In Defense of (Gen) X--the band, not the generation.

Kiss Me Deadly by Gen X

Perhaps nobody has been more vilified in the punk community than Billy Idol.  Its hard to deny that by the mid-80’s he had strayed pretty far from the original anti-corporate, anti-materialistic nihilism of the early days of the English punk scene . . . but then again, who hadn’t?  The Pistols themselves were notorious for collecting cash from major label record companies then being sacked soon thereafter.  Yes, Billy Idol courted fame a little harder than his peers but nobody was making music for purely artistic reasons. 

Billy Idol (real name William Broad) certainly has impeccable punk credentials.  He started off as a member of the Bromley Contingent, a group of London teens that included Siouxie Sioux (who soon formed the Banshees) and Marco Pironi (who would eventually play with Adam Ant) who were early followers of the Pistols.  The Pistols supposedly thought the Bromley kids were a bunch of trend-following suburban dilettantes, but then again the Pistols (and Johnny Rotten in particular) were renowned for hating pretty much everyone.  Plus what can you say?  The Bromleys recognized the brilliance of the Pistols at a time when 99.9999% of the rest of the world was out buying Styx and Kansas albums, so I definitely admire their early adopter stance.  Besides, if you’re going to criticize people for being suburban and/or middle class, you’d better be prepared to criticize pretty much everyone in the industrial world since by now most of us are at least one if not both of those things.  Punk has never been the exclusive domain of the poor; in fact, in America, and particularly in southern California, punk was much more a creation of suburban kids bored with the blandness and comfort of suburban life. 

  Like the other members of the Bromley Contingent, Billy Idol was soon encouraged to be a more active participant in the emerging musical scene.  With singer Gene October, he formed the band Chelsea in 1976 but quickly broke away and formed his own band, Generation X, with bassist Tony James and drummer John Towe (both of whom had played in the pre-punk band London SS) in 1976.  In 1977 after their first few gigs Towe was replaced by former Subway Sect drummer Mark Laff, a lineup that would stay in place through their first two albums.

Their first album, the self-titled Generation X, was released in 1978 and contains a number of terrific three chord pop punk anthems, including “One Hundred Punks”, “Wild Youth”, “Ready Steady Go”, “From the Heart”, and “Promises Promises”.  Perhaps the best, and best known, composition is “Kiss Me Deadly”, which is really more of a ballad.  Even at this early stage in his career Billy’s desire to be more than a growling, sneering singer is evident, and he’s obviously a much better singer than most of his punk peers.  Idol’s passion for the punk music scene is documented in many of the song lyrics, which often center around the joy and freedom of being young and/or punk.  “Promises Promises” is an almost bitter paean to the early days of punk and even pre-punk: (“where were you in ’75, when there were no gigs, we were jive?”; interestingly, the NWOBHM band Saxon espoused a similar sentiment from the metal end of the spectrum in “Denim and Leather”) while “One Hundred Punks” is a happy, goofy look at punk life (“A hundred punks run with London town, down Wardour Street to the Soho Sound, don't sleep all week only when they fall down ).  “Kiss Me Deadly” is more of a romanticized view of punk life on the edge and on the streets.  All in all, their first album is an outstanding document of late 70’s English punk.

But here’s where I have a major problem.  Nearly any rock critic or media outlet you care to examine will claim that this album was Generation X’s best, and that after this, disputes about the direction of the band led to confusion and progressively inferior albums.  I vehemently dispute these claims, and what other critics call “confusion” I call EVOLUTION.  Even by the time the first album had come out, that brand of pop punk was on its way out, both in England and elsewhere.  Generation X, like many other punk bands, were realizing that there WERE no real limits on what punk could be musically, so they began exploring other musical avenues of expression.

Nowhere was this more evident than on their second album, Valley of the Dolls, or even in their choice for the producer of this album, former Mott the Hoople leader Ian Hunter.  Most critics have very little positive to say about this album, and indeed as mentioned view the entire oeuvre of Generation X as one of diminishing returns recording-wise, with each one worse than the other.  I actually have the exact opposite opinion, and consider Valley of the Dolls a solid move forward from their relatively primitive beginning.  The choice of Ian Hunter as producer is evidence of a desire by Idol and company to move beyond the three chord anthems of their first album and into a more sophisticated and complex glam-influenced sound (interestingly, the seminal LA hardcore band Black Flag would be criticized for doing almost the exact same thing a few years later).  The most notable sonic change is the greater length of the songs and the addition of guitar solos, which were conspicuously lacking on their debut; the addition of Bob “Derwood”  Andrews allowed them to move beyond the simplicity of their debut. Hunter's production provides a crunchy glam sound to much of the album.

One thing that they continued from the first album was Idol’s fascination with documenting the excitement and energy that music and punk music in particular gave him.  Arguably the best songs on this album are lyrically in this vein, including “King Rocker”, “Valley of the Dolls”, “English Dream”, “Friday’s Angels”, and a song I consider to be not only one of Generation X’s best but one of the best “music songs” ever:  “Running With the Boss Sound”.  “Running With the Boss Sound” starts with what is, to me anyway, one of the greatest descriptions of the power of (punk) music to move and inspire ever:  “Yesterday, by the paper stand, I felt the power of another religion; (four) rebels with a cause came out of the sun and spoke the only language they’d been given.”  He’s clearly talking about the Sex Pistols and what a world-moving revelation it was to see them and hear their music for the very first time.  But the song goes on to praise heavy metal, ska, and really ALL forms of music for their ability to motivate and inspire.  “English Dream” is part brag about his own accomplishments as a punk musician (“When I first started out, hey shut all the doors; But I laughed at all the doors, and I kicked them down”), part exhortation to others to use his example as an inspiration, as the Pistols once served to motivate him to form his own band (“Hey kid look at me, you can make it real, you can get it if you want”).  Its all about the power of music to motivate and inspire, and how important it is for musicians to pass that inspiration on to the next generation.  Musically the song builds to two crescendos with Idol singing repeatedly “The English dream . . . don’t let me down!”

But to me, Generation X’s finest musical moment was their final album, 1981’s Kiss Me Deadly, for which they shortened their name to Gen X.  By this time, Laff and Andrews had left to form the short-lived band Empire, and Idol and James decided to record with a punk “supergroup” of different drummers and guitarists, including Terry Chimes (aka Tory Crimes, formerly of the Clash), James Stevenson (former guitarist for Chelsea) Steve Jones (of the Pistols), Steve New (of Rich Kids), and John McGeoch (who’s distinctive guitar was an essential element of the seminal post punk bands Magazine, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Visage, and Public Image Ltd.).  It isn’t clear who played on which songs, though it seems likely that McGeoch played on “Heaven’s Inside”, which is a standout track and contains his shimmering, chiming, clanging guitar sound.  Lyrically this song again explores the theme of achieving one’s potential (through music or otherwise) that Idol explored on “English Dream”.  “Heaven’s Inside” is my all-time favorite Idol song and is probably top 5 in terms of my favorite songs of all time.

But there’s really very few musical mis-steps here.  Overall the sound is lusher, more complex, more introspective.  In short, more post-punk than punk, which is understandable given the time frame.  By 1979 punk was on the wane in England and elsewhere, and most musicians were exploring what came next.  Songs got longer, playing got more professional, rhythms became more complex and song structure left behind much of the simplicity of the 2 minute anthems of the Ramones, and new and different sonic textures and landscapes were being explored.  Emotions other than anger and rage and themes beyond youthful rebellion were integrated into the basic ideal of punk being music that was innovative and new.  McGeoch’s first band, Magazine, had been a pioneer in the emerging post-punk sound.  Formed by Howard Devoto after his departure from the seminal Manchester punk band the Buzzcocks in 1977, Magazine made music that had more complex textures (but was still edgy and fragmented like most early punk) and syncopated rhythms.  McGeoch’s playing with Siouxsie and the Banshees, particularly on such classics as “Christine” and “Spellbound” have been cited by a vast number of punk and post-punk and alternative musicians as being hugely influential and are perhaps the shining examples of McGeoch’s shimmering but ominous guitar sound.

Kiss Me Deadly incorporated these new and more complex musical directions, as well as the lusher elements of the emerging New Romantic movement.  “Stars Look Down” is an excellent example of a song that brings together the harsh guitar of punk with the slicker and more romantic feel of post-punk.  This song too sounds like McGeoch was involved though its not certain.  It’s a lush love song and another fantastic cut.  Like “Heaven’s Inside”, this is a song that is optimistic and positive, and indeed the entire album is like this.  “Triumph” is a song about a punk kid succeeding in love; “The Untouchables” is another nostalgic, romantic paean to the past (Idol would re-record it for the EP he made prior to his eponymous solo smash), and “Happy People” is a slow, low key, almost dub song.  Only on “Revenge” and is any bitterness or rage evinced, but even here the lyrical prickliness is tempered by the slow rhythms and smoother guitar sound.  “What Do You Want” is the only song with any serious growl guitar-wise but it too has a safer vibe.  And of course, this is the album where Idol recorded his first and hands-down best version of his solo hit “Dancing With Myself”, with its bass-heavy sound and feedback-drenched ending. 

Ignored by almost everyone on its release and generally reviled by most critics since, Kiss Me Deadly has been all but forgotten by everyone but a few Idol fans and punk completists.  But to me this is an excellent post-punk musical document, one I’d put up against Unknown Pleasures (and I’m a HUGE Joy Division fan), First Issue, or Pink Flag.  People have unfairly denigrated this album because it goes astray from the two chord simplicity of early punk, and they assume that this was simply a hastily assembled group of wannabe pop songs.  But if I had to choose ONE album which I could listen to the rest of my life, this one might be it, because it does so many things and does them so well.