Wow! Inspired by tune-YARDS, I went through an X-Ray Spex phase last week. RIP.
― My mom is all about capital gains tax butthurtedness (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 25 April 2011 23:57 (thirteen years ago) link
A week ago on her FB page:
Slowly slowly trying to get better, miss my walk along the promenade. Would be so nice to sing again, and play my new album live. Its nice to have something positive to look forward to, Love Poly X
Damn.
― Craiger Lazer (Craigo Boingo), Monday, 25 April 2011 23:58 (thirteen years ago) link
Why u brake heart? RIP
― ELO ENO ONO (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 26 April 2011 00:02 (thirteen years ago) link
RIP, she was the template.
― it's time for the fish in the perculator (Steve Shasta), Tuesday, 26 April 2011 00:03 (thirteen years ago) link
aw man, no!
RIP
― tInA-yOtHeRs (donna rouge), Tuesday, 26 April 2011 00:04 (thirteen years ago) link
Still hunting down a news report/confirmation of it. I'm inclined to believe the news based on who told me, but I'm sort of hoping it's just erroneous gossip.
― Johnny Fever, Tuesday, 26 April 2011 00:08 (thirteen years ago) link
Oh Poly
― immer wieder, ralf & günther (NickB), Tuesday, 26 April 2011 00:09 (thirteen years ago) link
Oh cancer, up yours
― A Zed and Two Nults (Noodle Vague), Tuesday, 26 April 2011 00:10 (thirteen years ago) link
If true, extremely sad. No one else like her, ever.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSrOJ1ig6tI
― clemenza, Tuesday, 26 April 2011 00:11 (thirteen years ago) link
Do we have confirmation?
― My mom is all about capital gains tax butthurtedness (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 26 April 2011 00:23 (thirteen years ago) link
Nothing yet, but people have started posting condolences on twitter and on her facebook page. If it's not true, AW-KWARD!
This is the time of day UK news outlets would be running skeleton crews though, right?
― Johnny Fever, Tuesday, 26 April 2011 00:25 (thirteen years ago) link
sad news for sure. Germfree Adolescents is probably bested on my Singles Going Steady when it comes to first wave brit punk for me
― Fellini.Kuti, Tuesday, 26 April 2011 00:26 (thirteen years ago) link
on my = only by, sry
― Fellini.Kuti, Tuesday, 26 April 2011 00:28 (thirteen years ago) link
According to an NPR Christgau story I just looked at, her album was scheduled for release tomorrow. Tomorrow.
― clemenza, Tuesday, 26 April 2011 00:37 (thirteen years ago) link
It was released 3/28 in the UK, but from what I understand she's been too ill to really do any of the promotion she would've liked to.
I listened to some clips and it's REALLY good.
― Johnny Fever, Tuesday, 26 April 2011 00:39 (thirteen years ago) link
Still nothing anywhere an hour later. Really hoping this does turn out to be a hoax and we won't have to revive this thread for another 50 years.
― Johnny Fever, Tuesday, 26 April 2011 00:52 (thirteen years ago) link
Oh gosh. Such an inspiration to me as a teen. RIP
― Handjobs for a sport (C. Grisso/McCain), Tuesday, 26 April 2011 01:13 (thirteen years ago) link
http://blogs.ocweekly.com/heardmentality/2011/04/poly_styrene_of_xray_spex_rumo.php
― clemenza, Tuesday, 26 April 2011 01:48 (thirteen years ago) link
I guess that doesn't really add anything that Johnny Fever hasn't already said.
― clemenza, Tuesday, 26 April 2011 01:50 (thirteen years ago) link
Yeah, that's from my editor at the Weekly there. Nothing specific still.
― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 26 April 2011 01:52 (thirteen years ago) link
hope this isn't true
― the wages of sin is about tree fiddy (WmC), Tuesday, 26 April 2011 01:52 (thirteen years ago) link
i hate to be the guy betting on death, but she seems like an unlikely subject of a hoax
― Fellini.Kuti, Tuesday, 26 April 2011 02:15 (thirteen years ago) link
really hope this isn't true. :(
germfree adolescents broke my mind in half when i was 17 and still holds up better than just about any other punk album of its time.
― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Tuesday, 26 April 2011 02:17 (thirteen years ago) link
Symond Lawesi just spoke to her mother and its very true, she passed away quietly last night, her mother and daughter were with her, bless you marianne. symond xxx
― pan loco y salsa loca (get bent), Tuesday, 26 April 2011 07:47 (thirteen years ago) link
http://loudersoft.com/7484/rip-poly-styrene/
― pan loco y salsa loca (get bent), Tuesday, 26 April 2011 07:54 (thirteen years ago) link
shit... Oh cancer, up yours
― Stockhausen's Ekranoplan Quartet (Elvis Telecom), Tuesday, 26 April 2011 09:46 (thirteen years ago) link
Yes very much up yours. RIP, we'll miss you. :-(
― Nathalie (stevienixed), Tuesday, 26 April 2011 10:26 (thirteen years ago) link
Here's another thread where we curse Cancer. RIP
― Mark G, Tuesday, 26 April 2011 10:41 (thirteen years ago) link
Aww RIP. Such a great voice.
― Telemachus Sneezed (GOTT PUNCH II HAWKWINDZ), Tuesday, 26 April 2011 11:04 (thirteen years ago) link
didn't realize she would have been 20 in 1977. I dunno if the other Spex were younger, but photos of the band made me think they were closer to 16 than 20 in their heyday.
― bendy, Tuesday, 26 April 2011 11:08 (thirteen years ago) link
christ. r.i.p.
― Land of Rap and Homies (kkvgz), Tuesday, 26 April 2011 11:09 (thirteen years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ue5jyj_nosc
probly still my favourite
― A Zed and Two Nults (Noodle Vague), Tuesday, 26 April 2011 11:11 (thirteen years ago) link
RIP Poly. So glad I went to the reunion gig a few years ago. She looked so great then too.
― a fucking stove just fell on my foot. (Colonel Poo), Tuesday, 26 April 2011 11:12 (thirteen years ago) link
Tragic. RIP Poly.
― None'll come and then a lot'll (Tom D.), Tuesday, 26 April 2011 11:16 (thirteen years ago) link
One of THE great voices in popular music history. RIP
― Kevin John Bozelka, Tuesday, 26 April 2011 13:32 (thirteen years ago) link
Aw, I was hoping to wake up this morning and find out I'd been foolish to start this thread. :(
― Johnny Fever, Tuesday, 26 April 2011 13:41 (thirteen years ago) link
cancer.grrrr. RIP
― curmudgeon, Tuesday, 26 April 2011 13:49 (thirteen years ago) link
― grill 'em bake 'em fry 'em burn 'em (snoball), Tuesday, 26 April 2011 13:53 (thirteen years ago) link
― the wages of sin is about tree fiddy (WmC), Tuesday, 26 April 2011 14:09 (thirteen years ago) link
Maura remembers.
― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 26 April 2011 14:16 (thirteen years ago) link
fucking sucks. RIP Poly
― The Everybody Buys 1000 Aerosmith Albums A Month Club (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 26 April 2011 15:19 (thirteen years ago) link
Anything that still matters to me about punk was embodied in Poly Styrene.
― _Rudipherous_, Tuesday, 26 April 2011 15:25 (thirteen years ago) link
Kathleen Hanna.
― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 26 April 2011 16:51 (thirteen years ago) link
Just... :(
― textbook blows on the head (dowd), Tuesday, 26 April 2011 16:52 (thirteen years ago) link
rip
― gospodin simmel, Tuesday, 26 April 2011 18:17 (thirteen years ago) link
Aw no! I literally found out TWO HOURS AGO about the new album, played & quite liked, and searched "styrene" to see if anything was said about it on here... RIP Poly :(
― anatol_merklich, Tuesday, 26 April 2011 18:37 (thirteen years ago) link
Everything I read about her over the years suggests she was a decent human being, sad to read about this, the piece in the guardian a while ago made it sound like it was bad, but not hopeless.
Great powerful, foghorn blast of a voice on those old recordings, this is awesome:
http://youtu.be/OGcWtPOL6aQ
― Letzte Tage - Letzte Pächmina (Pashmina), Tuesday, 26 April 2011 19:14 (thirteen years ago) link
She made me feel better about my teenage orthodontia. RIP Poly.
― kate78, Tuesday, 26 April 2011 21:08 (thirteen years ago) link
Just wanted to save this photo for posterity that Dangerous Minds used:
http://www.dangerousminds.net/images/uploads/poly.jpg
― Johnny Fever, Wednesday, 27 April 2011 04:02 (thirteen years ago) link
http://www.dangerousminds.net/comments/poly_styrene_r.i.p/
10 minutes...
― koogs, Saturday, 6 March 2021 20:51 (three years ago) link
Excellent photo/video coverage - but unfortunately I found it a bit ponderous and slow.
― Luna Schlosser, Saturday, 6 March 2021 23:01 (three years ago) link
certainly not enough actual music
liked what they played of the solo stuff even though it was nothing like x ray spex
what was the book she was reading?
― koogs, Saturday, 6 March 2021 23:11 (three years ago) link
(ha, it's her own book)
― koogs, Saturday, 6 March 2021 23:13 (three years ago) link
Daughter looks very young for 40.
Did they skip talking about Lora Logic leaving until the krsna era. Was wondering what the story on that was during the band era so did I miss it earlier or was it glossed then touched on later.
Sad to hear about her in Gunter Grove. But do think I had heard dodgy stories about there before. & Sid could be an oaf.
Otherwise yeah really moving. Is there a full Musikladen of them surviving or was that a more than one artist edition. Not sure what there is of them live visual in any form of long form. Don't remember coming across that if it is in circulation.
Is Translucence any good?
― Stevolende, Sunday, 7 March 2021 01:05 (three years ago) link
I just downloaded Translucence because I realised I'd never listened to it, but have heard her 2 solo albums from this century - Generation Indigo has some great songs on it.
It was nice for me to see the Hastings footage, and the other period footage in general. I thought they got the amount of music about right really.
I went to the reunion gig, nearly didn't because I think it sold out, I bought a ticket off a tout, for less than face value though. That in itself was an experience, he threatened me because I'd offered to buy a ticket off someone on his "patch" I guess. In the end I paid the same because he insisted he bought the ticket off the bloke for a tenner and sold it to me for £20 which is what I said I'd pay in the first place. After that he literally whipped his cock out and just stood pissing into the street.
― CP Radio Gorgeous (Colonel Poo), Sunday, 7 March 2021 01:15 (three years ago) link
After watching the film I downloaded the ‘Translucence’ album...one of the tracks’Sky Diver’ was used in the film that sounded great...will have a deeper listen tomorrow but sounded really nice
― X-Prince Protégé (sonnyboy), Sunday, 7 March 2021 01:22 (three years ago) link
Translucence is quite good. She had a gift for melody, very much present in X-Ray Spex but it also translates to other settings.
― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Sunday, 7 March 2021 04:25 (three years ago) link
Yeah liked that garagey element to the Spex sound, noticed that the narrator used the term Power Pop at one point but don't think it totally fitting.But melody + drive may get you to something adjacent I guess.
Do people think of X Ray Spex as a punk band. I know they played festivals in Blackpool etc in reunion years. & played the Roxy but seems they don't fit the later imposed template. Sui generis possibly which should have remained a punk trope I would think inherently by definition and so on. Did she say she thought punk was just a label.
Thinking about a press release that was shown at several points. Dayglo logo on green paper or to that effect. Looked d.i.y but was that possible at the time.Either white border around the logo was printed on green which I'm not sure is easy or green is printed on rest of paper.Just thinking that effect seems to have taken more artifice than would first appear. No computer printing. & typing legible on top of that green.Not a print expert but not sure that's something that could be done on a xerox machine. Which is odd. Stood out though.
― Stevolende, Sunday, 7 March 2021 07:32 (three years ago) link
Yeah, I'm guessing that was a Virgin Records promo sheet.
― Mark G, Sunday, 7 March 2021 09:22 (three years ago) link
And also sounds exactly like her mother.
― Wrote For Lunch (Tom D.), Sunday, 7 March 2021 10:39 (three years ago) link
She does, yes.
― Mark G, Sunday, 7 March 2021 10:54 (three years ago) link
Dayglo logo on green paper or to that effect. Looked d.i.y but was that possible at the time.
Definitely was possible, and it was a time of graphic creativity and experimentation. I follow the work of Barney Bubbles, thanks to the great curating work of Paul Gorman and others, and there's an interesting cross-over from his graphic work with the hippie/radical newspaper Frendz and Hawkwind to design work on punk and new wave records.
― Luna Schlosser, Sunday, 7 March 2021 11:48 (three years ago) link
Do people think of X Ray Spex as a punk band
Did at the time ( I was in my early teens and not going to gigs, but following music papers)...And I do now really; they were part of the wave that was inspired by seeing the Sex Pistols early on.
Even at the time there were 'purists' saying that the punk scene was already over by the time X Ray Spex had their residency at the Man in the Moon in the Kings Road.
The definitions around punk were always a bit fluid and frisky. I think Mick Farren observed at the time that the route from hippie to punk was often shorter and more common that people realised.
― Luna Schlosser, Sunday, 7 March 2021 12:00 (three years ago) link
xp press release To be multiply printed?Would think that white printed on green would wind up not looking great.& green printed around white and then having the press release actually legible on it would seem to be a little difficult.Could have this wrong but at a atime before computerised printing I would think it wasn't that easy.Presumably this is something that is being produced to be sent to a number of different media outlets which I would have thought was costly.BUt maybe it was a project that the art department liked so got behind. I'm just thinking looks like there's a lot more work gone into it than would first appear. & presumably isn't the only press release being worked on at any one time.
― Stevolende, Sunday, 7 March 2021 12:11 (three years ago) link
That is, dayglo logo had a white border. Dayglo yellow on green might not look so odd on its own , probably less noticeable since green/yellow border in other forms of colour creation. White printed on green going to wind up with distinct greenish tinge.
― Stevolende, Sunday, 7 March 2021 12:17 (three years ago) link
I wonder if press releases and ornate letter heading graphics were more important in the 70s, perhaps because of the lack of digital social media to promote bands.
One thing I've noticed from the Barney Bubbles estate is that just how many people on the music scene, even on the fringes, had their own logo. Ok - the one below is a bit earlier....
https://assets.bigcartel.com/product_images/228894620/F3604650-3CF9-4D11-88BC-084F4F87B13C.jpeg
― Luna Schlosser, Sunday, 7 March 2021 12:46 (three years ago) link
blue on blue might look a bit blue
― Stevolende, Sunday, 7 March 2021 12:53 (three years ago) link
I'm a massive Barney Bubbles fan and a Stacia fan. Had never seen that love from Miss Stacia print. Most excellent!
― stirmonster, Sunday, 7 March 2021 12:57 (three years ago) link
well you're goingto want to have some kind of recognisable tag. Were people graffiting band names in places at teh time?THink I was seeing mod revival names getting tagged in places or at least things like bus stops.JUst adds a little something when you're doing your best to get noticed.
Though you do want to not look gimmicky and you also don't want to look like you sold out to the man by it all looking too utterly professional.Underground artists are useful and can add credibility not that you're own shouldn't be enough. Badge of honour and the company being kept. Also presumably the understanding taht an underground comic artist isn't selling out to the man by doing that.
― Stevolende, Sunday, 7 March 2021 13:13 (three years ago) link
I definitely think of X-Ray Spex as a punk band, their noise and velocity and Poly’s immortal yawp all very much scan as punk (as opposed to, say, Essential Logic, who seem post-punk even tho “Aerosol Burns” is indisputably a punk classic).
― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Sunday, 7 March 2021 15:48 (three years ago) link
never heard Translucence before, this is wonderful
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Sunday, 7 March 2021 16:13 (three years ago) link
X ray spex are/we're punk because they split before they 'moved on' with their sound, "Highly Inflammable" excepted
― Mark G, Sunday, 7 March 2021 16:20 (three years ago) link
They're somewhere between punk and new wave without really being post-punk.
― Halfway there but for you, Sunday, 7 March 2021 16:31 (three years ago) link
they are 100% "class of 77" punk to me, the LP is a bit more filled out in sound but all the lyrics are like ur-punk Rosetta stones
― I like signing up to dead sites (sleeve), Sunday, 7 March 2021 16:34 (three years ago) link
can I watch this now btw? where?
― I like signing up to dead sites (sleeve), Sunday, 7 March 2021 16:35 (three years ago) link
I guess the (excellent) title song of their first album is sort of new-wavey, but I count them as ground-zero punk, just like everyone else on the The Roxy London WC2 album, even if some of them like the Buzzcocks and Wire proceeded in different directions.
― clemenza, Sunday, 7 March 2021 17:01 (three years ago) link
xpost upthread:
If you are outside the UK you will be able to watch the film very soon; we are working with international partners to bring the film to the US, Europe and beyond. As soon as we have more information on international screenings as well as DVDs and Bluray DVDs we will let you know (an email will be sent to check we have your current address). The film will also be screened at several film festivals around the world throughout 2021, the first of which will be SXSW, March 16-20. We will announce the full festival line-up very soon.
That said one wonders if VPNs could help with this:
https://www.modernfilms.com/polystyrene/watch
― Ned Raggett, Sunday, 7 March 2021 17:15 (three years ago) link
Sky Arts showed it last night in the UK which might mean it gets a repeat in the middle of the night over teh next couple of weeks, Might not. Worked with the Rob lloyd film anyway
― Stevolende, Sunday, 7 March 2021 18:29 (three years ago) link
it's on again friday (along with the Rock against Racism thing that was shown after it which also features Poly and was worth a watch if you needed reminding how racist the late 70s were)
― koogs, Sunday, 7 March 2021 18:53 (three years ago) link
I think I taped the 2 of those and teh damned thing taht was on after the RAR . Haven't checked tehy all came out yet though. may be low on space
― Stevolende, Sunday, 7 March 2021 18:56 (three years ago) link
The Rock Against Racism one looked a bit like it was produced by the propaganda wing of the SWP but was useful for showing that, despite what a lot of people seem to think now, punk and punk rockers were, for the most part, very much on the right side of history. As did the Poly Styrene doc.
― Wrote For Lunch (Tom D.), Sunday, 7 March 2021 19:12 (three years ago) link
My sister was at the Victoria Park gig... but so were a lot of other people!
― Wrote For Lunch (Tom D.), Sunday, 7 March 2021 19:16 (three years ago) link
Translucence is on Spotify. Probably never looked for it or under teh name Poly Styrene until now.There's also a much later solo lp up there.The Pre X Ray Spex single was included on ana anthology some years ago too so may be up there somewhere too.
― Stevolende, Monday, 8 March 2021 09:10 (three years ago) link
That newer one, Generation Indigo, was released right around when she died. It's pretty good!
― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Monday, 8 March 2021 14:29 (three years ago) link
Just rewatched this and liked it a lot more. I think I was feeling too restless to appreciate it fully last week. The archive footage and photography in general is very good. There’s something about a lot of the voices that still feels a bit flat and lifeless.
― Luna Schlosser, Saturday, 13 March 2021 12:28 (three years ago) link
i liked that they broke away from the normal talking head presentation these docs usually have and didn't show the heads. it didn't feel flat to me but perhaps that's what made it seem flat?
― stirmonster, Saturday, 13 March 2021 13:14 (three years ago) link
US screening is happening! Online via the SFFILM Festival, get a ticket now
https://sffilm.org/event/poly-styrene-i-am-a-cliche/
― Ned Raggett, Saturday, 27 March 2021 16:39 (three years ago) link
Excellent doc!
― SQUIRREL MEAT!! (Capitaine Jay Vee), Saturday, 1 May 2021 12:13 (three years ago) link
Now streaming!
― Ferryboat Bill Jr. (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 9 February 2022 06:13 (two years ago) link
Amazing
― Ferryboat Bill Jr. (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 9 February 2022 16:44 (two years ago) link
connection issues, sorry for double post.
― Ferryboat Bill Jr. (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 9 February 2022 17:36 (two years ago) link
One post for each strand of the double helix.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/01/arts/music/poly-styrene-i-am-a-cliche-documentary.html
― Ferryboat Bill Jr. (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 10 February 2022 01:21 (two years ago) link
I liked this, but I may have built up unrealistic expectations over time. I was surprised, checking my email, it was only 2017 when they started crowdfunding--feels like farther back than that. I know her daughter initiated, wrote, and directed the film, but I didn't find her segments especially compelling. I found the 40-minute BBC documentary, Who Is Poly Styrene? (still on YouTube), more moving. On a positive note, I spent the first half wondering why they hadn't used the amazing Top of the Pops clip of "The Day the World Turned Day-Glo," then almost the whole thing turned up. And although this was the second documentary in a row I'd seen with Thurston Moore holding court (right after Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child), his "Oh Bondage" story is a good one.
― clemenza, Monday, 14 February 2022 00:39 (two years ago) link
Thurston Moore is the alt-Bono.
― since dozzell was a fixture (Tom D.), Monday, 14 February 2022 12:01 (two years ago) link
Indeed
― Solaris Ocean Blue (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 14 February 2022 12:16 (two years ago) link