“Untouchables”, Generation X

This way: Untouchables

Generation 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.  

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.

[Spotify] Untouchables