POLY STYRENE 

After watching a very early gig by the Sex Pistols in an empty hall on Hastings Pier, playing a set of cover songs, she was inspired to put an ad in the paper for 'young punx who want to stick it together' to form a band. So it was from that, she went as singer with X-Ray Spex, Poly Styrene, a name she chose from the 'Yellow Pages' when she was 'looking for a name of the time, something plastic.' She was described by Billboard as the "archetype for the modern-day feminist punk"; because she wore dental braces, stood against the typical sex object female of 1970s rock star, sported a gaudy Dayglo wardrobe, and was of mixed race. She was "one of the least conventional front-persons in rock history, male or female". They launched their debut single in 1977. After the original line-up of X-Ray Spex broke up, Poly Styrene recorded a solo album, Translucence, in 1980. The album abandoned X-Ray Spex's loud guitar work for a quieter and more jazzy sound that has since been described as anticipating later work by Everything but the Girl. In 1986, she released the EP God's & Godesses [sic] on the Awesome record label. A New Age solo album, Flower Aeroplane, followed in 2004. She described herself as "an observer, not a suffering artist writing from tortured experiences. I was playing with words and ideas. Having a laugh about everything, sending it up."

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