Generation X (later known as Gen X) were an English punk rock band, formed in London in 1976. They were the musical starting point of the career of their frontman Billy Idol, and issued six singles that made the UK Singles Chart and two albums that reached the UK Albums Chart.
History
Formation
During the punk rock movement in London in late 1976, William Broad (aka Billy Idol), a 21-year-old guitar-playing university drop-out from Bromley and associate of the Bromley Contingent; the drummer John Towe, a West End music shop assistant; and at Broad's suggestion, having already met via an advertisement previously placed in the Melody Maker by Broad seeking other musicians – Tony James, a 23-year-old university graduate bass player from Twickenham and former member of the London S.S. all replied to an advert placed in the Melody Maker by John Krivine, the owner of a fashion clothing shop called Acme Attractions on the King's Road in Chelsea, seeking musicians to form a new West London band around the vocalist/frontman John O'Hara aka Gene October. After a few weeks of rehearsals the band became known as Chelsea, and began by playing a few support gigs in West London and Manchester, primarily playing cover versions of rock and roll songs from the 1960s. However, by November, Gene October felt that Broad and James were becoming too dominant creatively and were beginning to make music that he considered too lightweight, and that his personal chemistry with them was not good - a feeling which they reciprocated. Consequently, Broad and James along with Towe abandoned Chelsea (jettisoning October on stage from the line-up in the midst of a gig), and formed a new band called Generation X, named after the title of a book belonging to Broad's mother, that James found when visiting his family home. The new band was initially managed by Andrew Czezowski, Acme Attractions' accountant.
With his photogenic looks and inherent egotism, Broad – styling himself with a punk pseudonym of "Billy Idol" – abandoned the guitar to be the frontman and lead singer of the new unit. When the 17 year old lead guitarist Bob "Derwood" Andrews was recruited from the Fulham rocker band Paradox, 'Generation X' took the stage for the first time in public at the Central School of Art and Design on 10 December 1976. The new band played its second gig four days later at the newly opened The Roxy, which Czezowski had also begun managing. Generation X was the first band to play at the venue. Soon after formation Generation X abandoned playing cover versions in its live performances around London, and began writing its own material, with Idol writing music around James' lyrical song constructions.
1977–1978
In early 1977, the management for the band was passed from Czezowoski, who preferred club management to live acts, to a dual management of Stewart Joseph, a fanzine promoter from Rough Trade Records, with the Sounds journalist Jonh Ingham, who professionalized the act's business aspect, and began approaching record companies to secure a recording deal.
On 16 February 1977, the band went into a studio for the first time to record a demo session of five songs at De Lane Lea Studios in Wembley, North London, sponsored by Chiswick Records. The lyrics of some of the songs possessed a partially politicized tone (with a critique of The National Front, and The Troubles) that the band would abandon after its early months. Later in the year, Generation X's first record was released by the band itself in the form of an unmarked white label for promotional purposes, with the song "Your Generation" as its A-side, and "Listen" as the B-side, taken from the De Lane Lea demo session. 250 copies were initially pressed, followed by another 500 copies, all in unmarked white paper sleeves.