‘I Am A Cliché’: the song that defines Poly Styrene
A true original in every sense of the word, the world was first exposed to the defiant voice of Marianne Elliott-Said under the name Poly Styrene, the enigmatic frontwoman of punk rock pioneers X-Ray Spex. With this trailblazing outfit, the songwriter first established her unique brand of socially conscious writing, tackling everything from the rise of consumerism to the tight confines of perceived femininity. Ultimately, though, the tireless artistry of the performer largely eclipsed the safety-pin revolution of the punk age.
Growing up in Bromley during the 1960s, early life wasn’t a picnic for Poly Styrene. England was rife with regressive racial attitudes, discrimination, and prejudice throughout that period and, as one of the first generations of mixed-race children, the future punk pioneer found herself ostracised from both sides of the conflict; too Black to be accepted in white society, and too white to be adopted by London’s Black community. What’s more, being a woman during this period only made the world more difficult to navigate.
When punk rock arrived, it provided that alienated mixed-race girl with an outlet for her anger and artistic expression. It was on her 19th birthday, in July 1976, that she was first exposed to this revolutionary new movement, seeing the Sex Pistols perform in Brighton. Soon thereafter, Styrene formed X-Ray Spex, and quickly established herself as a distinct and original voice within London’s blossoming punk scene.
As one of the very few prominent women in the UK’s early punk scene, and one of even fewer women of colour, Styrene quickly found that she still experienced discrimination and prejudice within the movement. She often felt ostracised from her peers and struggled to be taken seriously by the musical mainstream, despite her clear quality as a songwriter and vocalist. Still, she remained utterly dedicated to her artistic principles, creating a litany of groundbreaking, defiant anthems.
Although masterful tracks like ‘Identity’ or ‘Oh Bondage Up Yours!’ tend to dominate the conversation when it comes to X-Ray Spex, the band has a multitude of incredible and woefully underrated tracks, too. One such track, according to Styrene’s daughter, Celeste Bell, is the B-side ‘I Am A Cliché’, originally released in 1977. “There are so many gems that are lesser-known,” Bell told Dazed.
“There’s a bit where it goes, ‘Yama, yama, yama, yama, yama, yama, boredom, boredom, boring boredom’,” Bell remembers of the song’s chorus. “She was probably like, ‘This is fucking boring’ as she was writing the song, and just put that in. I think it’s genius in how rushed it is, and how little thought went into it.”
A sneeringly satirical punk anthem, the song deals with the songwriter’s repeated feelings of alienation. After all, Poly Styrene was not a cliché; she was stunningly original in every aspect of her existence, yet she never got the recognition for that. “My mum was always going to be an outsider in anything she did,” Bell affirmed. “Even when she joined the Hare Krishnas, she was always on the edge of it.”
The songwriter’s daughter continued, “She was too unique as a person to ever fit in. A lot of so-called alternative music scenes can actually be quite conservative if you’re a really unique, out-there, artistic, creative person.”
In that sense, ‘I Am A Cliché’ defines Poly Styrene perhaps better than any other song, not just in the sense that it captures the inventive brilliance of her writing, but also in how the song captures her individualistic spirit, and the fact that the wider punk scene wasn’t ready for such a thing. It is no wonder that, when Bell came to produce a documentary about her mother, she opted to name the film after that forgotten B-side.
