Germ Free Adolescents is the debut album of English

English people

The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...

 punk rock

Punk rock

Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...

 band X-Ray Spex

X-Ray Spex

X-Ray Spex were an English punk band from London that formed in 1976.During their first incarnation , X-Ray Spex were “deliberate underachievers” and only managed to release five singles and one album...

. It contained the UK

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 hit singles: "The Day The World Turned Day-Glo" (No. 23 in April 1978), "Identity" (No. 24 in July 1978) and "Germ Free Adolescents" which reached No. 18 in November 1978.

The album received wide acclaim upon its release. In his February 1979 Consumer Guide in the Village Voice, critic Robert Christgau

Robert Christgau

Robert Christgau is an American essayist, music journalist, and self-proclaimed "Dean of American Rock Critics".One of the earliest professional rock critics, Christgau is known for his terse capsule reviews, published since 1969 in his Consumer Guide columns...

 bemoaned the fact that Germ Free Adolescents had not been released in the US and praised Poly Styrene

Poly Styrene

Poly Styrene was the stage name of Marianne Joan Elliott-Said , a British musician, songwriter and singer, most notably in the pioneering punk rock band X-Ray Spex.-Early life:...

's "cheerfully moralistic nursery rhymes", strong melodies, and the "irresistible color" of the band's "dubiously tuned one-sax horn section". Trouser Press

Trouser Press

Trouser Press was a rock and roll magazine started in New York in 1974 as a mimeographed fanzine by editor/publisher Ira Robbins, fellow Who fan Dave Schulps and Karen Rose under the name "Trans-Oceanic Trouser Press" ...

called it "a masterpiece!" The Rough Guide to Rock calls it a "storming album".

In 1994, The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music named Germ Free Adolescents the eighth best punk albums of all-time. Seven years later, in May 2001, Spin

Spin (magazine)

Spin is a music magazine founded in 1985 by publisher Bob Guccione Jr.-History:In its early years, the magazine was noted for its broad music coverage with an emphasis on college-oriented rock music and on the ongoing emergence of hip-hop. The magazine was eclectic and bold, if sometimes haphazard...

 magazine ranked the album number 5 in its "50 Most Essential Punk Records". In March 2003, Mojo

Mojo (magazine)

MOJO is a popular music magazine published initially by Emap, and since January 2008 by Bauer, monthly in the United Kingdom. Following the success of the magazine Q, publishers Emap were looking for a title which would cater for the burgeoning interest in classic rock music...

 magazine ranked the LP number 19 in its 'Top 50 Punk Albums'.

Side one

1. "Art-I-Ficial" - 3:24
2. "Obsessed with You" - 2:30
3. "Warrior in Woolworths" - 3:06
4. "Let's Submerge" - 3:26
5. "I Can't Do Anything" - 2:58
6. "Identity" - 2:25

Side two

1. "Genetic Engineering" - 2:49
2. "I Live Off You" - 2:09
3. "I Am a Poseur" - 2:34
4. "Germ Free Adolescents" - 3:14
5. "Plastic Bag" - 4:54
6. "The Day the World Turned Day-Glo" - 2:53

Additional Tracks

The 1991 Caroline release features four additional tracks and a rearranged song order.

1. The Day The World Turned Dayglo" - 2:50
2. "Obsessed With You" - 2:26
3. "Genetic Engineering" - 2:46
4. "Identity" - 2:21
5. "I Live Off You" - 2:06
6. "Germfree Adolescents" - 3:10
7. "Art-I-Ficial" - 3:21
8. "Let's Submerge" - 3:23
9. "Warrior In Woolworths" - 3:03
10. "I Am A Poseur" - 2:30
11. "I Can't Do Anything" - 2:55
12. "Highly Inflammable" - 2:32
13. "Age" - 2:36
14. "Plastic Bag" - 4:51
15. "I Am A Cliche" - 1:52
16. "Oh Bondage Up Yours!" - 2:48
    • Tracks 12,13,15 & 16 from original singles
      Single (music)
      In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
      
      .

The 2005 CD reissue includes the following bonus tracks not on the original release.

13. "Oh Bondage Up Yours!
    Oh Bondage Up Yours!
    "Oh Bondage Up Yours!" is the debut single by British punk rock band X-Ray Spex. Released in September 1977, it is regarded by critics as a prototypal example of British punk, though it was not a chart hit. A version taped on 2 April 1977 at one of the band's earliest public performances had...
    
    " - 2:51
14. "I Am a Cliché" - 1:55
15. "Highly Inflammable" - 2:35
16. "Age" - 2:38
17. "Genetic Engineering" - 2:49
18. "Art-I-Ficial" - 3:24
19. "I Am a Poseur" - 2:34
20. "Identity" - 2:25
21. "Germ Free Adolescents" - 3:05
22. "Warrior in Woolworths" - 3:06
23. "Age" - 2:38
    • Tracks 13-16 from original singles
      Single (music)
      In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
      
      , tracks 17-20 from Peel Session 02/20/1978, tracks 21-23 from Peel Session 06/11/1978

Personnel

• Poly Styrene
  Poly Styrene
  Poly Styrene was the stage name of Marianne Joan Elliott-Said , a British musician, songwriter and singer, most notably in the pioneering punk rock band X-Ray Spex.-Early life:...
  
   - vocals
• Jak Airport - guitar
• Paul Dean - bass
• Rudi Thomson - saxophone
• B.P. Hurding - drums

Additional personnel

• Ted Bunting - saxophone on "Identity" & "The Day The World Turned Day-Glo"
• Falcon Stuart
  Falcon Stuart
  Falcon Stuart was a British photographer, retailer, filmmaker, and music producer associated with X-Ray Spex, Adam and the Ants, and Danielle Dax amongst others.-Personal Life:...
  
  - producer, cover concept
• John Mackenzie Burns - engineer
• Andy Pearce - assistant engineer
• Nick Webb - mastering
• Trevor Key - photography
• Cooke Key - sleeve