Generation X – Generation X (1978)

Generation X – Generation X (1978)

Punk at its best!

Generation X (later known as Gen X) was an English punk rock band formed in London in 1976.

OK… I’m going to be completely honest and try to be as spontaneous as possible!

The band’s first album was sold out for years. I had to wait until 2025–2026 to finally get my hands on it. And I’ve already listened to it on repeat (in my car, on my stereo in my living room, on my computer right now as I write). I’m totally crazy about it! I find it so exhilarating to fall in love with an album and become obsessed with music that was created over forty-five years ago! Yes, this eponymous record will soon be celebrating its fiftieth anniversary.

It was recorded between November and December 1977, but was released on 17 March 1978… about three months before I was born!!!

This album had already been remastered and reissued in 2002 with the original British track listing, supplemented by six bonus tracks from singles. It originally lasts 36:51, but I bought the 2019 Reissue, Book Edition, 2 CD (or 3 LP) version! So it’s much longer (although still too short for me!), because there are almost the same songs on the second CD, but there are Alternative Versions, Single Versions, Phil Wainman Versions and Winstanley Mixes.

Alan Winstanley is the engineer. He has worked with major bands such as Madness, The Stranglers, Dexys Midnight Runners, Morrissey, The Teardrop Explodes, Elvis Costello and the Attractions, Bush and even Dogs Die in Hot Cars.

William Broad (aka Billy Idol) was a 21-year-old guitarist looking for a band. Idol is, of course, the lead singer of Generation X (which doesn’t stop him from regularly picking up his guitar). It was this project that launched his musical career! In fact, too many people don’t know that the fabulous Dancing With Myself (which is not on this album) is from his band and not his solo project, originally. I think Billy has always had a bit of nostalgia for that era. And I think he feels it more and more. In fact, he created Generation Sex in the 2020s with two members of the Sex Pistols and two members of this band.

The formidable Tony James is the bassist! The man who created Sigue Sigue Sputnik and had the opportunity to play with Sisters of Mercy was also part of the Generation Sex craze. I wondered for a long time how talented he was or if he was just very creative. Listening to this album, I have no doubt: he does his job as a punk rock bassist perfectly! I’m even ashamed to have doubted him! In fact, Tony James wrote almost all of the lyrics, while Billy composed most of the music.

If anything, Sigue Sigue Sputnik can easily be considered one of, if not THE first electro-punk band!

Derwood Andrews, aka Bob ‘Derwood’ Andrews, on the other hand, is a guitarist I’ve never doubted. I’ve always thought that he must have influenced Billy Idol’s most loyal guitarist, Steve Stevens (who also played with Michael Jackson on his excellent Dirty Diana, Lady Diana’s favourite song, which she was lucky enough to tell MJ!).

Mark Laff completes the band as a highly effective driving force on the drums! It should be noted that all the members of the band sing backing vocals. These backing vocals are few and far between, but always convincing.

Apart from Mark, there are at least two other drummers who have been in the band, John Towe (before Mark) and Terry Chimes (after Mark). As for James Stevenson, he came to play a little guitar between 1980 and 1981.

Generation X mainly existed from 1976 to 1981. The four main members reunited in 1993 (20 September to be precise) for a one-off performance at the Astoria Theatre in London’s West End.

Here is an excerpt from Wikipedia that touches me:

‘The band had previously worked with producer Phil Wainman on earlier singles, but were dissatisfied with the results, criticising his production as too ‘pop’ and polished, and seeking a sound for the album that resembled the band’s live performances. Singer Billy Idol suggested Rushent for the role because he had been impressed by his recent work with The Stranglers. Guitarist Derwood Andrews later recalled, ‘Martin Rushent told great jokes, but his engineer, Alan Winstanley, was more responsible for the sound of the album.’

The original American version of the album featured a different track listing, omitting three songs and adding three tracks from the band’s singles, with the addition of a cover of John Lennon’s ‘Gimme Some Truth’.

Regarding Generation Sex, on 30 October 2018, Billy Idol and Tony James, accompanied by former Sex Pistols members Steve Jones (guitar) and Paul Cook (drums), gave a free concert at the Roxy in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, playing a combined set of songs from both former bands. Tickets were allocated to applicants by lottery!

Well… it’s hard for me to tell you how much I love this first album! There are lots of songs I already knew, as I already have the excellent compilation ‘Generation X – Perfect Hits’ and ‘K.M.D. – Sweet Revenge’. But what is this latest album???

For the record, Generation X experienced some friction. Yes, that’s what ended the band, otherwise they would have lasted much longer! Andrews left the band just before Christmas and Billy also asked Mark Laff to leave the band a few weeks later. This happened after a disagreement with Idol and James over his songwriting credits. Laff objected to the fact that the drum parts he created were not taken into account in his legal and financial agreements regarding rights. Idol felt that his playing style, heavily influenced by Keith Moon (The Who), did not suit the new sound Idol wanted to pursue with the band.

Let’s return to the album released retrospectively 20 years later under the title K.M.D. – Sweet Revenge. In fact, it has a direct link to unfinished production sessions at Olympic Studios in Barnes and what was to be the third album. As a result, it is the fourth and final studio album by the English punk rock band, although chronologically it is their third recorded album. Released in 2004, two previously unreleased tracks recorded during the Generation X sessions at TW Studios, ‘Your Generation’ and ‘Rock On’, were commercially released retrospectively on it.

To conclude:

This debut album is extraordinary to my ears. However, Billy Idol was part of the Bromley Contingent, a group of Sex Pistols supporters, alongside people like Siouxsie Sioux, Steven Severin (both from Siouxsie and the Banshees) and Soo Catwoman, alias Susan Lucas (24 October 1954 – 30 September 2025), who was a British actress and model and a member of the emerging London punk subculture. Her face was well known in the scene.

Bromley Contingent is a name that appeared after the Sex Pistols played a concert in Paris on 3 September 1976. What surprises me is the fact that they were fans of the Sex Pistols, but managed to do better! Because Generation X and the Banshees were much better bands. That said, it’s noble to be so modest!!!

What a pleasure it is to hear songs like ‘One Hundred Punks’, ‘Ready Steady Go’, ‘Day by Day’, ‘Your Generation’, ‘Wild Youth’ and ‘Kiss Me Deadly’, which was used in the soundtrack of the film SLC Punk (1998). As for ‘Youth Youth Youth’, I’m still blown away by that guitar solo that lasts over three minutes and sends me to seventh heaven every time. The track ends both CDs in this edition. Sure, Generation X knows how to make short, powerful punk songs, but ‘Youth Youth Youth’ was worth lasting six minutes!

What a thrill it was for me to discover these other tracks, such as ‘From the Heart’, “Kleenex”, ‘Promises Promises’, ‘No No No’, ‘Trying For Kicks’, ‘This Heart’ and ‘The Invisible Man’.

I’m going to give it top marks, even if the downside is that some tracks are too similar, meaning that their originals are too close to their alternative versions or remixes. And I must admit that ‘Wild Dub’, which is a dub version of ‘Wild Youth’, is getting on my nerves! What’s more, with those final notes getting louder and louder at the end, it’s the final straw. But luckily, you can just skip it to get through the ordeal! I’m saved by ‘Rock On Dub’, which is excellent and is a song rather than a remix.

A few more useless details, except for the biggest music fans:

‘Kleenex’ has nothing to do with the excellent Swiss post-punk band. It’s a song with a part that’s so enjoyable that you want it to last, but it’s too short. A bit like the bridge in Billy Idol‘s ‘Flesh for Fantasy’, in fact!

‘Promises Promises’ has nothing to do with the Madness song on the album “7”, also produced by Alan Winstanley. And ‘The Invisible Man’ has nothing to do with Suggs’ song, nor with Queen’s.

By the way, all these songs are excellent!
So enjoy listening!!!