So why is X-Ray Spex’s Germfree Adolescents on this best 1,000 albums ever thing?
I know I’m really getting into a band when I start thinking about its influences – how their sound echoes other artists, ties things together, yet still carves out its own unique sound.
With X-Ray Spex, there’s that and then there’s also a part where I think about what future bands and artists they clearly had an influence on.
With “Let’s Submerge,” off of Germfree Adolescents, it gets really fun. I hear the New York Dolls in terms of the glam rock elements going on and certainly their use of horns, but then there’s some crushingly great punk that recalls their late-’70s UK contemporaries like the Sex Pistols.
And then I think about the female-fronted punk rock bands they likely influenced a generation later, ranging from L7 to The Distillers. But then at the same time no one can quite ever replicate Poly Styrene’s vocals (and what a stage name!).
Give me a punk song with a title like “The Day the World Turned Dayglo,” and I’m pretty sure I’m going to dig it. And in this case… I’m correct. It’s another fun, aggressive, chugging punk rocker with New York Dolls-y elements.
“I Am A Poseur” is a song title we can all relate to*. In any event, it absolutely rocks, with a chugging, thumping guitar riff that’s 1970s heavy metal (Black Sabbath specifically comes to mind) sped up to head bopping punk rock levels.
* What, just me?
Pop culture stuff that has something to do with X-Ray Spex’s Germfree Adolescents
Do we think that Rollins Band’s “I Go Day Glo” is in some way an homage to “The Day the World Turned Dayglo”? Nah, I didn’t think so either.
Some stats & info about X-Ray Spex – Germfree Adolescents
- What kind of musical stylings does this album represent? British Bands, Punk Rock, Old School Punk, British Punk
- Rolling Stone’s greatest 500 albums ranking – #354
- All Music’s rating – 4 out of 5 stars
- When was Germfree Adolescents released? 1978
- My ranking, the one you’re reading right now – #613 out of 1,000
X-Ray Spex’s Germfree Adolescents on Spotify
A lyrical snippet from X-Ray Spex’s Germfree Adolescents that’s evocative of the album in some way, maybe
It’s dark and eerie and it’s really late, come on kids don’t hesitate.
What does the “best 1,000 albums ever” mean and why are you doing this?
Yeah, I know it’s audacious, a little crazy (okay, maybe a lot cray cray), bordering on criminal nerdery.
But here’s what it’s NOT: a definitive list of the Greatest Albums of All-Time. This is 100% my own personal super biased, incredibly subjective review of what my top 1,000 albums are, ranked in painstaking order over the course of doing research for nearly a year, Rob from High Fidelity style. Find out more about why I embarked on a best 1,000 albums ever project.