X-Ray Spex : Germfree Adolescents
Genre: British Punk Rock	Dates: 1978

At the heart of this record—the only studio recording the band ever released—is a biracial, brace-faced teenage girl, wailing prophetic lyrics the likes of which hadn't been seen since Dylan's Highway 61 Revisited and haven't been seen since. As such, Germfree Adolescents was the ultimate realization of the British punk pledge that anyone who believed in herself could become a star, and a reaffirmation of the democratic principal represented by the earliest rock and roll heroes. That that teenager, Polystyrene (real name Marion Elliot), has waxed only one other set of lyrics since 1978, is one of the greatest mysteries in music history; has anyone written so bitingly and hilariously about the chains of consumerism? When people see the title of her most famous song, "Oh Bondage! Up Yours!" they usually assume it's going to be about twisted sex, or at least the submission of women, when in fact the slavery she's writing about is to the store. And it's hard to resist this chant, which she delivers with insane glee: "I live off you/And you live off me/And the whole world lives off of everybody/See, we gotta be exploited/See, we gotta be exploited/By somebody/By somebody/Yeah yeah YEAH!" It doesn't quite boil down to that-but it's awfully close. Fans of Bikini Kill and Sleater-Kinney (coming soon to the collection) need to find out where the banshee wails of Kathleen Hanna and Corin Tucker came from.

Playlist:
1. Art-I-Ficial
2. Obsessed With You
3. Warrior In Woolworths
4. Let's Submerge
5. I Can't Do Anything
6. Identity
7. Genetic Engineering
8. I Live Off You
9. I Am A Poseur
10. Germ Free Adolescents
11. Plastic Bag
12. Day The World Turned Day-Glo, The
13. Oh Bondage! Up Yours!
14. I Am A Cliche'
15. Highly Inflamable
16. Age
17. Genetic Engineering
18. Art-I-Ficial
19. I Am A Poseur
20. Identity
21. Germ Free Adolescents
22. Warrior In Woolworth
23. Age