X-Ray Spex's first and only album, "Germ-Free Adolescents," has become a genre staple since it was put out in 1978, ranked as the eighth best punk album of all-time by The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Styrene's vividly harsh lyrical commentaries on misogyny, commercialism, and youth culture set the Spex apart from other acts of the time, while her shrill, shouted vocals have all but birthed the riot grrrl punk movement of the 1990s.
Though her very existence seemed to defy the genre's once-rigid standards of both race and gender, Styrene went a step further and eschewed the prototypical punk "look" in favor of a more unconventional persona. She rejected leather and safety pins for vibrantly colored dresses and thick braces. She rejected androgyny or sex-symbol status for a more realistic model of femininity. Essentially, Styrene rejected everything that punk expected of her and pushed her way through the industry until she reached the status of icon, with or without the approval of EMI and the English rock press. If that's not punk rock, I don't know what is.
As if they were at all forgettable, take a few minutes to remember how truly spectacular X-Ray Spex were:
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