In an interview after being shortlisted for the Mercury Prize, British artist FKA Twigs named Germfree Adolescents her favourite album of all time [25]

a b c Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19thed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p.612. ISBN 1-904994-10-5. Hiljaiset Levyt: PUNKNET 77 - 100 Best Punk LP's". Hiljaiset.sci.fi. 4 March 1996. Archived from the original on 22 November 2007 . Retrieved 29 June 2014. The album’s focus on feminism, identity issues, and mass consumerism is prophetic in the issues discussed in the 2010s, with the song “Identity” being a particular heavy hitter with lyrics such as Du Noyer, Paul (1998). Encyclopedia of Albums: 1,000 Best-Ever Albums . Bristol: Dempsey Parr. p.89. ISBN 1-84084-031-5. They aimed their fluorescent bile at the vapidity and sterility of the modern world, specifically the increasingly consumerist nature of society, in classic sax-drenched anthems Murray, Charles Shaar (1978). "No Pop, No Style Poly Styrene is Still Strictly Roots". NME (published 13 May 1978). Archived from the original on 27 October 2009 . Retrieved 19 January 2008.

MercuryPrize (15 September 2014). "FKA twigs Q&A – 2014 Mercury Prize". Archived from the original on 13 December 2021 – via YouTube. X-Ray Spex played at 'Front Row Festival', a three-week event at the Hope and Anchor, Islington in late November and early December 1977. [24] This resulted in the band's inclusion, alongside the likes of Wilko Johnson, 999, The Only Ones, the Saints, The Stranglers, and XTC, on a double album of recordings from the festival. Then, in February 1978, before the release of their second single, X-Ray Spex recorded the first of two sessions for John Peel at BBC Radio 1. [31] Their profile was further enhanced by playing a fortnight's residency at New York's CBGB's, even though the album Germ Free Adolescents was not released in America until 1992. Christgau, Robert (26 February 1979). "Christgau's Consumer Guide". The Village Voice . Retrieved 23 October 2020. a b "Poly Styrene, X-Ray Spex frontwoman and punk icon, subject of new documentary". 29 March 2017. In 1994, The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music named Germfree Adolescents the eighth best punk album of all time. [19] Seven years later, in May 2001, Spin magazine ranked the album at number five on its "50 Most Essential Punk Records" list. [20] In March 2003, Mojo magazine ranked the record at number 19 on its "Top 50 Punk Albums" list. [21] Germfree Adolescents is listed in the reference book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. [22]

Oh Bondage Up Yours!" / "I Am a Cliché" (September 1977: Virgin Records, VS 189); also released as a 12" single (VS 189–12) Christgau, Robert (26 April 2011). "Poly Styrene, Punk Pioneer, Dies at 53". NPR . Retrieved 23 October 2020.The Day the World Turned Day-Glo" / "I Am a Poseur" (March 1978: EMI International, INT 553) – No.23 UK Singles Chart [41] In November 1978, the band released their debut album. With the exception of "Identity", which was partially based on Styrene witnessing Bromley Contingent member Tracie O'Keefe slash her wrists in the restroom of the Roxy, the rest of Germfree Adolescents dealt with the anti consumerist theme. [29] Indeed, The Guardian newspaper described the album as containing "unrivalled anti-consumerism anthems". [30] The same reviewer in The Virgin Encyclopedia of Popular Music sums up the band's 1970s contribution as "one of the most inventive, original and genuinely exciting groups to emerge during the punk era". [33] Reformation [ edit ] Probably the best release from all the first wave of UK punk bands (and I'm including the Clash and the Pistols in that), this is a blistering set of classic tunes that really epitomise the mood of the time. There are tons of great riffs and clanging rhythms, underpinned by some incessant sax lines that provide a slyly melodic counterpoint to all the noise going on around them. Poly Styrene's harsh, shrill, almost atonal vocals set it all off brilliantly, and the lyrics - taking pot-shots at consumerism and the difficulty of creating personal, alternative identities in what was/is fundamentally a conservative and conformist society - are bang on the money. a b Larkin, Colin (2002). Virgin Encyclopedia of 70s Music . London: Virgin Books. p.503. ISBN 1-85227-947-8.

NOFX – Germ Free Adolescents (X-Ray Spex cover) Lyrics – SongMeanings". SongMeanings . Retrieved 4 July 2018.

Statistics

Dolan, Jon (May 2001). "The 50 Most Essential Punk Records – 5. X-Ray Spex: Germfree Adolescents". Spin. Vol.17, no.5. p.108 . Retrieved 23 October 2020. In July of 1976, Marianne Joan Elliott-Said, a Scottish-Somali girl from London’s inner-city Brixton district, celebrated her 19th birthday by going to see the Sex Pistols. Marianne dropped out of school at age 15, and had spent the last few years drifting between music festivals, crash pads, and recording studios in an attempt to get her music career off of the ground. She had even released a single, a novelty reggae song called “ Silly Billy,” with Donna Summer’s U.K. distributor, GTO Records. But she was frustrated—frustrated with not being taken seriously as a musician, and frustrated by the racism, sexism, and classism that seemed to make achieving her dreams impossible. Live @ the Roundhouse London 2008 (November 2009: Year Zero, YZCDDVD01); CD and DVD of live recordings from September 2008 Staunton, Terry (May 2009). "X-Ray Spex – Germ Free Adolescents: Deluxe Edition". Record Collector. No.362 . Retrieved 5 September 2016.

Strong, M.C. (2003). The Great Indie Discography . Edinburgh: Canongate. p.184. ISBN 1-84195-335-0.Robbins, Ira (7 August 1992). "Germfree Adolescents". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on 17 November 2016 . Retrieved 5 September 2016. Dimery, Robert, ed. (2010). 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die (revised and updateded.). Universe Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7893-2074-2. During their first incarnation (1976–1979), X-Ray Spex released five singles and one album. [1] Their 1977 single " Oh Bondage Up Yours!" and 1978 debut album Germfree Adolescents are widely acclaimed as classic punk releases. [sources 1] The band has briefly reformed several times in the 1990s and 2000s. On 28 April 2008, Poly Styrene gave a performance of "Oh Bondage Up Yours!" in front of more than 10,000 people at the Love Music Hate Racism free concert in Victoria Park, East London. [ citation needed] In public, Poly Styrene and her bandmates put forth a playful image of happy pigs heading to the self-aware synthetic slaughter. But in private, the band’s meteoric rise to fame was starting to weigh on its leader. In 2017, Poly’s daughter, Celeste Bell, wrote in The Guardian, “I wonder if my mum might have had a happier life if she hadn’t had that level of fame,” a question that’s all but answered by this classic introvert statement Poly made in 1978: “You feel all the time that people are draining you, draining off your energy all the time until you think, ‘Blimey, I haven’t got anything left to give. Leave me alone.’”