Punk Pioneer Poly Styrene dies at 53

Marian Joan Elliott-Said, better known as Poly Styrene, legendary vocalist of the punk band X-Ray Spex has died of breast cancer. She was 53.

In the late 70's, Poly was known almost as much for her braces and militant attire as she was for her biting lyrics and banshee wail voice. She was an anomaly among punk singers of the time and her strangeness was echoed in the band's penchant for goofiness and their wacky instrumentation (in punk, a saxophone is wacky). Somehow, it worked. In November of 1979, the band released Germ Free Adolescents, generally considered to be one of the greatest rock albums of all time and it's hard to imagine Kim Gordon or Courtney Love shrieking with as much abandon as they have in subsequent years without Poly's dayglo example.