp as ever. RIP Polly Styrene
loved the song back in the dayz
The only alternative 70's band to incorporate jazz and punk - damn gifted singer at the time, and okay different from main punk - still a statemnt group who knew how to get into the angry consciousness of the masses.
You don't need to have been born before a specific date in order to acknowledge the beauty and the importance of any band - that's what makes them great. That you can listen to them anytime and still appreciate them.
Gifted singer? In what way? She's using about four notes all sung with the passion of someone calling their kids back from the park.
Kev Page Kev. Fuck off.
Mark Barrowcliffe
Such an erudite argument. Like most punk they were style over substance to a massive degree. Sad that she died but talented? Dictionaries exist to explain such terms.
Jazz? What Jazz? Having a sax player in the band doesn't automatically make you jazzy.
This is pure art.
Rip thanx for making my youth x
Fantastic !! I loved them. Still do.
God bless Poly, a true Legend!
大好き
Waste of a life a legend 🙏💝
Poly Styrene was one of my fantasy women.
Awesome talent
R. I. P Beautiful Soul
the voice & saxophone in free interpration - it is so free in forbidden ...
garage - psych - punk ? free is the world if this world have music ... TNX X-Ray-Specks ...
Poly Styrene was gorgeous, but definitely had a weakness for chili cheese fries
New this brother 🙏🎶🎶❤
Ryde may see saw …
god bless her.
Quite right, punk started in the USA, it was being played in New York long before Britain. What became more recognised as punk emerged in Britain but there were so many different styles and the early US scene was important
Poly and co. Can sum up in one word - Brilliant!
She was lovely. Excellent band. Fantastic tune.
Thank you Polly for brightening up my life. Great talent and energy.
THE BEST BRITISH PUNK BAND
Un de mes groupes préférés !
one of the best songs to come from that era for sure, great live version.
A great song from a great band from a unique time in music- will never happen again, unfortunatley. She supposedly wrote this song after she saw a girl slash her wrists in a club toilet...
Bloody great ❤
In the early 80s when I studying in Boston (Harvard 82) she was big with the punk scene. Sadly she never visited the city.
Yep The Saints were awesome...saw them live and they really sounded great!
I was only 7 years old when this song was released. Took me another 7 years to fall in love with the band. Same time when Motörhead became my all time favorite band. Good old times! ^^
@japinvt This is the soundboard mix. The vocals and sax are higher in the mix because in smaller venues the guitar and bass, with their own amps, don't need the same boost through the venue speakers that the voice and analog sax need. high vocals, softer guitars are common "features" of board mixes. I'm sure that the mix you'd have heard at the club would have not had the vocals as high in the mix.
Always a source of joy, pride and inspiration: X-Ray Spex!
Seen these in the play in Liverpool in the cavern club or Eric's rip Polly x
un classique de l'ere punk.
Never will there be another Polystyrene not in my lifetime anyway.
The earliest song I've ever been able to identify as punk is 'Demolicion' by Los Saicos from Peru. With Spanish lyrics saying "Let's destroy the railway station ... demolition!" in a gravelly voice across a surf-punk fast guitar, it dates from - incredibly - 1965.
I will always love you, Poly!
shes an inspiration
All hail the Queen!
Germ Free.. is the best punk album, no contest. I never saw this before, though. Thanks for posting!
forgot all about this. Thanks
This is the real stuff. Indisputably!!
so said to go so young . rip
Unique in all the best ways.
love this band,,,,way ahead of there time..
her voice is crazy
so good poly styrene
SEEN XRAY SPEX WITH THE CLASH 2 FIRST CLASS BANDS REST IN PEACE POLY AND JOE STRUMMER
we just love X-Ray Spex!
Love Poly...and the lads...obviously! 😊😊😊
God damn, I was born in the wrong era. I'm depress 🥲
Thanks for sharing,shared.