— Poly Styrene, whose clarion call, “Oh bondage, up yours!” became the
rallying cry of punk feminists everywhere and foretold the Riot Grrrl
movement, died Monday at the age of 53 after a long battle with cancer.
As a member of X-Ray Spex, Styrene, born
became a symbol: The sight of a teenage girl with braces, chubby
cheeks, and quirky nonsequitur outfits screaming “Thrash me crash
me/Beat me till I fall!/I wanna be a victim/For you all!/Oh bondage up
yours!” was transformative in early British punk rock; it served as an
indication to both the musicians and the fans involved that the
movement, which at the beginning comprised mostly of angry, jobless
young men, could be a wide enough tent to support not just that
disaffected male lot, but girls with their own set of complaints
(including the way angry, jobless punks treated their women).
About “Oh Bondage, Up Yours.” It begins with Poly
making a point heard round the world: “Some people think that little
girls should be seen and not heard. But I say, ‘Oh bondage, up yours!'”
before the all-male band behind her launches into a furious set of
riffs that made countless girl bands possible.
The way she delivered the words — angry but still
dancing, lips barely covering her braces — served as one great big no
to oppression in all its forms; that its lyrics are so rudimentary and
to the point only clarifies the song’s central concern. (And perhaps
even more shocking, she was able to do it while a very un-punk
instrument, the saxophone, blew in call-and-response).
Her fame was relatively short-lived, though. Styrene
struggled with what was later diagnosed as bipolar disorder, and though
she released a gorgeous, underrated solo album, “Translucence,” on the
United Artists label in 1980, it and subsequent releases, including a
New Age album (!), Flower Aeroplane, in 2004, failed to make an impact
on the general public. She had just released a highly anticipated new
full-length “Generation Indigo” in mid-March. The album, produced by
Youth, featured Styrene returning to her New Wave/punk rock roots.
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