Poly Styrene was the dynamo that drove a punk-rock strike of defiance, loaded with anti-capitalist views, all spewed from this unlikely young girl. Only nineteen at the time of recording-‘Oh Bondage Up Yours’, but this respectable, well-mannered young girl with braces on her teeth-which were a feature when she smiled, she would open her mouth to sing and the shy, quiet Marion Joan Elliot-Said would transform into the high-priestess of a revolution, Poly Styrene.

The story of the late Poly Styrene is as remarkable as the album released in the surge of the punk-rock movement. The music had dominated everything from New York to London across the airwaves and youth Born in London to an Irish mother and an absent Somalian father, Poly left home at 16 and within three- years had formed the band X Ray Spex. The rebel had found a cause.
A single and then an album, to some degree a standout recording of the time, punk bands were not usually associated with saxophone players, but that

GermFree Adolescents opens with a four-syllable disdain: “Ar-ti-fic-ial!”, as it phases the music launches and this Richard Hell in knickers summons up the powerful and depressed emotions of the day in a twelve-track assault. It becomes clear that Poly Styrene delivers conviction in every word she sings, every sneer and roll of the tongue, each phrase is delivered with the same oppressed intensity as the last.

As for the musicianship of X-Ray Spex, they provide the perfect backdrop for Styrene to wage a verbal war, this album contains some of the best drumming on a punk record over which a very loud, old-school guitar pumps distorted rock and roll riffs that build in intensity throughout the albumthe inclusion of a saxophone to give the songs an extra depth may not be not common on records of the ‘Generation-X’ but it works here in galvanizing the sound.

The songs themselves are not love songs as such, they are rather the points of everyday society such as “Warrior In Woolworths”, “Plastic Bag”, “ I Am A Poseur” and of course the title track, not many bands could make songs about personal hygiene and supermarkets cool, though these themes make the album relatable and accessible to the youth of the day and stands as a time-capsule of late 70s culture.

The original 1978 track list:

Side A;

'Art-I-Ficial' – 3:24
'Obsessed with You' – 2:30
'Warrior in Woolworths' – 3:06
'Let's Submerge' – 3:26
'I Can't Do Anything' – 2:58
'Identity' – 2:25

Side B;

'Genetic Engineering' – 2:49
'I Live Off You' – 2:09
'I Am a Poseur' – 2:34
'Germ Free Adolescents' – 3:14
'Plastic Bag' – 4:54
'The Day the World Turned Dayglo' – 2:53

Kevin Burke March 2019

Today its exactly 25 years since American industrial band Nine Inch Nails released their second studio album The Downward Spiral (8th March 1994). In contrast to their first album Pretty Hate Machine, which was rather synth-pop/electro like, this album featured more distorted guitars and other heavy elements from the industrial music style.

The album was recorded at Trent Reznor’s ‘Le Pig’ studio which was actually located in the house of where actress Sharon Tate was murdered by members of Charles Manson’s cult.
The album is a concept album describing the destruction of a man, from the beginning of his downward spiral to his suicide attempt.

Two official singles were taken from the album, March of the Pigs and Closer, later followed by the promotional singles Piggy and Hurt.

Hurt was covered by Johnny Cash in 2003 to commercial and critical acclaim. Reznor praised Cash's interpretation of the song for its sincerity and meaning, even stating the song didn't belong to himself anymore.

The Downward Spiral was a major commercial success, and established Nine Inch Nails as a reputable force in the alternative music scene since.
The Downward Spiral (Tracklist)

Mr. Self Destruct
Piggy
Heresy
March Of The Pigs
Closer
Ruiner
The Becoming
I Do Not Want This
Big Man With A Gun
A Warm Place
Eraser
Reptile
The Downward Spiral
Hurt

DISCOGS

Today it’s exactly 39 years (7 March 1980) since English post-punk band Siouxsie and the Banshees released the 7” Happy House, the first single taken from their third studio album Kaleidoscope.

Happy House and the Kaleidoscope album marked a change in musical direction for Siouxsie and the Banshees due to the arrival of two new musicians: drummer Budgie, previously of the Slits, and guitarist John McGeoch, previously of Magazine.

When asked if "Happy House" was a cynical song, Siouxsie replied: "It is sarcastic. In a way, like television, all the media, it is like adverts, the perfect family whereas it is more common that husbands beat their wives. They are mental families really but the projection is everyone smiling, blond hair, sunshine, eating butter without being fat and everyone perfect.

The single became the band's second top 20 hit, peaking at number 17 in the UK Singles Chart

Happy House (Lyrics)

This is the happy house-we're happy here in the happy house oh it's such fun
We've come to play in the happy house
And waste a day in the happy house-it never rains

We've come to scream in the happy house We're in a dream in the happy house
We're all quite sane

This is the happy house-we're happy here There's room for you if you say "I do"
But don't say no or you'll have to go
We've done no wrong with our blinkers on It's safe and calm if you sing along

This is the happy house-we're happy here in the happy house.
To forget ourselves-and pretend all's well There is no hell.

Songwriters: Siouxsie Sioux / Steven Severin

Polarizer is the second single from M73 having returned from a four year-long hiatus.

M73 is John R. Mirland - known for numerous internationally acclaimed acts such as Am Tierpark (with Claus Larsen of Leaether Strip), Negant (with Tommy B-Kuhlmann of Danish Electro and Jens Petersen of Neotek) and Mirland - his industrial techno/power noise project.

The new single Polarizer is an infectious and highly dancable dark electro track about defiance and the refusal to conform and be forced into the boredom of society’s expectations.