X-Ray Spex

Poly Styrene (or Marion Elliott as she was named by her Somali dad and white Bromley mum) was something else. Not just mixed-race, but all chubby cheeks, bin-bag dresses, frizzy mop and mouth braces - a complete contrast to punk's inadvertent glamour. She was also one of the most potent singular forces to emerge from punk.

As X-Ray Spex instigator, and sole composer, Poly used the band as a platform for her futuristic visions, describing and mocking a dystopia where corporate power and consumerism is God, and where personal phobias and personality crises are rampant. Christ on a bike! Did she have a crystal ball?!

At the age of 21, pressure of work and diagnosis with a bipolar medical condition threatened to end Poly's career, and the band split up. Alas, Poly turned to Hare Krishna after X-Ray Spex but even today it's a blast to dig out the old vinyl and hear her snarl "some people think little girls should be seen and not heard - but I think, Oh Bondage . . . Up YOURS!". 

Led by her hurricane force and classically-trained voice - alive with sarcasm and glee - the band adapted to areas far beyond the three-chord thrash of debut album, Germfree Adolescents. A seething sax echoed Poly's voice and got the band tagged - not inappropriately - "the garageland Roxy Music".

There was a reunion of sorts for 1996's Conscious Consumer, but the heat and intensity of their debut album has never been repeated. Guitarist Jak Airport (real name Jack Stafford) passed away in 2004.