Gig 056 Generation X
Gig 056 Generation X Oxford Botley Elms Court 21 March 1978 Although founder members Billy Idol and Tony James had been around since the start, Generation X arrived a bit late on the punk scene, only releasing their first single towards the end of 1977 by which time the whole schtick had become a bit formalised. From this distance it’s clear that the group, and Billy in particular, were comparable to the pre-Beatles UK acts managed by the likes of Larry Parnes, from Billy’s classic dreamboat looks (quite rare in punk, give or take a Paul Simonon and Jean-Jacques Burnel) to his name which fits right in with Billy Fury, Marty Wilde, Duffy Power etc. For all their pretensions to Wild Youth, and Billy’s curled lip, they were manufactured pop to fit a growing market and about as dangerous as a glass of strawberry Nesquik. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, they wrote punchy, tuneful songs and their pop-cultural references – the Who, Cathy McGowan, Mondrian – were exemplary. Rather a...