X-Ray Spex: Pissed at Something

No, there still aren’t a wealth of female fronted rock groups. X remains atop that pile. But another group with the twenty third letter in the alphabet in its name, a Brit ensemble, no less, ranked up there for a brief while. And even while there were splinter groups subsequent to X-Ray Spex break up, some bloody good ones, nothing every really again matched the majesty of the bands first single, “Bondage.” At this late date, hearing such sentiments is likely a good deal less outrageous. Thirty some odd years back, though, hearing about whips and chains wasn’t en vogue. Of course, it wasn’t when the Velvets were working in equally sinister, if not more literary terms.

What made X-Ray Spex such a memorable act, in addition to having memorable songs, was the inclusion of a sax player, Lora Logic, who aimed to mirror the band’s singer, Poly Styrene, in her shrieks and vocal acrobatics. Never referencing free jazz, songs like “Obsessed with You” effortlessly merged punk, danceable music and a weird sort of tension absent from contemporaries apart from the Buzzcocks.

The warbling vocal introduction on tracks like “Genetic Engineering” seemed to connect the band with geeky new wave. But angling at some sort of commercial vibe wasn’t really in the cards here. The music was too aggressive, and Styrene’s vocals, while more than adept at bounding between rhythms wouldn’t likely be considered mellifluous by too many folks. All that’s probably a tremendous reason as to why the group was so short lived. But it seemed like all bands of the vintage were.