X-Ray Spex Lyrics - Identity on RINGTONES Z

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

X-Ray Spex are an English punk band from London formed in 1976.

Initially, the band featured singer Poly Styrene (born Marian Joan Elliott) on vocals, Jak Airport (Jack Stafford) on guitars, Paul Dean on bass, Paul ‘B. P.’ Hurding on drums, and Lora Logic (born Susan Whitby) on saxophone. This latter instrument was an atypical addition to the standard punk instrumental line-up, and became one of the group’s most distinctive features.

X-Ray Spex’s other distinctive musical element was Poly Styrene’s voice, which has been variously described as “effervescently discordant” and “powerful enough to drill holes through sheet metal”. As Mari Elliot, Poly had released a reggae single for GTO Records in 1976, “Silly Billy”, which had not charted. Born in 1957 in Brixton, of Somali-English parentage, Poly Styrene became the group’s public face, and remains one of the most memorable front-women to emerge from the punk movement. Not conventionally attractive, she wore thick braces on her teeth and once stated that “I said that I wasn’t a sex symbol and that if anybody tried to make me one I’d shave my head tomorrow”. She later actually did at Johnny Rotten’s flat prior to a concert at Victoria Park. Mark Paytress recounts in the liner notes for the 2002 compilation, The Anthology, that Jah Wobble, Rotten’s longtime friend and bassist for his post-punk venture PiL, once described Styrene as a “strange girl who often talked of hallucinating. She freaked John out.” Rotten, known more for his outspoken dislike of things than actual praise and admiration, recently said of X-Ray Spex in a retrospective punk documentary, “Them, they came out with a sound and attitude and a whole energy - it was just not relating to anything around it - superb.”

X-Ray Spex existed from mid-1976 to 1979, during which time they released five singles - “Oh Bondage, Up Yours”, “Identity”, “The Day the World Turned Day-Glo”, “Germ Free Adolescents”, and “Highly Inflammable” - and one album, Germ Free Adolescents. The album and title single reached 30 and 19 in their respective charts, although “Oh Bondage, Up Yours” is regarded as their most enduring artifact, both as a piece of music and as a sort of proto-grrrl catch-phrase. Opening with the line, “Some people think little girls should be seen and not heard - well I think, oh bondage, up yours!”, the song could be interpreted as a premonition of the riot grrrl movement a good 15 years later, although Styrene herself insists it was more intended as an anti-consumerist/anti-capitalist jingle, and wasn’t exclusively feminist in nature. The song was not originally on the album, although later CD releases added it as the final track.

The group played a fortnight’s residency at New York’s CBGB’s, even though Germ Free Adolescents was not released in America until 1992. Exhausted by touring, Poly Styrene left the band in 1979 to release a solo album, Translucence, before joining the Hare Krishna movement (as did Logic, who left the band aged 16 in 1977 to form a new group called Essential Logic).

Without Styrene, the group lost its momentum and split up. Hurding and London went on to form Classix Nouveaux, while Paul Dean and Rudi Thompson went on to form Agent Orange with Anthony (Tex) Doughty, who later become a founding member of Transvision Vamp.

-Wikipedia.

Another Interesting Posts :

• X-Ray Spex Lyrics - Oh Bondage, Up Yours!

  Some people think little girls should be seen and not heard But i think Oh Bondage Up Yours! One, Two, Three, FOUR! Bind me tie me Chain me to the wall I wanna be a slave To you all Oh...

• X-Ray Spex Lyrics - Obsessed With You

  You are just a concept You are just a dream You're just a reflection Of the new regime You are just a symbol You are just theme You're just another figure For the sales machine Ooo ooo they're obsessed With...

• X-Ray Spex Lyrics - I Live Off You

  I LIVE OFF YOU AND YOU LIVE OF ME AND THE WHOLE WORLD LIVES OFF OF EVERYBODY SEE WE GOTTA BE EXPLOITED SEE WE GOTTA BE EXPLOITED BY SOMEBODY BY SOMEBODY BY SOMEBODY THE CAT EATS THE RAT WHILE THE...

• X-Ray Spex Lyrics - I Am A Cliche

  I am a cliche I am a cliche I am a cliche I am a cliche I am a cliche you've seen before I am a cliche that lives next door I am a cliche you know what I mean...

• X-Ray Spex Lyrics - Hi Chaperone

  You know, you know, you know you know you know I can't go out alone Hi chaperone, my chaperone What you think is all wrong 'Cos you shouldn't treat a girl like a game of ping-pong But I can't go...

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.