When I was 24 and having an intermittently miserable time in grad school, my much cooler friend Tommy used to send me mix CDs, which I’d listen to as I walked around in the London drizzle, contemplating the oddness of my new, pseudo-adult life. The two Tommy songs I most associate with those not-a-girl, not-yet-a-woman days are the Raincoats’ dreamy, biting ”
No One’s Little Girl
” and X-Ray Spex’s raucous, biting “Oh Bondage, Up Yours!”
Something about X-Ray Spex lead singer Poly Styrene ‘s brace-faced yawp really spoke to me, as it has to millions of other young women (and older women, and men). The song’s opening line—”Some people think little girls should be seen and not heard. But I think, ‘Oh bondage, up yours!’”—has been embraced as a feminist rallying cry since the single first came out in 1977. But really, that shouty blast feels cathartic no matter what it is you’re riled up about:
So it’s with sadness that I note that Poly Styrene died yesterday , from breast cancer. In a hearbreaking twist, her new solo album Generation Indigo —her first since 1980—is being released today in the U.S. You can hear tracks from it here and here . According to the BBC’s obituary , Poly Styrene recently said, “I know I’ll probably be remembered for Oh Bondage Up Yours! … I’d like to remembered for something a bit more spiritual.” (She became a Hare Krishna in the 80s, eventually quitting the sect but keeping the faith.) Well, it sounds hokey to say it, but that song has always felt spiritual to me. I’ll be listening to it on a loop in her honor as I walk in the (forecasted) drizzle today.
This clip from the 2002 documentary series The Punk Years gives a nice introduction to Poly Styrene and her place in the punk landscape. (Via Metafilter ):
