"Some people think little girls ought to be seen and not heard" - X-Ray Spex

News item the first: I've come to the realization that I don't need friends so much as I need a case of beer and the Mr. Show box set.

News item the second: I'm seeing the Thermals tomorrow, and tickets go on sale at 5 PM tomorrow for the Dismemberment Plan reunion. You better believe I'm gonna be glued to Ticketmaster, credit card in hand. So long as I get to hear "Tonight We Mean It" and "What Do You Want Me to Say?" and "The Ice of Boston," all will be rad with my $15. Besides, it's a benefit for Cal.

I meant to write about Charles Mingus tonight, but glancing over my last couple entries, I realized I needed to post some good, solid punk up in here. Since the intro to the book I'm currently reading, Rip it Up and Start it Again, mentions X-Ray Spex, why the fuck not?

In a scene brimming with creative pioneer-types (first wave punk), X-Ray Spex still managed to stick out, both through Poly Styerene's strangely charismatic screeching and Lora Logic's (later Rudi Thompson's) wailing sax leads. They were great right out the gate - their debut single, "Oh Bondage, Up Yours!" is one of the most crucial, enduring punk songs ever recorded, and it's probably the first riot-grrrl song, to boot. Women were a rarity in the early punk movement (and boy, a LOT has changed, hasn't it? *rolls eyes*), and Styrene's force-of-nature wailing was something with which to be reckoned. With her mop of wild hair and braces, she was a weirdo even to the gals with the $50 haircuts and cat-eye makeup.

They put out one killer album, Germfree Adolescents, before splitting. What was the cause? Drugs? Creative differences? Competing stylists? Nah, kids, Poly ran off to join the Hare Krshnas. Yeah, the only person who ever really freaked out Johnny Rotten joined the airport cult. The band got back together in 1995 and put out the alright album Conscious Consumer, but the broad, strident politics seemed to clash with what made the band so endearing to me, which was their absolute paranoia about the increasing banality and phoniness of a world based more on advertising and self-promotion than compassion. Or some shit.

For those who think girl rock is all about Lilith Fair horseshit.

Oh Bondage, Up Yours! - http://www.mediafire.com/?1ot24mmtnyj

Art-I-Ficial - http://www.mediafire.com/?7zhmjwmjnxi

The Day the World Turned Dayglo - http://www.mediafire.com/?9yt0wiymtqt

Cigarettes - http://www.mediafire.com/?1zwmknmmedh