Germfree Adolescents

{{Album ratings

| rev1 = AllMusic

| rev1score = {{Rating|4|5}}{{cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/germ-free-adolescents-mw0000088203|title=Germ Free Adolescents – X-Ray Spex|publisher=AllMusic|accessdate=5 September 2016|last=Huey|first=Steve}}

| rev2 = Entertainment Weekly

| rev2score = B+{{cite magazine|url=https://www.ew.com/article/1992/08/07/music-review-germfree-adolescents|title=Germfree Adolescents|magazine=Entertainment Weekly|date=7 August 1992|accessdate=5 September 2016|last=Robbins|first=Ira|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161117234546/http://www.ew.com/article/1992/08/07/music-review-germfree-adolescents|archive-date=17 November 2016|url-status=dead}}

| rev3 = Mojo

| rev3score = {{Rating|4|5}}{{cite magazine|title=X-Ray Spex: Germfree Adolescents|magazine=Mojo|page=131|quote=The band's entire studio output in just over an hour ...}}

| rev4 = Pitchfork

| rev4score = 10/10{{cite web|url=https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/22316-germfree-adolescents/|title=X-Ray Spex: Germfree Adolescents|website=Pitchfork|date=15 January 2017|accessdate=15 January 2017|last=Pelly|first=Jenn}}

| rev5 = Q

| rev5score = {{Rating|4|5}}{{cite magazine|title=X-Ray Spex: Germfree Adolescents|magazine=Q|page=139|quote=[I]t still comes up trumps, packed with such witty, no-nonsense rants as 'Warrior in Woolworths,' 'Identity' and 'The Day the World Turned Day-Glo' ...}}

| rev6 = Record Collector

| rev6score = {{Rating|4|5}}{{cite magazine|url=http://recordcollectormag.com/reviews/germ-free-adolescentsdeluxe-edition|title=X-Ray Spex – Germ Free Adolescents: Deluxe Edition|magazine=Record Collector|issue=362|date=May 2009|accessdate=5 September 2016|last=Staunton|first=Terry}}

| rev7 = Record Mirror

| rev7score = {{Rating|4|5}}{{sfn|Lott|1978}}

| rev8 = The Rolling Stone Album Guide

| rev8score = {{Rating|5|5}}{{cite book|chapter=X-Ray Spex|last=Wolk|first=Douglas|author-link=Douglas Wolk|title=The New Rolling Stone Album Guide|title-link=The Rolling Stone Album Guide|editor1-last=Brackett|editor1-first=Nathan|editor1-link=Nathan Brackett|editor2-last=Hoard|editor2-first=Christian|editor2-link=Christian Hoard|publisher=Simon & Schuster|edition=4th|year=2004|isbn=0-7432-0169-8|page=[https://archive.org/details/newrollingstonea00brac/page/890 890]}}

| rev9 = Spin Alternative Record Guide

| rev9score = 10/10{{cite book|chapter=X-Ray Spex|last=Sheffield|first=Rob|author-link=Rob Sheffield|title=Spin Alternative Record Guide|title-link=Spin Alternative Record Guide|editor1-last=Weisbard|editor1-first=Eric|editor1-link=Eric Weisbard|editor2-last=Marks|editor2-first=Craig|publisher=Vintage Books|year=1995|isbn=0-679-75574-8|page=441}}

| rev10 = Uncut

| rev10score = {{Rating|4|5}}{{cite magazine|title=X-Ray Spex: Germfree Adolescents|magazine=Uncut|page=132|quote=[T]he heat and intensity of this debut has never been repeated. Nearly 30 years after it was recorded, Germfree Adolescents is as timely as ever.}}

}}

From contemporary reviews, Charles Shaar Murray of NME praised the album, stating it "neatly avoids the weakness of previous Spex gigs and records (i.e. cacophony, ramshackle playing boosted by road-drill volume) while concentrating on the band's strengths (great lyrics, nifty chewns, energy and a winningly knowing innocence)."{{sfn|Murray|1978}} Tim Lott of Record Mirror declared the album to be "sounds for sophisticated head-bangers" and that it was "Bright music, glaring and kitsch as the pinks, greens and yellows that splash the colour. Taste in tastelessness, anarchy in tune. What did you expect from X-Ray Spex?"{{sfn|Lott|1978}} Jon Savage felt had too much already released material on it, noting that "The album is basically, the Spex set from early (Roxy/Man In The Moon) days and the first demo with a fair sprinkling of new additions: "Genetic Engineering", "Warrior in Woolworths", "Artificial" and the title track [...] the album features an unforgivable proportion of material already released and well-aired: five songs out of 12, three A-sides." but still concluded that "This doesn't detract from the album's playability. The sides are programmed symmetrically and sensibly [...] All the songs are built around catchy, deceptively simple riffs, often reminiscent of reggae in their jaunty lilt, and they're done full justice by the band and the production." {{sfn|Savage|1978}} Murray also was disappointed by the lack of new material, stating that "three A-sides (the title track, "Identity" and the immortal "The Day the World Turned Day-Glo") and one B-side ("I Am a Poseur") on an album makes for poor value in this man's supermarket."{{sfn|Murray|1978}} Lott critiqued some tracks, noting that "Plastic Bag" went "beyond the bounds of good kitsch".{{sfn|Lott|1978}} Savage echoed this statement, finding that "Plastic Bag" was the "one track that's actively annoying: the otherwise amusing "My Mind Is Like a Plastic Bag" is burdened by a cumbersome arrangement, nostalgia lyrics ("It's 1977 and we're all going mad") and Poly at her most unlistenable."{{sfn|Savage|1978}} Murray commented that "Plastic Bag" was "by no means as excellently realised as it was on the original X-Ray-Spex demo tapes of a year or so back (this allusion is not elitism: I just wish you could have heard that version).{{sfn|Savage|1978}}"

The NME ranked it the ninth best album of 1978.{{cite web|url=https://www.nme.com/bestalbumsandtracksoftheyear/1978-2-1045407|title=1978 Best Albums And Tracks of The Year|website=NME|date=10 October 2016|accessdate=25 November 2016}} In his February 1979 "Consumer Guide" column in The Village Voice, critic Robert Christgau bemoaned the fact that Germfree Adolescents had not been released in the US and praised Poly Styrene's "cheerfully moralistic nursery rhymes", the songs' strong melodies and the "irresistible color" of the band's "dubiously tuned one-sax horn section".{{cite news|url=http://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/cg/cgv2-79.php|title=Christgau's Consumer Guide|newspaper=The Village Voice|date=26 February 1979|accessdate=23 October 2020|last=Christgau|first=Robert|author-link=Robert Christgau}} He also named the album one of the few import-only records from the 1970s he loved yet omitted from Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies (1981).{{cite book|chapter=The Guide|chapter-url=https://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/bk-cg70/guide.php|accessdate=30 March 2019|via=robertchristgau.com|title=Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies|title-link=Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies|last=Christgau|first=Robert|author-link=Robert Christgau|publisher=Ticknor and Fields|year=1981|isbn=0-89919-026-X}}

Robert Christgau later deemed Germfree Adolescents "one of British punk's strongest" albums.{{cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/sections/allsongs/2011/04/26/135739482/poly-styrene-punk-pioneer-dies-at-53|title=Poly Styrene, Punk Pioneer, Dies at 53|publisher=NPR|date=26 April 2011|accessdate=23 October 2020|last=Christgau|first=Robert|author-link=Robert Christgau}} Trouser Press declared it "a masterpiece!"{{cite web|url=http://trouserpress.com/entry.php?a=x-ray_spex|title=X-Ray Spex|website=Trouser Press|accessdate=23 October 2020|last1=Young|first1=Jon|last2=King|first2=Wayne|last3=Robbins|first3=Ira}} The Rough Guide to Rock calls it a "storming album".The Rough Guide to Rock, p. 1194.

In 1994, The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music named Germfree Adolescents the eighth best punk album of all time.{{cite book|title=All Time Top 1000 Albums|title-link=All Time Top 1000 Albums|last=Larkin|first=Colin|author-link=Colin Larkin|publisher=Guinness Publishing|year=1994|isbn=0-85112-786-X|page=236}} Seven years later, in May 2001, Spin magazine ranked the album at number five on its "50 Most Essential Punk Records" list.{{cite magazine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EdRggHm3lkoC&pg=PA108|title=The 50 Most Essential Punk Records – 5. X-Ray Spex: Germfree Adolescents|magazine=Spin|volume=17|issue=5|date=May 2001|accessdate=23 October 2020|last=Dolan|first=Jon|page=108}} In March 2003, Mojo magazine ranked the record at number 19 on its "Top 50 Punk Albums" list.{{cite magazine|title=Top 50 Punk Albums|magazine=Mojo|issue=112|date=March 2003}} Germfree Adolescents is listed in the reference book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.{{cite book|title=1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die|title-link=1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die|editor-last=Dimery|editor-first=Robert|publisher=Universe Publishing|edition=revised and updated|year=2010|isbn=978-0-7893-2074-2}}

In 2020, Rolling Stone ranked the album at number 354 in their list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/best-albums-of-all-time-1062063/x-ray-spex-germfree-adolescents-1062879/|title = The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time|magazine = Rolling Stone|date = 22 September 2020}}

• Long-running California punk band NOFX has performed a cover version of Germfree Adolescents live.{{cite web|url=http://www.songmeanings.net/songs/view/37277/|title=NOFX – Germ Free Adolescents (X-Ray Spex cover) Lyrics – SongMeanings|website=SongMeanings|accessdate=4 July 2018}}
• In an interview after being shortlisted for the Mercury Prize, British artist FKA Twigs named Germfree Adolescents her favourite album of all time{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pe4eTsTcyEc/ |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211213/Pe4eTsTcyEc |archive-date=2021-12-13 |url-status=live|title=FKA twigs Q&A – 2014 Mercury Prize|last=MercuryPrize|date=15 September 2014|via=YouTube}}{{cbignore}}

All tracks written by Poly Styrene.

Side A

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

Side B

1. "Genetic Engineering" – 2:49
2. "I Live Off You" – 2:09
3. "I Am a Poseur" – 2:34
4. "Germ Free Adolescents" – 3:14
5. "Plastic Bag" – 4:54
6. "The Day the World Turned Day-Glo" – 2:53

Bonus tracks

The 1991 Caroline release features four additional tracks and a rearranged song order.

1. "The Day the World Turned Dayglo" – 2:50
2. "Obsessed with You" – 2:26
3. "Genetic Engineering" – 2:46
4. "Identity" – 2:21
5. "I Live Off You" – 2:06
6. "Germ Free Adolescence" – 3:10
7. "Art-I-Ficial" – 3:21
8. "Let's Submerge" – 3:23
9. "Warrior in Woolworths" – 3:03
10. "I Am a Poseur" – 2:30
11. "I Can't Do Anything" – 2:55
12. "Highly Inflammable" – 2:32
13. "Age" – 2:36
14. "Plastic Bag" – 4:51
15. "I Am a Cliché" – 1:52
16. "Oh Bondage Up Yours!" – 2:48

• Tracks 12, 13, 15 & 16 from original singles.

The 2005 CD reissue includes the original song order and the following bonus tracks not on the original release.

13. "Oh Bondage Up Yours!" – 2:51
14. "I Am a Cliché" – 1:55
15. "Highly Inflammable" – 2:35
16. "Age" – 2:38
17. "Genetic Engineering" – 2:49
18. "Art-I-Ficial" – 3:24
19. "I Am a Poseur" – 2:34
20. "Identity" – 2:25
21. "Germ Free Adolescence" – 3:05
22. "Warrior in Woolworths" – 3:06
23. "Age" – 2:38

• Tracks 13–16 from original singles, tracks 17–20 from Peel Session 20 February 1978, tracks 21–23 from Peel Session 11 June 1978.

;X-Ray Spex

• Poly Styrene – vocals
• Jak Airport – guitar
• Paul Dean – bass
• Rudi Thomson – saxophone
• B.P. Hurding – drums

Additional personnel

• Ted Bunting – saxophone on "Identity" and "The Day the World Turned Dayglo"
• Lora Logic – saxophone on "Oh Bondage Up Yours!" and "I Am a Cliché"
• Falcon Stuart – producer, cover concept
• John Mackenzie Burns – engineer
• Andy Pearce – assistant engineer
• Nick Webb – mastering
• Trevor Key – photography
• Cooke Key – sleeve

{{reflist}}

• {{cite web|url=https://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/maturity-is-next-x-ray-spex-igerm-free-adolescentsi-emi|title=Maturity Is Next: X-Ray Spex: Germ Free Adolescents (EMI)|last=Lott|first=Tom|work=Record Mirror|date=November 18, 1978|accessdate=November 18, 2021|via=Rock's Backpages|url-access=subscription}}
• {{cite web|url=https://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/x-ray-spex-igerm-free-adolescentsi-2|title=X-Ray-Spex: Germ Free Adolescents|last=Murray|first=Charles Shaar|work=NME|date=November 18, 1978|accessdate=November 18, 2021|via=Rock's Backpages|url-access=subscription}}
• {{cite web|url=https://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/x-ray-spex-igerm-free-adolescentsi|title=X-Ray Spex: Germ Free Adolescents|last=Savage|first=Jon|work=Melody Maker|date=November 18, 1978|accessdate=November 18, 2021|via=Rock's Backpages|url-access=subscription|authorlink=Jon Savage}}

{{X-Ray Spex}}

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Category:1978 debut albums

Category:X-Ray Spex albums

Category:EMI Records albums